P1: Mocha With a Hint of Stars

[xiuhunation]

Title: Mocha With a Hint of Stars

For: P1

Pairings: Minseok/Sehun, Yixing/Sehun, Minseok/Yixing, Minseok/Yixing/Sehun

Rating: NC-17

Length: ~41.3k

Summary: If Sehun knew that walking into that coffee shop with Minseok one random day would lead them to the last, perfect piece to their little puzzle, he would’ve gone a hell of a lot sooner.

Warnings: Lu Han as a character, slight praise kink, hair pulling, intentional voyeurism, polyamory

Author's note: Thank you so, so much to J for holding my hand and letting me send you things all of the time. Your enthusiasm was one of the driving forces that kept me going <3 Also, thank you to the mod for being so kind and wonderful! To the prompter, I hope you like this! It’s pretty long, much longer than originally anticipated, but I hope it’s a nice read nonetheless!






Cheeks flaming, Sehun ducks his head down with a whine. Minseok simply laughs, gently nudging Sehun’s foot under the table.


“I’m sorry,” Sehun mumbles, slightly unintelligible due to the fact that his face is turned down towards the table.


“Hey,” Minseok says softly, lightly tapping Sehun’s cheek to get him to look up. His eyes are warm, so warm, that Sehun feels like crying, but he’s done that enough times already over the last few months and knows how much it hurts Minseok when he cries, so he holds back. “I told you that it was fine, didn’t I?”


Sehun just whines again because no matter how many times Minseok tells him that, he’ll always feel guilty.


“It’s okay, love. You don’t have to feel bad.” And Sehun knows why, and it makes him feel better, but it will never stop him from thinking that he’s the reason for all of this.


Sehun’s gaze strays back towards the barista behind the counter. He barely resists the urge to smile, but he can’t help it. The male is just so handsome and perfect that Sehun can’t help the butterflies that flutter around in his stomach whenever he sees him. Sehun doesn’t know what it is – maybe it’s the way the other male’s obsidian hair gently sweeps against his forehead, maybe it’s the way a cute little indent appears on his cheek whenever he greets a customer, maybe it’s the way his plump bottom lip gets bitten into when he’s focused, maybe it’s the way his thighs looks in tight, black pants, legs that Sehun wants wrapped around his hips, wants to be between-


Sehun stops that train of thought before it can exit the station - hell before he can even board the train. The last time he thought about that in the coffee shop, Minseok had noticed the resulting reaction his body had and hadn’t stopped teasing him for hours. Actually, it’s more like weeks, since that happened a while ago and Minseok still makes fun of him for it.


Sehun squeaks and turns around so suddenly that Minseok jumps a little, his phone clattering on the marble table when it lands.


“What’s wrong?” Minseok asks worriedly.


Leaning forward, Sehun makes sure that Minseok’s as close as he can get. He’s practically lying on the table but Sehun could care less about technicalities like that at the moment because, “Yixing looked in our direction! He saw me staring at him!” he whispers. It’s not really much of a whisper, too much volume and embarrassment masking Sehun’s original intent, but again, technicalities.


Minseok’s face smoothes out from one of concern to one of amusement. “Well maybe if you stopped ogling at his ass, then you wouldn’t have this problem.”


“I wasn’t-” Sehun coughs before leaning forward and saying, quieter, “I wasn’t ogling.”


Minseok raises one unimpressed eyebrow. Sehun slumps. “Okay maybe I was, but I’ll have you know that his lips are also very nice to look at.”


“Oh, I know,” Minseok says lowly, so lowly that Sehun almost misses it, but he knows how much Minseok likes Yixing’s lips. A smirk tilts the corner of his own lips up, Minseok immediately saying, “Don’t you dare.”


Humming, Sehun leans back in the booth. His heart stutters when Minseok’s eyes focus on him, his downturned eyebrows making him look grumpy, but all Sehun sees is how cute Minseok is and God, Sehun really loves him.


“Do I need to remind you-”


“Hyung!” Sehun cries before Minseok can continue. Minseok’s the one smirking now.


“What?”


“We’ve been over this time and time again that it wasn’t- hyung! Don’t look in his direction!” he hisses once he notices that Minseok isn’t look at him but over his shoulder, most likely at Yixing.


“Oh, so you can appreciate the view, but I can’t? That’s a little unfair, don’t you think?”


Sehun sputters, flailing for something to say and coming up with nothing. A sudden warmth in his hand has Sehun looking down, dumbly staring at the fingers intertwined with his before looking back up. Sehun melts at Minseok’s stare, something that happens again and again and again, but how else is Sehun supposed to react when Minseok’s looking at him so lovingly?


“You’re cute,” Minseok states and now Sehun sputters for a different reason. Minseok’s soft laughter reaches his ears, Sehun’s personal music box that he could listen to for forever.


They sit in the shop a little longer, their drinks long having gotten cold, but neither care too much.


They’re just leaving, Minseok’s fingers tightly woven with his, when Sehun looks up and, right at that moment, makes eye contact with Yixing. Sehun freezes, feeling tiny under Yixing’s sharp gaze, the other male’s eyes flickering down before flitting back up. Sehun doesn’t know if it’s just him, but he thinks he sees the corner of Yixing’s lips twitch up, but then again, it might be nothing and Sehun might be just staring at Yixing’s plump bottom lip.


An inquisitive call of his name breaks him from the eye contact. Next to him, Minseok has his head tilted, fingers squeezing before relaxing.


Sehun simply shakes his head, Minseok nodding in understanding. They head towards the door again, but Sehun can’t fight the urge to look back one last time. He’s disappointed when all he sees is the black shirt covering Yixing’s back.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun’s in for a very rude surprise the next time he and Minseok manage to find time to go to the coffee shop. Yixing’s just as handsome as usual and Sehun zooms in on the way his arms are molded by the white button-up before traveling to the side. Sehun can see the faint outline of very nicely defined pectoral muscles and holy fuck-


“Um, Sehun, please let go. I like my hand and I want to keep using it.”


Sehun jumps at the voice, sparing one glance at Minseok’s face before looking down. He drops Minseok’s hand like he’s just been scalded, eyes wide and apologetic as he looks at his boyfriend.


“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was squeezing that hard.”


Minseok laughs that beautiful laugh of his, a little softer than usual, but no less melodic. “It’s okay, love.” He gets this look on his face, though, one that Sehun knows too well and has learned to be slightly wary of. “If you want to look, just make sure you aren’t holding onto me next time. Or maybe,” His eyes light up even more and Sehun’s already having a hard time breathing; he doesn’t need anything else, “I can wear button-ups more often. Maybe I can wear one the next time we come.”


A strangled noise dies in the back of Sehun’s throat, eyes closing because he simply can’t deal with the mental image. Minseok in a button-up is deadly – any color ranging from navy blue to white to his personal favorite of red – and Yixing in a button-up is deadly. Putting them together in the same room is basically asking for Sehun’s health to plummet to the depths of Hell.


A gentle pat to his butt brings him out of his daze, a shiver running down his spine when Minseok whispers directly into his ear. “Your turn to order today. Don’t get too distracted.”


Sehun can practically hear the smirk in his voice but he’s sauntering away before Sehun can even think of a response. For such a tiny man, Minseok sure holds a lot of power in his hands.


Sehun gives himself a little pep talk as he waits in line. Deep breathing, he tells himself. As long as he doesn’t stare at Yixing’s chest for too long, everything should be alright. It’s such a nice chest, though, one that strains against the fabric its hiding behind. Sehun might be seeing things, but he thinks that if he looks hard enough, he might be able to see the outline of a nipple, the same one that caused his breathing to stutter no more than a minute ago.


“Next!”


Shit he thinks, eyes dragging up from a chest to sparkling, yet gentle, eyes.


“How may I help you?” Yixing wonders and dear God, his dimple is out to say hello. Sehun can’t do this without wheezing.


“Uh,” Sehun says rather intelligently. “I’ll get a white hot chocolate and a...” Damn it, Minseok didn’t tell him what he wanted. Sehun squints at the menu, quickly picking the first thing his eyes land on. “Vanilla Frappuccino?” Minseok likes just about every type of coffee in the book, so this shouldn’t end up too badly.


Yixing tells him how much is due with another smile, Sehun’s arm shaking as heavily as his legs when he hands the money over. A little part of him squeals on the inside when their fingers brush and that’s the moment he realizes he’s being utterly ridiculous, like a little school girl talking to her crush for the first time. Sehun is twenty-two, damn it. He shouldn’t be acting like this.


Yet how is he supposed to act around someone as attractive as Yixing? It had been the same with Minseok all those years ago in high school, but back then, it was okay to be slightly awkward because puberty and “finding oneself” and all that jazz. Now, though? He’s a college graduate; he’s taken his fair share of writing courses, hell even took some English courses and those weren’t even required, yet Sehun’s brain is blanking on both English and Korean right now.


A few bills and coins are pressed into his open palm, thin fingers gently closing his grip for him.


“You’re order number twelve,” Yixing says with another smile. Sehun wants to know if he’s ever not smiling, but then again, he wants Yixing to smile all the time, show the world how beautiful it is and let the selfish part of him bask in the beauty of it.


“Congratulations,” Minseok says when Sehun stumbles his way over, a dazed look no doubt on his face.


“Thanks,” Sehun responds. It could’ve been better, but it also could’ve been worse.


“That wasn’t really a compliment,” Minseok says with a snicker, causing Sehun to whine.


“Why not? At least I didn’t run into the counter this time.”


“True, but you stood and stared as his chest for a few seconds as he was ringing up your order.”


Sehun blanches. “I did?” He thought he only did that before he ordered...damn, that’s unfortunate. This is why he didn’t want to go order! Minseok knows how embarrassing he can be sometimes, but he always brushes it off and tells Sehun that it’s endearing instead of mortifying. Sehun has yet to believe him.


Minseok shrugs. “Yeah, but I was staring, too, so I would say you’re okay.”


“But you’re sitting all the way over here,” Sehun hisses. “He’s not going to notice you.”


Minseok smirks. “I never said it was fair, did I? Besides, you should be lucky that you got to see it up close. Too bad it wasn’t as personal as you would’ve liked.”


Minseok outrights laughs when Sehun slumps down with a whine. Sehun’s heart skips a beat at the sound, but he continues to pout. He refuses to let Minseok show how affected he is by his laugh right now. “You’re awful.”


“You love me,” Minseok sing-songs.


“I wonder why sometimes,” he murmurs. Their number gets called, Sehun nudging Minseok in the shin with his shoe. “You get it. I’m too hurt to get up.”


“Yes, your majesty,” Minseok teases before sliding out of the booth. It doesn’t take him too much longer to get back, sliding the cup in front of Sehun as he cradles his own.


“What did you get me?” Minseok wonders. He sniffs the cup, brows furrowing. “Vanilla?”


Sehun hums. “Vanilla Frappuccino. I just ordered the first thing I saw since someone didn’t tell me what they wanted.” He narrows his eyes in his boyfriend’s direction. Minseok responds with his signature gummy smile.


“I had faith you were going to get something good and you did.”


Sehun flushes at the praise, valiantly trying to fight it down by focusing on gently spinning his cup as he waits for his drink to cool down enough to consume without fear of burning his tongue. He watches Minseok as he takes a sip, eyes closing and mouth parting in bliss.


“Why is Yixing so good at making coffee?” Minseok moans.


“He makes really nice hot chocolate, too,” Sehun points out.


Minseok sends him an affectionate smile. “I’ll always love how you don’t like coffee but come here for me anyways. Although, I suppose you also come for Yixing now.”


“Hyung!” Sehun whines. Minseok simply chuckles and takes another sip of his drink, repeating his earlier sentiments about the coffee almost exactly.


“If he ever accepts our invitation to come into the relationship, I’m not going to be ashamed about asking him to make me coffee everyday,” Minseok says. He’s staring at the cup in his hands like it holds all of the answers to the universe, his eyes bright. They only shine this way when he’s drinking coffee, but Minseok has many different expressions. Sehun’s had the joy of figuring them out over the years and he’s still learning, a constant surprise and wonder in front of him. Sehun finds it so beautiful.


“Awful,” Sehun teases, but Minseok’s shrugging and smiling that smile that causes his eyebrows to shoot up and his gums to show.


“What can I say? I know what I want and I’m not ashamed to go for it.”


Oh, Sehun knows that well, very personally. He blushes just thinking about all of the times he’s been on the receiving end of Minseok’s very bold, very brazen advances. Yet he was nice about it, because while he’s forward, he’s only that way when he feels the other person’s interested. Sehun remembers the gradual build-up, the transition from casual touches and smiles to hugs and smiles against his lips, but most of all, all the blushing and stumbling through it all. He wouldn’t trade it for the world.


“You’re thinking back to high school, aren’t you?”


Sehun blinks out of his daze enough to nod. Minseok’s smile is soft before it turns sultry. Sehun knows that expression all too well and it’s not going to be good for him.


“Which time? Maybe our twelfth date? The one where we got to my house and-”


“Stop!” Sehun cries, his cheeks as red as a rose.


“I don’t remember you telling me to stop when-”


“Minseok hyung!” Sehun’s doesn’t know how many times he’s whined in the last twenty minutes, but he’s going to bet it’s been more than five times. “Why do you do this to me?”


“It’s fun seeing you so flustered,” Minseok responds cheekily.


“I hope that Yixing teases you all the time,” Sehun grumbles. “Then you’ll finally be on the receiving end of it.”


Minseok hums around his cup and Sehun can see the ways his eyes curve up and knows he’s smiling. “Maybe.”


☆ ❄ ✿


The blaring of an alarm wakes Sehun up the next morning.


He automatically clings to Minseok tighter. “No,” he moans, elongating the word.


Sehun feels the kiss Minseok presses to his forehead through his warm cocoon and cloud of Minseok, Minseok, Minseok.


“I have to get up,” Minseok whispers.


Sehun simply clings tighter, wrapping his arms and legs around Minseok to prevent him from going anywhere. It’s times like this where Sehun’s thankful for his lanky form.


He squeals when Minseok jabs him in the ribs, his carefully crafted form unraveling like a ribbon.


“It’s too early, come back to bed,” Sehun mumbles as he paws at the air. He knows Minseok’s already gone, can hear the water running in the bathroom as Minseok washes his face, so Sehun drops his arm and curls up to try and retain some of Minseok’s residual heat.


Sehun shifts around, roused from sleep when Minseok opens and closes drawers to get ready for the day. Tendrils of sleep are clinging to Sehun in a thin web, dragging him down back into the land of dreams. He fights to keep his eyes open since he wants to see Minseok off, but it’s getting more difficult as the seconds tick on.


The rustling of clothes is the thing that pries Sehun’s eyelids apart. He takes in the smooth contours of Minseok’s legs, the powerful shape of his thighs, the dips and ridges of his stomach and Sehun’s very much awake now. He doesn’t get to see Minseok strip some days, too tired and warm to keep his eyes open, but he always appreciates it when he does, greedily taking in every inch of skin revealed to him.


Minseok smirks as he walks towards Sehun. He looks so, so handsome in his fitted slacks and button-up, Sehun all but dragging Minseok down by the collar when he gets close enough. Their kiss is short, Sehun chasing Minseok’s lips for another when he pulls away.


A noise of protest falls from his lips when Minseok pries his hands away.


“I’ll see you later. Go back to sleep,” Minseok whispers.


And as much as Sehun wants another kiss, sleep sounds pretty inviting at the moment.


“Don’t forget to eat breakfast,” he mumbles before falling back to the pillows and the comfort they provide. He barely hears the bedroom door closing before he’s pulled back into his dreams.


☆ ❄ ✿


The same thing more or less happens the next day. Sehun drowsily wakes up when Minseok starts shuffling around, he demands for Minseok to come back to bed, he gets a kiss, and he falls back asleep. It’s a kind of routing they’ve had going for years now. More than once, Minseok had expressed how sorry he felt that he woke up Sehun almost every morning, but Sehun has always brushed it off saying that it’s okay, that he gets something out of it, that he doesn’t mind watching Minseok strip in front of him and then get a kiss after. Minseok had hit his arm, but it was weak, one not meant to hit but to do it just to do it.


Sehun stumbles out of bed an hour shy of noon. He runs a hand through his hair as he blearily walks to the kitchen to find a snack to tide him over until he’s awake enough to attempt lunch, eyes lighting up when he spies two cupcakes in a container. Two minutes later and they’re both gone, washed down with a glass of milk. Smacking his lips happily, Sehun flops down on the couch and turns the television on. He needs to wake himself up before he even attempts to work, so an hour of television doesn’t sound too bad, he tells himself. It’s really just an excuse, but Minseok’s home, so he can do whatever the hell he wants as long as he doesn’t burn the place down or cause a flood or something equally as terrible. He had been close to the fire situation once before, but Minseok had luckily been there to help him.


“I don’t want to,” Sehun mumbles to no one once his allotted hour is up. He does have a deadline coming up around the corner, though, and while Baekhyun’s a generally cheery person, he can be incredibly vicious when it comes to deadlines. Sehun’s ass would be the thing on fire instead of the stove.


Flopping down with a sigh, Sehun turns the television off and drags his papers out from the little desk built into their coffee table. It only takes one look at where he left off to realize why he stopped where he did.


“Stupid self,” he sighs. He can be a real asshole to his future self when he leaves scenes half-finished because he didn’t have inspiration or drive to continue them at the time. Now he has to go back and read the last few pages to re-immerse himself in the plot and hopefully figure out where he’s going to go next.


At least he has some of the text written out. He hopes that he doesn’t have to trash it because, if he remembers correctly, it’s one of the wittier scenes he’s managed to come up with which is always a plus for him because he’s as witty as a blank white board.


As he’s reading, he realizes how obvious he can be sometimes. His latest graphic novel is set in a coffee shop, with numerous details about the smell, the atmosphere, the people, the everything. There’s even a cute male working at the cashier station that may or may not look a little like Yixing and the main character may or may not be a little like Sehun and Minseok. Maybe. Maybe not.


Sehun barely resists the urge to bang his head against the coffee table. It’s a good thing Yixing’s never going to see this. Minseok will, though, and he’ll probably do the same thing he always does - smile that doting smile of his and say, “You're so cute, Sehunnie.”


Sehun's wasted enough time as it is daydreaming about what will most likely come true in five or so hours. He wiggles around to get comfortable before immersing himself in the lines, the shading, the way his pencil delicately caresses the parchment as he tries to get the curve of the coffee cup correct.


He doesn’t know what time it is when he leans back, his back cracking in protest from being hunched over for so long. Sehun hums as he stretches towards the ceiling, but he can’t afford a long break. He’s on a roll and he only has a few more pages to do before the deadline. If he’s lucky, he can get two more pages done by the time Minseok comes home. With resolve, he picks up his B pencil and gets back to work.


Sehun just about jumps out of his skin when he hears a key being inserted into their lock. Has it really been that long? Sehun could’ve sworn that it was just noon and he was just on page thirty-two.


The smell of freshly-made chicken greets Sehun the same time Minseok verbally greets Sehun. It doesn’t take long for Minseok to stride into the living room, dropping the bag down on the couch before leaning over Sehun to see his progress for the day.


Minseok smiles when he sees the page, eyes roving over the inky coloring of the barista’s hair in one panel and the swirling aroma of the main character's coffee cup in another.


And lo and behold – “You're so cute, Sehunnie,” Minseok says with an affectionate smile. “What kind of coffee are you having us drink this time?”


Sehun flushes, heart fluttering about because Minseok sounds so proud with a hint of joy. Sehun loves when Minseok’s happy, especially when he’s the cause of it, no matter how small. “Vanilla Frappuccino.”


Minseok's smile drops, Sehun panicking because he had thought that the idea was cute. “That's not a hot drink, love. There wouldn't be any steam coming out of the cup.”


Sehun’s pouting and he knows it. He doesn’t want to change it because it makes it more meaningful for him, but if he has to for the sake of accuracy, he’s going to. “What do you want right now?” Sehun asks, peering up at Minseok.


“Right now? Probably just a regular cup of coffee.”


“Lame,” Sehun mumbles, but changes the text anyways. “Who the heck would order that at a coffee shop?”


“That wasn't the question,” Minseok teases, Sehun sending him a glare because he knew what the question was for. “Okay, okay.” Minseok laughs.


“I think I deserve a kiss for the pain you just put me through.”


Minseok arches a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Do you now?”


“Yes.” Before Minseok has time to respond, Sehun wraps a hand around Minseok’s tie and tugs gently because while he wants a kiss, he’s not going to choke Minseok out while getting it. Their lips meet in a chaste kiss that gets prolonged when Minseok swipes his tongue across the seam of Sehun’s lips. With a content sigh, Sehun parts his lips and lets Minseok do what he wants. He’s feeling a little cheeky, so when he feels Minseok start to pull back, he suctions around Minseok’s tongue, enjoying the way Minseok moans at the contact.


“Brat,” Minseok says, but it’s more of a pant than anything. His cheeks are a healthy shade of pink, his eyes slightly darkened. Sehun can’t resist Minseok whenever he looks like that, so he leans up for another kiss.


“Okay,” Minseok chuckles as he pulls back. “We need to eat. I’m pretty sure you haven't even eaten lunch.”


The growling of Sehun’s stomach confirms it for him. “You know me so well,” Sehun sighs with a possibly dreamy quality tacked on.


“That’s what boyfriends are for,” Minseok says before kissing Sehun’s cheek. The smell of chicken is more prominent when it’s right under Sehun’s nose, his stomach automatically rumbling in desperation. Working together, the both of them manage to clear the coffee table only to put other stuff on top within a few minutes.


“Thank you!” Sehun chimes right before taking a large bite of chicken, eyes curving up at the flavors all combining to create heaven on his tongue.


“Easy,” Minseok chides when Sehun stuffs another large piece in his mouth, followed by a chuck of rice. Sehun whines, but does as told. He doesn’t want to repeat that one time Minseok almost had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him when he‘d eaten too quickly. It wouldn’t have been a bad experience, especially if CPR would’ve been involved, but he likes living. Choking on a grain of rice isn’t the way he wants to go, and at such a young age, too.


Dinner’s a quiet affair, but that’s usually how it is. They don’t need to be constantly talking to each other, both content in each other’s presence, and that’s one of the things that Sehun loves about their relationship, about them. He’s not the most articulate with words at all times, so he appreciates when Minseok gives him a little break, when he brushes his knee against Sehun’s or when he slides his hand into Sehun’s. Minseok’s actions never fail to send Sehun’s heart into overdrive.


“Are you up for some Mandarin today?” Minseok asks as he stands up and starts clearing the take-out boxes away once their bellies are full and warm.


“Yes!” Sehun answers right away. No matter how tired he is, or how much work he’s done for the day, he’ll always be up for studying Chinese. “Why did you even ask when you knew what my answer would be?”


Minseok shrugs, placing the styrofoam container back in the paper bag. “I wanted to give you the chance to say no.”


“It will never be no,” Sehun affirms. He can already feel the excitement running through his veins, mind going over the words they learned a few days prior.


“What if it’s two in the morning?”


Sehun stares at Minseok as he walks to the kitchen to throw away their trash. Or well, he stares at Minseok’s butt, but who’s counting? Sehun’s simply enjoying the view that’s presented to him in the form of Minseok’s ass in form-fitting slacks. “Why would you even be awake at that time?”


“Don’t know,” Minseok calls back. “Maybe I just want to learn Chinese at two in the morning.”


“Then you’re going to be alone,” Sehun responds. He looks around their bookshelf for their textbooks and workbooks, a smile lighting his face up when he locates them.


Sehun’s just putting them on the coffee table when Minseok walks back in with an arched eyebrow. “What happened to ‘It will never be no’?”


“It will never be no as long as the time is reasonable,” Sehun amends. “Now hurry and change, I want to start already.”


“Pushy,” Minseok grumbles, but he goes off to their bedroom anyways. He re-emerges looking warm in a pair of black sweats and an old red shirt. Sehun whines. Minseok knows red is Sehun’s favorite color on him. Combine that with the fact that Minseok looks soft and cuddly, hair no longer styled up, form no longer business-like, and all Sehun wants to do is settle down for late night snuggles.


“Okay,” Minseok says as he plops down next to Sehun. “Want to go over the words from last week first? Then maybe some sentences and grammar?”


Sehun hates grammar the most, but it’s an integral part of learning languages. They go through the words, or well, Sehun stumbles through some of the pronunciation and Minseok corrects him. At least he has the general idea down, though, a far cry from the confusion he constantly felt when they were first starting.


“We’re supposed to be learning this at the same time, but I feel like you’re more of a teacher than anything,” Sehun comments, highlighting a particularly difficult pronunciation.


He spies Minseok shrugging from the corner of his eye. “You’re better at vocabulary and I’m better at pronunciation. It’s a trade-off.”


Sehun’s always been envious of the way the syllables roll off Minseok’s tongue with ease. “You help me more than I help you, though.”


“Maybe you should practice more, then.” It’s not said to be malicious, Sehun knows that. Their relationship is always full of teasing more than anything, a constant push and pull dynamic that just works for them.


There’s just a little something missing, a certain sparkly-eyed, handsome barista that Sehun (and Minseok) has no doubt will complete their little puzzle.


A little later, Sehun shuffles around, peering at Minseok with his concentrated face and posture. He sees the corners of Minseok’s lips lift up.


“Yes, love?”


Sehun wiggles around again, feeling shy. “Can you help me with this sentence?”


“Of course,” Minseok says, scooting over even if they weren’t really that far away to begin with. A little twinkle appears in Minseok’s eyes when he reads the sentence over, Sehun flushing a healthy shade of scarlet. “Oh, this one.”


“I want to be confident when I say it,” Sehun says in an attempt to explain himself.


Chuckling softly, Minseok reads it one more time. “Okay, it’s good but...”


They spend the rest of the evening going over past lessons and learning a new one, Sehun smirking triumphantly when Minseok has to ask him how to say something.


The both of them call it a day two hours later. Sehun groans when he turns and his back cracks, flexing his fingers to get some feeling back into them.


“Want to shower first?” Sehun asks, but he’s pretty sure that all Minseok heard was a mash of words with no breaks in between from how tired he is.


Minseok knows him well enough to know what he’s asking, though. “Mmm you can go first. It looks like you’re going to fall over, although I don’t know why since you haven’t even been up for twelve hours.”


“Sleep’s good,” Sehun mumbles, almost knocking into the wall when he goes to turn the corner. He hears Minseok’s husky chuckle and smiles.


When he comes back – now slightly more awake than before his shower – he spies Minseok reading over his textbook. He softens. While it might seem like Minseok isn’t that interested in learning the language to other people, Sehun knows that Minseok cares more about this than Sehun himself does, which is saying a lot.


“You should go to sleep,” Sehun says softly. Minseok jumps, too absorbed in his studies that Sehun assumes he hadn’t even heard him walk up. Minseok looks cute when he reaches up to rub at his eyes, Sehun fighting back the urge to coo.


“Is it that late?” Minseok mutters, blearily looking around for a clock and slumping when he realizes it’s nearing midnight.


“Yeah and you still need to shower, so let’s go. I’ll clean this up in the morning.”


A sleepy Minseok is a clingy, pliant Minseok. The older man practically drapes himself over Sehun, both hands clinging to Sehun’s bicep to keep himself upright. It’s times like this where Sehun finds Minseok so incredibly small, so incredibly adorable, that he can’t help but place a kiss to the crown of Minseok’s head. His heart skips a beat at the sleepy smile Minseok sends him and he’s so, so in love.


He climbs into bed after sending Minseok off to the shower and he’s just pulling the covers up to his shoulders when he hears the water running. He means to stay awake until Minseok gets in bed with him, his phone serving to keep him distracted long enough, but his eyes start dropping after the fourth puzzle on one of his games.


No, he chides himself when his eyes start slipping shut again. He’s so warm and bundled up that he starts dozing off once more, eyes snapping open after a few seconds. The pattern continues, Sehun barely registering the water shutting off through his drowsy state of mind.


Soon, there’s a warm body pressing against him, Sehun unceremoniously reaching over Minseok and dropping his phone on the bedside table before throwing an arm around Minseok and bringing him close.


“You smell nice,” Sehun says into Minseok’s hair. The scent of apple and something that’s purely Minseok is strong, still fresh from the shower. Sehun takes another deep breath, feeling completely at ease, his heartbeat slowing down to a gentle beat.


Minseok burrows closer into Sehun’s side, throwing a leg over Sehun’s hip. “Thanks. You smell nice, too.”


“Night,” Sehun whispers, sleep suddenly pouncing on him and leaving him compliant to its wishes.


The last thing he hears before descending into slumber is Minseok’s soft “Good night.” He squeezes Minseok’s hip before falling asleep with Minseok cuddled in his arms, right where he fits perfectly.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun’s bouncing his way down the street, tugging a bemused Minseok with him. It’s been two weeks since they’ve been able to find time to go on their little coffee shop dates. Sehun had practically begged Minseok to go today, mind going foggy with all the time he’s been spending in their apartment. He also knows Minseok hasn’t had much of a break at work recently, what with a new product about to be launched, and he had figured they could use the destresser.


“Calm down, love,” Minseok calls, but Sehun ignores him. He’s been dying to see Yixing again – his weeks just haven’t felt right without Yixing in them.


Except he’s in for a rude awakening when he opens the door and sees honey blond behind the counter instead of the midnight black he had been expecting.


“Hi!” Lu Han chirps, his usual bright countenance just as sunny as usual. Sehun hopes his face doesn’t fall too noticeably or that he’s not too obvious as he looks around the shop for the person he came for.


He doesn’t seem to succeed in his nonchalant endeavor for Lu Han says, “Yixing isn’t working today, sorry. But at least you have me!”


“I don’t want you,” Sehun mutters, but it’s too low for Lu Han to hear. Minseok rubs soothing circles on the back of his hand.


“Do you want to go?” Minseok wonders.


“No, no.” While this dampens his spirits a little, he could still use the break and the delicious drinks.


“What can I get you handsome guys today?” Lu Han’s eyes twinkle as he asks this, but Sehun notes that it’s not the same twinkle that Yixing has.


“A small white hot chocolate please,” Sehun says.


Minseok hums. “A large Americano.”


“Coming right up!” Lu Han says happily. Sehun wonders if Lu Han’s ever anything less than a beaming ray of sunshine or a bird that always chirps so loudly it wakes everyone up in the morning. Sehun’s talked with Lu Han a few times in the past and every time, he never fails to have a bright smile and positive attitude. It’s cute and Sehun likes it, but there’s only so much he can take at a time.


“He’s certainly a happy one,” Minseok comments, swinging their hands back and forth on the short trek to their usual table.


“It must be interesting working with him, that’s for sure. Sometimes I’m glad I have nothing but the company of our four walls, but I’ll admit it gets a little lonely every once in a while.”


“I would try to visit more if I could, but it’s a little...”


“Useless?” Sehun supplies. He sends Minseok a smile, the one that he knows causes his eyes to turn into the crescents that Minseok loves so much. “It’s okay, I know it wouldn’t be worth the trip. Maybe I can see you some time?”


“No,” Minseok responds immediately, Sehun’s heart dropping. “Remember what happened last time?”


“Oh,” Sehun says in understanding, lips quirking up. “You mean Jongdae.”


“Don’t speak his name,” Minseok hisses. Sehun laughs as he squeezes Minseok’s hands over the table.


“You’re so cute when you’re jealous.”


“I’m not jealous. How could I be jealous when you and I love each other? And Yixing eventually if things work out.”


A shiver runs down Sehun’s spine at the little tack on. Sehun will always be grateful for Minseok, for him being so understanding about Yixing. Sehun remembers crying when he had told Minseok, bawling even harder when Minseok said he had been in a three-way relationship at one point for a little while so it was completely fine.


But even though Sehun feels butterflies, he knows what Minseok’s trying to do even if Minseok doesn’t know it himself. “Don’t try and deflect the topic. I remember Jongdae very well.”


“He’s very...interesting,” Minseok allows.


Interesting doesn’t even cover Jongdae, but he’ll let it go. “I’ll try and stay away from him?”


Minseok thinks it over, but Sehun can see the way his eyes are sparkling just thinking about having him in the office. His boyfriend is so cute.


“Just tell me when and I’ll make it,” Sehun says cheekily, making the decision for Minseok even though they both already knew the answer.


Their names get called, Sehun pushing up and away from the booth easily. He forgets that Lu Han’s going to be the one that greets him with their drinks, but it’s too late to turn back; Lu Han’s already noticed him.


“Here you go,” Lu Han says. “And don’t worry your pretty little head, Yixing will be back again. Tell your boyfriend that I’m not going to do anything to you, either. He looks like he’s trying to stare a hole through my head.” He sounds disturbingly cheery as he says that, pushing their drinks towards Sehun before flouncing off to make another drink.


Sehun blinks, taking the cups in a daze. He wonders if they’re really that see-through that Lu Han, whom he’s never had a legitimate conversation with until now, can tell that they’re into Yixing. It’s even weirder how Lu Han automatically assumed they were trying to add Yixing into their equation, or maybe that’s just Sehun’s over-thinking kicking in. It’s a habit, the ability to pick up the tiniest of details and expressions effortlessly due to his job.


“What did he say?” Minseok asks just as Sehun sits down.


Sehun can’t help but laugh. “Nothing, really. Just that Yixing would be back soon and that you were trying to glare holes through his head.”


Minseok blinks like he’s just realized it before shrugging. “Oh well.”


“I don’t think you have to worry about him,” Sehun teases. “He’s cute, but he’s not you.”


“Or...?” Minseok asks, his usual teasing tone back full force.


“You know who else,” Sehun mumbles shyly.


Minseok chuckles, Sehun’s heart fluttering at the simple sound. “You’re the cutest when you’re being teased.”


“And you’re the worst when you’re doing the teasing,” Sehun fires back.


“You love me,” Minseok coos and Sehun can’t even deny that if he tried.


Sehun keeps his focus on Minseok throughout their outing, Minseok poking him in the ribs when they walk outside. Lu Han had sent them a very enthusiastic send off as they were throwing their cups away, Sehun blushing at the attention they received.


“It was nice to have your full attention in there for once,” Minseok comments cheekily.


“And what about you? Don’t even try and tell me that you don’t peek over my shoulder when Yixing’s around.”


“I don’t,” Minseok deadpans, but it’s not long before both of them are bursting with laughter.


Minseok’s arm naturally finds its way around Sehun’s waist, Sehun’s curling around Minseok’s shoulders as they walk down the street and towards their apartment.


☆ ❄ ✿


“Rise and shine, love,” is the first thing Sehun hears early Saturday morning.


He rolls over with a groan, hoping that maybe if he buries his face far enough into the pillow, Minseok will leave him alone. Sehun knows it doesn’t work for ostriches, but maybe it will for him.


Unfortunately, he has just as much luck as an ostrich, a slap to the butt causing him to yelp and glare at Minseok.


“You’re about as scary as a kitten right now,” Minseok croons.


“I don’t want to,” Sehun says, muffled by the pillow he’s dropped himself back on.


“I’ll slap you again if I have to.”


That gets Sehun moving, sighing as he throws the blankets off himself. “I’ll have you know,” he mumbles sleepily, “that my ass is great and it doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment.”


“That’s not what you said that one time-”


Sehun quickly slaps a hand over Minseok’s mouth, now almost entirely awake. “One time,” he hisses. “You enjoyed it, too, if I remember correctly.”


Minseok gets the glazed look to his eyes, no doubt thinking back to that day. “We both did.”


Sehun’s inclined to say that he got the better end even if his ass stung the entire next day, but he refrains.


“Why did you even wake me up?” Sehun asks as he rifles through their dresser for some shorts and a shirt. He changes right there – it’s not like Minseok hasn’t seen everything already anyways. Sehun’s just thankful he doesn’t have morning wood or anything to worry about, although Minseok getting him off would be a nice way to start the day.


“I knew you would forget. We’re making cupcakes?”


The light bulbs flashes on, Sehun’s jaw dropping open slightly. “Right.”


“Right,” Minseok repeats, a laugh following right after. “It wasn’t your idea, so that’s probably why you didn’t remember.”


Sehun’s going to refute, but then closes his mouth because yeah, Minseok’s right. He always is.


Minseok threads their fingers together when Sehun reaches him, reaching up to give Sehun a kiss. “Morning.”


Sehun smiles automatically. “Morning.”


“I already set everything out,” Minseok says as they approach the kitchen.


Everything goes fine until Minseok flicks some flour at Sehun. He puts the spoon down, slowly look over at his boyfriend. “Did you just do what I think you did?”


Minseok’s smile is cheeky. “Maybe.”


“Oh, you’re in for it.” Minseok shrieks when Sehun charges at him. “Come back here!”


“Never!” Minseok yells as he runs around the couch. Whenever Sehun goes left, Minseok does, too. It’s a never ending circle, Sehun’s eyes scanning the corner that Minseok has to turn if he wants to go to the right. Sehun’s relatively fast; he might be able to catch Minseok if he tries.


Sehun goes for it, Minseok darting off and Sehun puts on an extra burst of speed. He grins when he catches up, throwing his arms around Minseok and lifting him off the ground to spin a few times.


“No,” Minseok elongates the word out into an almost-whine, kicking his legs about to try and get down, but it’s futile.


“Got you,” Sehun says right next to Minseok’s ear when he stops turning, planting a large, sloppy kiss on Minseok’s cheek. He sees the way Minseok’s nose scrunches up at the contact so he decides to blow a raspberry on the same spot.


“Hun!” Minseok cries. “Gross!”


“We swap spit all the time, this shouldn’t be any different.”


“But this time it’s on my cheek.”


“Maybe you shouldn’t have flicked flour on my face,” Sehun responds, fingers ghosting across Minseok’s toned stomach in order to get a shiver. Except he feels a little more definition than he had been expecting, Sehun’s eyes widening when he passes across Minseok’s stomach one more time.


“Have you been working out?”


“Yes.” Minseok sounds so proud, so happy, that Sehun can’t help but kiss Minseok’s cheek again. He’s always thought that Minseok’s perfect, but if this is what makes Minseok happy, then it makes him happy as well.


“At least kiss me properly,” Minseok grumbles, Sehun’s eyebrows shooting up.


“Demanding.” He turns Minseok around anyways, never one to pass up a few kisses. Minseok hums against his lips before pulling back slightly, eyes trained on Sehun’s.


“Have you by chance been working on your arms as well?” Sehun asks as emotionlessly as he can, hoping his excitement doesn’t betray him.


Minseok raises an eyebrow but nods nonetheless, Sehun internally cheering, mind whirring through all of the power that Minseok has attained.


“Oh,” Minseok says suddenly. Sehun winces from the flick delivered to his forehead. “Dirty.”


“Guilty as charged. Now that my map has changed, I might have to explore again,” Sehun whispers, smiling when Minseok shivers against him.


“Later,” he promises. “Right now, though, we need to finish these cupcakes.”


Sehun lets out a sigh, detaching himself with difficulty. “Fine, but you promised.”


Minseok’s cat-like eyes turn dark as they look up at Sehun, the fire in them one that Sehun’s very familiar with. “I won’t forget and neither will you.”


And then he’s walking away. Sehun swears that there’s a little extra swing in his hips and he groans. How is he supposed to focus on cupcakes now?


Later, Sehun finds out just how strong Minseok’s arms have become as they help him bounce on Minseok’s cock. He also gets to see Minseok’s abs painted in white after he fucks him until Minseok’s begging for release.


“Next time,” Sehun says as he catches his breath, “next time, my lips and I are going to take my time with you and your abs.”


Minseok simply groans.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun smiles when he walks into the coffee shop the following weekend, a familiar male making a cup of coffee behind the counter.


Minseok pats his butt softly to urge him forward. “It’s our lucky day,” Minseok says near Sehun’s ear, a shiver flowing from his head to his toes at the close proximity.


“Every day is lucky when I’m with you,” Sehun replies, dropping a quick kiss to Minseok’s lips when he blushes. Sehun always considers it a win when he’s the one that does the teasing since it doesn’t happen often.


“Hello,” Yixing greets in that soft voice of his when they step up to the counter. A hand nudges Sehun’s from behind him, but Sehun ignores it thinking that it’s just Minseok teasing him again.


“Hi,” Minseok replies and Sehun can tell from the tone alone that he’s smiling his gummy smile that Sehun loves so much. His hand gets nudged again as Minseok and Yixing chat mindlessly, Sehun’s eyebrows furrowing when he sees the container Minseok’s trying to press into his hand. And then he remembers the leftover cupcake they were going to give to Yixing.


“What would you like, Sehun?”


Sehun almost drops the container he’s just acquired, eyes widening. He’s pretty sure he’s never told Yixing his name before, but it sounds so, so nice in Yixing’s voice that he doesn’t even care.


“Passion fruit tea?” It comes out as more of a question, but if Yixing notices it, he doesn’t say anything, just adds it to their order with a small smile.


“This is for you,” Sehun blurts as he holds out the cupcake in its clear container after Yixing hands him their change. It’s not as smooth as he would’ve liked, but at least he didn’t spit or anything. Everything’s fine.


Yixing looks adorably confused as he stares at the container before a smile blooms on his face. It’s a good thing there isn’t anyone behind them in line because Sehun freezes at the sheer beauty of Yixing’s smile.


“Me?” Yixing asks.


“Yeah,” Sehun says, one of his hands letting go to rub the back of his neck. “We made cupcakes last weekend and we had extras so we thought we would give you one.” It had actually been Minseok’s idea, but Sehun wants to make sure Yixing knows it’s from both of them to possibly give Yixing a hint that it isn’t a simple friendly act.


Yixing doesn’t act any differently. He just accepts the gift with a smile and a small, “Thank you,” that’s possibly the sweetest thing that Sehun has ever heard. It sounds so genuine, like he isn’t just saying it to be polite and to get them away from him.


“You’re welcome,” Minseok says, Sehun jumping slightly in surprise. “We hope you like it.”


Then Sehun’s being gently pulled away by the hand, feet tripping over themselves from the unexpected movement.


“God he’s so cute,” Minseok claims once they sit down. “Did you see the way his eyes sparkled as they looked at the cupcake? It was like he was shown heaven for the first time.”


Sehun had been too busy staring at Yixing’s mouth and the way it had been curved up at the corners, to be honest, but it’s not hard to believe Minseok.


“I didn’t think it was possible for someone to be so cute,” Minseok breathes out. Now Sehun’s amused. It’s rare to hear Minseok gushing about Yixing – and according to his friends, Minseok hadn’t done it all too often in high school or college either – so it’s always interesting when it does happen.


“Sexy, too,” Sehun adds, thinking back to Yixing’s lips and his chest when he had been wearing that God forsaken button-up. He has no doubt that Yixing’s hiding some strength under his clothes.


“Yeah,” Minseok says, eyes trained over Sehun’s shoulder.


“I’ll let you get our drinks this time. It will give you a closer look.” Sehun snickers when Minseok’s narrow-eyed gaze shifts to him. Minseok doesn’t argue, though. He isn’t stupid enough to pass up an opportunity to talk to Yixing again, Sehun knows that.


Sehun can’t help but turn and watch their interactions when Minseok walks up to retrieve their order. His heart melts at the sight of them talking, but it also beats out of love, of seeing the two people he cares about interacting and getting one step closer to their possible end game. Yixing’s eyes flicker over to Sehun when Minseok walks away, Sehun quickly turning around with red staining his cheeks.


“He’s so cute,” Minseok sighs and Sehun laughs despite his embarrassment.


“I think we’ve already established that.”


“I’ll keep saying it to you until I can confidently say it to him in Korean or Chinese.”


“I have more faith if your Chinese abilities than mine,” Sehun says before taking a sip of his drink. It’s cool and refreshing, just the right mixture of fruit and sugar. Not for the first time, Sehun wonders what Yixing can’t make because everything he’s had is absolutely delicious.


He’s about to take another sip, already addicted to the sweet taste, when fingers wrap around his wrist. Sehun flails, the juice that had been halfway up his straw lowering due to the lack of suction.


“What the heck, I almost choked, hyung!” he exclaims, not caring that his voice is probably a little too loud to be considered publicly acceptable.


“Look,” Minseok urges, eyes trained on the side of Sehun’s cup. He lets go so Sehun can twist his wrist to see what has Minseok so worked up, his own eyes widening when he sees the writing on the side. Instead of the usual marks indicating what the drink is, right in the middle of the cup are scribbled characters.


Thank you again ^^


On cue, they both look over at Yixing, who’s busy puttering around with one of the machines. And it’s like fate the way he turns around at that exact moment and sees them staring at him. It’s unattractive behavior, but Sehun’s so shocked that he can’t even find it in himself to be embarrassed at the moment.


And then Yixing smiles.


It’s a simple quirk of the lips, but it’s there.


If this is a dream, Sehun doesn’t want to ever wake up.


Yixing goes back to work, seeming to not even mind that there are two men blatantly gawking at him.


“Did you see...” Sehun starts, only to trail off. His mind is still trying to process how utterly adorable Yixing is and what this might mean, if it means anything past simple thankfulness at all.


For the third time that day, Minseok exhales, “He’s the cutest thing on this planet. Sorry, love.”


Sehun can’t even bother to be offended; even he can admit that Yixing’s more precious than him. Sehun suddenly feels the need to wrap Yixing in a blanket and protect him from all the evil in the world which is ridiculous because Yixing’s an adult and he can take care of himself. Sehun’s always been a sucker for cuddles and how adorable people look bundled up, though.


“We should write something back!” Sehun suddenly exclaims, mind whirring with all of the possibilities of what they can do from here.


Minseok stares at him in awe, like he can’t believe he didn’t think of it himself but also like he’s glad Sehun did.


“Let’s wait until next time, though,” Minseok suggests after a few minutes of whispering.


“Okay, we can get a post-it or something.” Sehun starts bouncing, completely excited about these turns of events. Who knew that such a tiny cupcake would lead to such huge improvements?


☆ ❄ ✿


“Hyung, can you read this over for me?” Sehun asks. He’s been staring at this post-it note for the last ten minutes, spent even longer thinking of what to write. Sehun’s handwriting hasn’t been this readable since grade school, but he doesn’t want to give Yixing a message he can’t even read.


“That’s in Korean, Sehun,” Minseok points out what’s already obvious. Sehun’s nowhere near confident enough to write in Chinese no matter how many times Minseok tells him that his handwriting is more than acceptable.


“Yes, but just in case. Please?”


“Okay, okay, silly.”


Sehun pouts. He’s not silly, he’s just careful. He’s read it over at least a dozen times, but he wants every line and curve to be perfect and free of any error.


A warm hand is placed over his, Sehun’s eyes flitting over to Minseok. There’s a tiny smile on his face and his eyes look so soft, Sehun could get lost in them for hours. “You don’t need to worry so much, you know? Everything’s going to work out fine even if it’s not the perfect way you planned it out in your head.”


Minseok always knows what to say, always knows what Sehun’s feeling and how to respond, a fact that Sehun has always been grateful for. Minseok’s like his rock, the thing that keeps him grounded, the thing that prevents him from getting washed away in the shore of his insecurities.


“Thank you,” Sehun says. Minseok kisses him softly, the touch barely there, but Sehun’s toes curl regardless.


“No problem. Now, are you ready to go?”


Sehun nods, clutching onto Minseok’s hand when he moves to pull away. He sends Minseok a sheepish smile when the older man looks at him with a questioning look.


“I don’t want to let go just yet.”


Minseok chuckles softly. “Whatever you want, love. Just promise that you won’t try and break my hand off if Yixing’s wearing a button-up.”


“I can’t,” Sehun deadpans.


Minseok sighs like he’s annoyed, but Sehun can see the way his lips twitch to fight back a smile.


It’s a little hotter than usual when they step out of their building, but they’re both wearing jeans and a light-colored shirt, so it’s not too burdensome. Regardless, Sehun’s always been a bit of a weenie when it comes to warm weather, constantly needing a fan or air conditioner to combat the heat. He hopes that the coffee shop has their air conditioner turned on for the day, both for his sake and the post-it’s sake; he doesn’t want his writing to smudge or for the paper to turn gross and sweaty from being in his hand.


Thankfully the note’s still in one perfect piece by the time they enter the cool shop, Sehun picking up on the whirring of the air conditioning unit. Sehun doesn’t know which one to be thankful for most, but the post-it note’s definitely more important than cold air.


The routine is usual, Minseok tottering off to find a table after telling Sehun his order, Yixing greeting Sehun with a smile, and Sehun relaying the orders. Except Yixing’s smile is different this time, a little brighter than the previous times, a little more personal instead of courteous. And then there’s still the post-it in his hand that he needs to hand over. Stealthily, he sticks it on top of the bills he passes over, biting his lip to not smile so wide when Yixing notices it and sets it to the side for later with a little hum.


“Your drinks will be right out,” Yixing says. Sehun sighs at Yixing’s back and the way he can see the muscles shifting and working underneath the thin fabric of his shirt. He turns and walks to the table Minseok’s sitting at before he can do anything inappropriate, like calling out to Yixing and threading their fingers together once Yixing comes over.


“I did it,” Sehun proclaims proudly, cheekily tapping Minseok’s foot under the table.


“Now to wait and see what he says.” That’s the worst part in Sehun’s opinion. The ball’s no longer in their court, and while he’s not worried about Yixing responding, he’s a little anxious to see what he’ll write, what his handwriting looks like, what his style is. The old literature major in him roars to life at the possibilities. Sehun’s always loved reading people’s handwriting and trying to gauge things from it. It’s just unfortunate that he’s far too impatient to wait in limbo for a few minutes.


There aren’t that many people in the shop today, Sehun humming as he looks around. He remembers the first time he came here with Minseok, a little apprehensive as he wasn't (and still isn’t) a huge coffee drinker. Minseok had wanted to come, though, and he would never deny Minseok anything unless it’s illegal. He didn’t have to worry about anything, though, because now, after their apartment and his parent’s house, this quaint little shop is one of Sehun's favorite places to be. It’s not busy the way Starbucks is with a constant whirlwind of customers coming in and out, although for its size, it attracts a fair amount of customers. The music isn’t the typical stuff that can be heard on the radio at all times of the day, but offers more of a mix of low jazz perfect for a coffee shop, ballads, and pop songs from multiple eras and languages. The decorations aren’t gaudy or what Sehun had been expecting at all – it’s much less hipster than he imagined (although there’s a large potted plant in one corner, but he’s pretty sure that’s for giggles), but he’s not complaining.


A nudge to his foot brings him out of his thoughts, a sleepy hum sent towards Minseok.


“You looked like you were either thinking too hard or thinking about something that made you happy. I’m more inclined to go with the latter since your eyes looked droopy, but not in a bad way.”


Sehun raises an eyebrow, but answers nonetheless. “Remember when you first dragged me here?”


“Dragged is a strong word,” Minseok replies. “I prefer ‘nicely brought along to show you the joys of nicely-made drinks’.”


Sehun can’t help but snort although he supposes that’s true. “I distinctly remember you threatening to not kiss me for days when I said I didn’t want to.”


“Oh? I don’t.”


“Oh no, don’t play innocent with me. That was cruel, using kisses as a bargaining tool.” Sehun pouts, Minseok’s eyes going straight towards the motion.


“You know I never would have gone through with it.”


“Do I now?”


Minseok nods, still solely focused on Sehun’s lips even though he’s no longer pouting. “I like kissing you too much.”


Normally, Sehun would whine and bury himself in the couch cushions out of embarrassment, but he’s in public. He settles with an eye roll, but he’s sure that his cheeks are at least a dark shade of pink.


Thankfully, Yixing calls out their order. Sehun totally doesn’t scramble towards the counter in excitement, no.


Yixing greets him with his signature smile, Sehun automatically smiling back.


“Hi,” Yixing says in that soft voice of his.


“Hi.” Sehun blushes, wanting to hide in the corner from how breathy his voice had sounded and how dumb his response had been in general.


Yixing looks like he’s going to say something, perhaps continue their conversation a little longer than polite formalities, but then a hoard of girls walk through the door. Yixing’s smile falls slightly before picking back up. “I hope you enjoy your drinks and the rest of your day. Sorry about this.”


“Don’t worry about it. I hope you aren't going to be too busy.”


“I wouldn’t be if Lu Han was out here doing his job,” Yixing mutters, Sehun chuckling to himself when Yixing walks off to poke his head through a door, presumably to find Lu Han and scold him.


Minseok makes grabby hands towards his drink, the post-it coincidentally stuck to his cup that day, when Sehun arrives.


“I wanted to read it,” Sehun whines, but lets his boyfriend do what he wants regardless. His curiosity is only spiked when a large grin appears on Minseok’s face, his eyes crinkling up in that adorable way of his when he sees something he particularly likes.


“Hyung,” he complains when Minseok keeps staring at the little colorful square. Minseok goes to open his mouth, but Sehun cuts him off. “Let me guess. He's so cute!” He tries to imitate Minseok’s voice, but judging by the way Minseok’s face scrunches up, he didn’t do a very good job.


“I don’t sound like that,” Minseok sniffs.


“That’s not important.” Sehun’s practically bouncing in his seat, his white hot chocolate forgotten even though it’s one of his favorites.


“I’ll never understand how you can manage to drink hot drinks in the summer,” Minseok comments, but he finally, finally hands the post-it over.


“You do realize that most of the coffee you drink is hot, right? And that we come here in the summer.” Sehun doesn’t wait for Minseok’s response, too busy reading over Yixing’s neat scrawl right under his own. Now he knows why Minseok had smiled because the corners of his lips are most likely curled up at the moment.


Happy Saturday to you, too ^^ My favorite color is purple, what about the both of yours?


His handwriting is so nice to look at, nothing like Sehun’s chicken scratch, and dare he say it, better than Minseok’s half chicken scratch, half readable writing.


“Okay, he’s pretty cute.” Sehun’s eyebrows furrow. “That’s my job, though. I’m the youngest, I’m supposed to be the most adorable.” He honestly doesn’t mind, he’s just so used to Minseok calling him and only him cute that it’s weird to hear it directed at someone else. Sehun can’t say that he minds it all too much - Yixing has enough cute in his face alone for ten bunnies and two kittens.


“I hear a hint of jealously in your tone,” Minseok sing-songs.


“Do not,” Sehun responds right away, Minseok snorting into his drink. “We can all be cute together.”


Minseok looks amused at that, but doesn’t say anything, just sits back with a smile as his eyes dance between Sehun and Yixing.


It’s nice to sit here like this and not worry about anything for a good half an hour. They don’t have any responsibilities to attend to when they get back – it’s Saturday so Minseok doesn’t have work and Sehun’s meeting Baekhyun on Monday to go over his drafts. Sehun likes being able to relax, to enjoy Minseok’s company in a setting that isn’t their apartment. This shop might as well be their second home, although he would never tell his parents that lest his mother pouts at him and his father gives him the same knowing look he gave Sehun when he wouldn't stop talking about his Minseok hyung.


As usual, though, all good things must come to end. Sehun tries to say bye to Yixing before they leave, but he’s busy taking orders, so Sehun turns towards the exit with a sigh.


A comforting hand lands on his lower back before slipping around his waist. Sehun leans into the touch automatically, feeling more at ease already. Minseok doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to. It’s always been amazing how Minseok understands him and his moods with an accuracy of almost one-hundred percent.


Lazily, he leans further into Minseok, enjoying the huff Minseok lets out at the sudden extra weight.


☆ ❄ ✿


“This is what I’ve been waiting weeks for?”


Sehun flinches, making to scoot further away from Baekhyun because that hadn’t sounded like a pleasant tone. A hand lands on his thigh, slim fingers digging in to prevent him from moving.


“Sehun.”


Sehun doesn’t want to look, doesn’t want to face the wrath that is Byun Baekhyun, but he’s going to be in for it even more if he doesn’t. Baekhyun looks like a puppy – and generally is one – but once he gets into scary editor mode, it’s like all of the adorable in him gets sucked out, leaving a cold husk behind.


“This is really good.”


“I’m so sorry, I thought it was okay- wait what?”


Baekhyun laughs that special laugh of his, the one that’s a little too loud and a little too much face. It’s cute, in its own Baekhyun kind of way.


“Did you think I was going to yell at you?”


“A little.”


Baekhyun rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “How many times do I have to tell you that my face just does this thing where it looks intimidating sometimes when I’m almost one-hundred percent not mad?”


Sehun’s about to point out that one (apparently rare) time where Baekhyun pulled that face and he was actually frustrated, but that had been all Sehun’s fault. Instead of working on his draft, he had stayed in bed with Minseok all weekend after Minseok got a raise. In his defense, though, there was little that could keep him away from his very happy, very enthusiastic boyfriend that wouldn’t take no for an answer. There was also that one time that Baekhyun had taken a phone call that turned very angry, some swear words thrown in here and there, but Sehun suspects that was some kind of foreplay because Baekhyun had returned with red cheeks and said he had to go before leaving in a hurry.


“True, you do look like a puppy a majority of the time,” Sehun responds beats too late, but Baekhyun doesn’t seem to mind.


“I’m the cutest person that you’ll ever meet,” he says matter-of-factly, but Sehun shuts him down immediately.


“What do Minseok and Yixing have that I don’t?” Baekhyun screeches. “Have you seen my face? What about my hips?”


“How can hips be cute?”


“That’s not important,” Baekhyun dismisses with a wave of his hand. “What matters is that I’m cute and literally nothing you can say will change my mind.”


“I don’t know,” Sehun starts, mind thinking back to the last few weeks, how Yixing’s smile lights up the whole room and how Minseok’s laughter could cure any disease. Baekhyun’s smirking when Sehun looks back over, face twisting into confusion.


“You have it bad. Minseok I understand, but I haven’t met Yixing yet.”


“You aren’t allowed to be within a twenty yard radius of him. I don’t need you corrupting him.”


“And just who are you to decide that?” Baekhyun asks with a hint of snark. “I’m my own free person, I can do what I want.”


“I don’t think your boyfriend would agree with that.” Whenever Baekhyun talks about his boyfriend – which isn’t often, a fact that surprises Sehun since Baekhyun literally doesn’t shut up - he gets this glassy look in his eyes. Sehun’s pretty sure that it’s love-like glassiness, but it could also be related to sex and, well, Sehun doesn’t want to know.


True to form, Baekhyun eyes gloss over. He snaps out of it quickly, though, turning to Sehun with another smirk that can mean anything from Unpleasant to Very Unfortunate.


“I don’t think we talked about Yixing enough today.”


Sehun groans even if he had been expecting this kind of thing. It is Baekhyun after all. Sometimes Sehun wonders how he managed to get a job as an editor because he’s nothing like Sehun thought editors were supposed to be like.


Baekhyun pounces like a shark that smells blood in the water once he senses that Sehun’s defenses are down. He’s relentless when he pelts Sehun with questions and innuendos galore, teasing Sehun for all it’s worth. Baekhyun ends up laughing so hard that his face turns as red as it had after that one phone call months ago, Sehun pouting with equally as red cheeks.


“You’re awful,” Sehun mutters. He refuses to think about the image that Baekhyun just presented him with on a silver platter, absolutely refuses.


“You’re a damn liar if you’re trying to say you’ve never thought about Yixing’s capabilities in bed. I don’t even have to meet the guy to know that he’s most likely packing something. You seem to like that, especially if Minseok’s any indication.”


Sehun wants to refute it – wants to so badly his skin itches with it – but he can’t. He would be a damn liar if he said he had purely innocent thoughts about Yixing all the time, but he’s not going to act on it like Baekhyun’s suggesting. And not only that but-


“Don’t check Minseok out,” Sehun says lowly. All Baekhyun does is cackle.


“Don’t be jealous, Sehun. I have someone else to go back to at home, and trust me when I say that he’ll cut my balls off if I even think about anything of the sexual nature with someone that isn’t him.”


“Sounds...possessive.”


Baekhyun shrugs. “A little, but it’s only a joke between us. He’s actually really sweet and he knows I would never cheat on him.”


Sehun has a feeling that it’s not one-hundred percent a joke, but he goes along with it anyways lest he gets scarred from some story that Baekhyun decides to dig out from his memories.


“If you say so...”


“I do and I’m always right, so just go with it,” Baekhyun chirps.


Before Sehun can respond – to say he’s doing exactly that – Baekhyun opens his mouth again. “Do you know why I’m an editor, Sehun?”


Well that was sudden. “No?”


“I like telling people what they do wrong,” Baekhyun answers. Sehun snorts because of course. This is a job that lets Baekhyun talk and be as much of an asshole as he wants without worry, it’s no wonder he picked it. “More than that, though, I love to be able to see people’s stories as they’re being made. It’s not perfect, it’s never going to be, but I love to see how the story unfolds before my eyes before I tell them what they did wrong and what sucked.”


Sehun laughs, the sentimental moment completely broken. Baekhyun’s eyes are full of mirth as usual, but there’s an unusual softness there that Sehun’s able to pick up on.


“It’s also pretty rewarding to tell people how amazing their work is, and I might enjoy that just a little more than yelling at people. I like what you have going on in this graphic novel; it’s already better than your last one.”


Sehun doesn’t even mind the jab because yeah, that last one was pretty typical and he didn’t like it too much, either. This one, though, this one’s much better in his eyes. The only thing lacking is his ability to portray every emotion the three of them are feeling and accurately gauge how the other two would possibly respond to certain things. Minseok’s easy – Sehun knows him like the back of his hand – but Yixing? He barely knows Yixing, but that’s half the fun. Baekhyun might get to watch the story unfold on paper, but Sehun’s experiencing it in real life and that’s what makes it great.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun’s bored out of his mind. He knows he should be working on his novel to stay ahead, but he feels little to no inspiration, and it’s been that way for a few days. It’s like Baekhyun’s visit sucked all of his creative energy out. Either that or his creative energy was converted to regular energy that had subsequently been used up dealing with Baekhyun. Either way, Sehun’s been staring at the same page for days now, brain full of ideas yet so desolate. Nothing he thinks of seems good enough, nor does it seem to go with the flow of what he already has down.


His phone vibrating brings him out of his inner turmoil, groaning when he reaches over to get the device.


I know you’re sitting around doing nothing, Sehun


He curses Minseok for knowing him so well.


i dont wanna do anything :c


He’s scrolling through channels to find something to watch when his phone vibrates again. Sehun doesn’t look at it until he’s gone through all the channels and finds absolutely nothing interesting. He sighs – how is he supposed to watch mindless television to procrastinate when there’s nothing on?


I would say go take a break to clear your head, but that’s all you’ve probably been doing for hours


Sehun simply sends back another :c in protest. He really doesn’t want to sit around and do nothing, though. Sehun would try to bake if he thought it would turn out well, but he doesn’t trust himself enough.


A lightbulb goes off in his head when he thinks about Yixing. Without wasting another second, Sehun scrambles towards their room to get a post-it note, mind and body more awake now that he has a purpose.


Within minutes, he’s out the door, pencil box and sketchpad in hand.


It’s a little weird not having Minseok by his side, a bout of nerves suddenly attacking him and slowing him down. He doesn’t have Minseok to hold his hand, doesn’t have Minseok to whisper encouraging things in his ear, doesn’t have Minseok to send him reassuring smiles. He’s not a baby, though. He can do this. If he was able to talk to Minseok back in high school, he can certainly talk to Yixing post-degree.


Yixing does a double-take when he notices that Sehun’s alone, but his usual smile appears nonetheless.


“Is Minseok busy today?” Yixing wonders when Sehun steps up. There’s no line today, but that’s not surprising considering that it’s three in the afternoon on a Wednesday.


Sehun’s heart does a weird little flip hearing Yixing say Minseok’s name.


“He’s at work and I was going to go crazy sitting in our apartment, so I decided a change of scenery would be nice.”


Yixing hums, eyes flickering down to the supplies in Sehun’s arms before looking back at Sehun. “You’re going to have to buy something if you want to stay,” Yixing teases.


“I was going to!” Sehun squeaks, the blush threatening to take over his face only increasing when Yixing laughs. It’s a beautiful sound. If Minseok’s laugh is like a music box, then Yixing’s laugh is like wind chimes with a hint of hiccups. It shouldn’t be as cute as it is, but it’s so endearing, Yixing’s laughter disrupted every so often by little hiccups. It’s the kind of laugh that sounds pure, like he genuinely thinks that what Sehun said had been funny.


Yixing calms down, a smile still pulling the corners of his lips up like he’s going to break into another round of laughter any second. “What will you have today, then?”


“Surprise me, although I don’t like coffee so that narrows down your choices.”


It takes a few seconds for Yixing to think before he nods. “It’ll be done soon, so just go relax.”


“Don’t I have to pay for it, though?” Sehun wonders.


Yixing waves him off. “Since it’s a surprise, you might not like it. I’m not going to make you pay for something you don’t like.”


Sehun wants to say that that’s impossible, that he would love whatever Yixing makes even if it turned out to be coffee. He holds back, instead settling for a smile and a soft agreement before turning and sitting at a table.


His brain is still on strike once he sits down, ideas like water in a desert – few and far between.


“Come on,” he mutters to himself. He has a vague idea of where he wants to go, it’s just a matter of cementing the idea. Sehun doesn’t want to waste precious resources on a drawing that he’s just going to erase.


He taps a random rhythm against the table with his pencil, tongue stuck out as he tries to plan. Suddenly, a cup gets set down in front of him, delicate fingers loosening their grip before retracting. The drink is light pink and seems to be a smoothie. Sehun didn’t even know they sold smoothies here.


Sehun blinks up at Yixing, slightly surprised that the drink had been hand-delivered to him. “What is it?”


Yixing tsks. “I’m not saying. That would take the fun out of it.”


Sehun trusts Yixing enough to not poison him and since the drink is pink, he knows it’s not coffee. He’s all the more willing to try whatever it is that Yixing specially made for him, hands shaking lightly when he goes to pick up the cup. It’s ridiculous, but he feels so happy, so moved,11 from this little gesture.


Yixing’s watching him intently as he brings the straw to his lips, Sehun deciding to tease him by drawing it out. When the drink finally meets his lips, Sehun sighs. He can taste a hint of strawberry, raspberry, maybe some banana and something else that he can’t quite place, but it all comes together so wonderfully. The texture isn’t too lumpy nor too watery and he might already be addicted.


Sehun can’t stop drinking it, only puling away when he realizes he has yet to thank Yixing for the drink. “It’s really good, probably even better than the white hot chocolate you make and I didn’t think that was possible.”


Yixing beams like he won a prize. “I’m glad you like it! I was a little worried, but it’s good to know it was unwarranted.”


Sehun can’t get enough, a happy sigh leaving his lips when he takes another sip. “I might need another one to go. How much is it?”


“No, it’s okay,” Yixing says. He scurries away before Sehun can even protest, his calls dying on his tongue the farther away Yixing gets. Shaking his head fondly, he takes another sip of the drink and wills his brain to come up with something.


Thankfully, the ideas start to flow, Sehun setting to work with vigor. He completely loses track of time sitting there; the atmosphere’s just so soothing, so quiet despite the traffic of people flowing through, that before he knows it, it’s five.


“Crap,” Sehun says, frantically putting his things away in their proper places. He can’t believe he’s been sitting here for two hours.


A colorful square stands stark against the black of his book, Sehun fighting the urge to face palm because he almost forgot to give Yixing the post-it of the day. Thankfully, luck seems to be on his side for there isn’t anyone in line when Sehun shuffles up to the counter.


Yixing straightens up, Sehun letting out an incredulous laugh when Yixing slides a drink a shade of pink that’s already starting to become familiar over to him.


“I just, uh, wanted to give you this since I forgot earlier,” Sehun says, ducking his head as he passes the note over. Yixing beams, accepting it with both hands like it’s something to be cherished.


“I’ll have a response the next time you come.”


“Sounds like a plan.” Sehun wants to burst with joy that Yixing actually wants to keep seeing him, and hopefully Minseok as well. He hopes it’s not just because Yixing’s humoring them; it honestly sounds like Yixing’s looking forward to seeing him again, in more than a typical employee-customer kind of way. Sehun can only hope that he’s reading the signs correctly.


“Your drawings are very nice,” Yixing quickly says once Sehun turns to go, Sehun flushing because that means Yixing saw his sketchbook earlier when he came to deliver Sehun’s drink.


“Thank you,” he replies bashfully. It’s always weird hearing people compliment his work, but it’s not less appreciated.


“You’re welcome. See you around!”


It only fully hits Sehun that Yixing had seen his sketchbook when he’s a few blocks away, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk with wide eyes. A lady glares at him when she walks around him, but he’s too stunned to care. Crap, he hopes that Yixing didn’t see the page too closely or else he might have been able to figure out the panels were set in a coffee shop much like the one Yixing works at and the worker was similar enough to Yixing to be discernable if he knew what to look for.


Letting out a groan, Sehun sends a prayer to the sky that Yixing hadn’t seen too much.


The smell of noodles greets him when he opens the door to their apartment. It’s a pleasant surprise when Sehun spies Minseok’s shoes on the floor when he goes to take his beat-up Converse off. Minseok has been trying to convince him to get a new pair for months now, but Sehun always refuses, claiming that he’s going to keep them forever since Minseok bought them for him as a Christmas present years ago.


“Sehun?” Minseok calls out from the kitchen, Sehun happily bounding over once he puts his stuff on the couch.


He wraps around Minseok from the side, nuzzling his face into the crook of Minseok’s neck despite the fact that he’s the taller one. “You’re home early,” he mumbles happily, pressing closer.


Minseok turns so they’re hugging normally, arms wrapping around Sehun’s tiny waist as Sehun’s go around Minseok’s shoulders. A gentle kiss is pressed to his cheek, Sehun nosing over until their lips meet softly.


“I was going to surprise you, but you were out.” Minseok sounds angry, but Sehun knows that it’s all for show, that he’s honestly not mad. Well, maybe a little since his plans were ruined but Sehun knows that due to Minseok’s lips being pulled down in a pout. He kisses Minseok to get him to smile.


“Sorry,” he says. “I was at the coffee shop. I needed to get out before I lost it.”


A soothing hand runs up and down his back. “Did you get work done, then?”


“I did and Yixing made me the best drink today-” he cuts himself off with a gasp, wiggling to get free.


He hears his name being called out in question behind him, but he disregards it; he’s on a mission. After swiping the drink from the coffee table, he scurries back into the kitchen.


“There,” he says once the drink is safely in the refrigerator.


Minseok’s looking at him in amusement, one of his eyebrows raised. “Is everything better now?”


“Yup!” Sehun chirps. He doesn’t even bother explaining, simply reattaches himself to Minseok, who laughs against his neck.


“You sure are something, love. I’m surprised it took you this long to go by yourself, though. You have more opportunities than I do yet I’ve already gone once.”


“What?” Sehun asks rather loudly, Minseok digging fingers into his sides in response.


“Yeah, I went during my lunch break a few weeks back. Didn’t you ever wonder how Yixing knew your name?”


Now that he thinks about it, he does remember being confused about that a few weeks back, but he had also been too distracted to do much of anything at that point. But wait...if Minseok’s insinuating what Sehun thinks he’s insinuating, then that means he and Yixing talked about him at some point.


Sehun looks at Minseok with wide eyes. “You didn’t.”


Minseok’s smile, while cute to anyone else, looks unregretful to Sehun. “Let’s just say that Yixing knows more about you than you think. He was very interested in learning about how you were in high school.”


Sehun buries his face in Minseok’s neck with a whine. He can feel the vibrations from Minseok’s laughter throughout his body and his pout only deepens. Sehun’s only allowed to stay like that for a few more minutes, pout gradually disappearing until he’s simply content in Minseok’s arms, when a pinch to the side has him yelping. He pulls back from the embrace with another pout.


“Sorry,” Minseok says even though he doesn’t sound it at all. “I have to finish getting this ready. Unless you want burnt noodles.”


“No,” Sehun replies. He hops up onto the counter despite Minseok’s protests, feet swinging happily as he watches Minseok putter around the kitchen. Minseok had changed after he got home, a soft cotton tee and a pair of old shorts that Sehun suspects might be his adorning Minseok’s frame.


“Can you set up the table for me?” Minseok wonders as he scoops the noodles in two bowls.


Sehun does with a hum and together, they get dinner on the table within a few minutes.


“Thank you for the food!” Sehun calls, eyes curving up into half-moons. Minseok simply chuckles fondly, nudging Sehun’s leg under the table.


“Just eat, silly.”


They end up on the couch afterwards, blanket pulled up around their bodies as they settle in for a movie. Sehun’s not really sure where one of them ends and the other starts they’re so tangled up in each other, but he’s not complaining. The feel of Minseok’s warm skin pressed against his, Minseok’s fingers intertwined with his, Minseok’s mouth pressed against his, are things he could never live without.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun whines, letting his head free-fall to hit the thick book in front of him.


“Why is this so hard?” he asks, the question coming out muffled due to the processed paper pressing against his face.


A warm hand settles itself on Sehun’s lower back, tracing mindless patterns on the way up towards Sehun’s neck. He melts into the touch, but keeps his face down, content to just lie there as Minseok draws random shapes and characters on his back.


Sehun yelps when a pinch is delivered to the back of his neck, eyes narrowing at Minseok who’s sitting next to Sehun looking all prim and proper.


“You’re a pain in my neck. Literally,” Sehun mumbles, bringing up a palm to soothe his wound. Maybe if he pouts enough, he’ll get an apology kiss. With that thought in mind, Sehun turns his pout on full force, but Minseok isn’t looking in his direction anymore. He’s writing something in his workbook, face completely serene as if this lesson isn’t giving him a hard time at all.


“I refuse to give in to your pout,” Minseok informs Sehun without looking up. It leaves Sehun with a gaping jaw, his game plan for kisses forgotten. Sometimes Sehun can’t believe just how well Minseok knows him. They’ve been together for five years and Sehun doesn’t really realize it until times like this, when Minseok says something so casually, but with knowing laced in his words. It’s only something that someone who has learned Sehun’s habits, his plans, his reactions, would know. A group of butterflies decide that right then is a good time to take flight in Sehun’s tummy.


“Hey.” A soft touch to his arm has Sehun blinking up at Minseok. His eyes look soft, so soft, as they peer at Sehun and the butterflies fly around faster now. Five years and Minseok can still reduce Sehun to a teenager in love. “What are you thinking about?”


“You,” Sehun responds with a dopey smile.


Minseok hits his arm lightly, cheeks darkening, if only slightly. “I hope it’s all good things.”


“It wasn’t,” Sehun deadpans. It takes two seconds for him to drop the act. Minseok had looked so surprised, eyes widening and lips parting. Sehun finds him so adorable, laughing at how absurd it is that Minseok could think Sehun had anything terrible to think about him. Minseok’s features smooth out, surprise replaced with fond annoyance as he flicks Sehun on the forehead.


“Brat.”


“I can’t believe you actually thought I was serious,” Sehun wheezes in between chuckles.


“It’s been a long day,” Minseok whines and that’s how Sehun knows it has been. Minseok only ever whines – or comes close to whining – when it’s late and he’s tired. Sehun makes a split-second decision to push his books away in favor of pulling Minseok into his arms.


“What-”


Sehun cuts Minseok off, shushing him as he pulls Minseok even closer. “Just relax, hyung. We can continue the lesson tomorrow, okay?”


“I’m almost done, though.”


“Well I’m not and we both know that I’m going to be asking you a lot of questions. You need to save your energy so I can ask as many as I want tomorrow,” Sehun replies cheekily. His arms tighten when Minseok starts wiggling around, probably to flick Sehun again.


“Fine,” Minseok grumbles as he settles back against Sehun’s chest. Humming, Sehun rearranges them to be in a more comfortable position (although the floor’s never comfortable, but he’s going to make it work) before playing with Minseok’s fingers. Minseok’s head is rolling back against Sehun’s collarbones within minutes. Sehun smiles down at Minseok, eyes taking in the slight part of his lips, the way his features look so serene as he sleeps. Sehun’s never told Minseok, but he’s always loved watching him sleep. It’s a nice change to see his face soft and free from responsibility or worry.


Minseok instinctively squeezes Sehun’s fingers when he goes to brush hair away from Minseok’s eyes.


“Cute,” Sehun mutters. He decides to wait for a little longer before attempting to move lest he wakes Minseok up. Minseok isn’t the heaviest sleeper, but Sehun has gotten away with carrying him to their room only a few times.


It’s a little difficult to remove the grip Minseok has on his hand, but he manages, eyes carefully watching Minseok’s face for any signs that he might be waking up. Sehun frowns when he sees the slight darkened spots under Minseok’s eyes. He needs a break instead of acquiescing to Sehun’s whimsical requests to study Chinese at eleven at night.


Minseok looks adorable curled up in their bed, fingers opening and closing like he’s trying to clutch something that isn’t there. Sehun would love nothing more than to strip down to his boxers and join his boyfriend, but he needs to clean up the coffee table and the dishes from earlier. With a sigh, he gets to work, knowing that the faster he puts things away, the sooner Minseok will be back in his arms.


It’s with relief that he pulls the covers back from the opposite side of the bed where Minseok’s still curled up. His breath catches when Minseok immediately latches onto him when he gets close enough, nose skimming Sehun’s collarbones as fingers clutch at his stomach.


Minseok groans softly. “Why no shirt?”


Sehun can’t help but laugh. “It’s hot and I don’t want to be sweaty when I wake up.”


With a huff, Minseok settles with throwing an arm around Sehun’s waist, placing his head under Sehun’s chin. Sehun places a kiss to the top of Minseok’s head, heart fluttering. He’s always loved how cuddly Minseok gets when he’s tired and teetering on the precipice of sleep.


“Sleep,” Sehun murmurs, smiling not seconds later when he feels soft, even puffs of air against his collarbones. It takes Sehun a little longer to fall asleep, but he’s not complaining, not with the way Minseok clutches at him and tangles their legs together in his sleep.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun nudges Minseok’s foot under the table, laughing lightly when Minseok turns his hard stare in his direction.


Minseok seems to catch what he’s doing seconds later, ducking down with a small, “Sorry.”


“I feel like our roles are reversed,” Sehun muses. “You’re usually the one that calms me down and I’m usually the one that apologizes.”


“I can’t help it,” Minseok mutters heatedly. “Do you see the way Lu Han’s clinging to Yixing?”


Sehun had, but he’s trying to ignore it. Part of him knows that Lu Han’s a generally very friendly person that clings to anything (including a coffee maker that one time) with a lovestruck look on his face that Sehun doesn’t want to attempt to understand, but the other part of him wants to rip Yixing away from Lu Han’s grabby hands. It’s a little odd how possessive he is of Yixing when they aren’t even together. He shouldn’t feel this way, but he can’t help it. They’ve both been waiting and watching for so long that Sehun just wants Yixing in his arms, wants to be in Yixing’s arms, want Yixing to be in Minseok’s arms or any other possible combination that can be made including a big snuggle pile. But more than anything, he doesn’t want to scare Yixing away. Minseok and Sehun have been careful to make it so that they both talk to Yixing, and that they both make their interest known, but there’s only so much they can do without outright asking Yixing how he feels about a three-way relationship.


“Do you want to trade seats?”


Minseok sends Sehun a look. “I’m not a baby, I can handle seeing Yixing interact with Lu Han.”


The way Minseok’s eyebrows are furrowed and his jaw is clenched when he looks over again tells Sehun otherwise.


“I’ll get it,” Sehun says when their number’s called by a very chipper Lu Han. Minseok looks likes he’s going to rip the napkin in his hands in half and it’s amusing if only because it doesn’t seems like Minseok’s aware of it.


Thankfully, Lu Han’s no where to be found when Sehun goes to pick their drinks up, Sehun’s spirits lifting when Yixing’s the one waiting for him, signature smile in place. There’s a post-it on his cup of white hot chocolate, happiness and anticipation bubbling in Sehun’s chest.


Sehun takes a deep breath, fingers shaking lightly as he reaches for them. The words he’s about to say aren’t hard at all, probably one of the first things he learned to say in Mandarin, but he wants it to be right, wants Yixing to understand him.


“Thank you,” he says shyly in Mandarin, Yixing’s eyes popping open.


Lu Han pokes his head out from the back at that moment, eyes full of curiosity as he looks around, Sehun quickly scurrying away lest Lu Han decide to say something weirdly sexual. He’s done it before and Sehun doesn’t want to stick around if he decides to do it again.


“What did you say to Yixing? It looks like you asked him out, which I know you didn’t,” Minseok says when Sehun places his drink down and sinks into the booth.


“You’re welcome for getting your drink,” Sehun grumbles.


Minseok doesn’t answer, simply taps Sehun on the foot.


“I just told him thank you in Mandarin. You know I’ve been practicing and I wanted to try it out.”


Minseok looks at him with a kind of softness that he only reserves when he’s particularly proud or in love with Sehun. It never fails to turn Sehun into a blushing, stuttering mess.


“You’re so adorable. I’m proud of you.”


“T-thank you,” Sehun responds, busying himself with the post-it stuck on his drink so he doesn’t get caught in Minseok’s stare longer than he has to. He doesn’t think what he did was particularly magnificent or monumental, but it’s a step in the right direction. He can only hope that he’ll get the chance to have a full conversation in Mandarin with Yixing in the future.


“Hyung!” he exclaims when he reads the note, completely forgetting about his embarrassment. “Hyung, his birthday’s coming up in a few months.”


Minseok’s equally as shocked when he reads the note himself. “What should we do?”


Sehun chances a look back towards Yixing only to frown. Lu Han’s practically kissing Yixing’s cheek he’s so close, both arms wrapped around Yixing’s shoulders. Yixing doesn’t look uncomfortable, but there’s a light pink to his cheeks and a teasing smile on Lu Han’s face that Sehun doesn’t like. Sehun’s stomach clenches at how close they look, like Lu Han’s been in Yixing’s space so often that it’s completely normal at this point. Sehun knows that the longer he looks, the more it’s going to hurt, but he simply can’t look away.


Sehun only turns back around quick as lightening when Yixing looks up and makes eye contact with him. Minseok, on the other hand, is staring ahead unabashedly, eyebrows doing that thing where they arch before straightening out. It’s two completely different expressions and Sehun’s been trying to figure out what it means for years. It can range from interest to annoyance and anything in between, and he still doesn’t understand it, probably never will. Sehun doesn’t even think Minseok understands; when Sehun had asked once, Minseok looked confused as he wondered, “What thing with my eyebrows?”


Sehun just assumes that Minseok’s eyebrows have a mind of their own.


Minseok’s lips curls slightly in distaste and Sehun doesn’t even want to know what Lu Han’s doing now.


“Just ignore him,” Sehun says, but even he’s having a hard time keeping his gaze forward.


“It’s just...I want to give Yixing a hug, too, you know?”


Oh, Sehun knows that feeling very well. “Just...wait it out, I guess? We might get the chance one day.”


“Well that day is today for Lu Han,” Minseok grumps.


And all of a sudden, Sehun gets it. It’s hard to notice since Minseok rarely ever lets his emotions overcome him like this unless there’s happiness involved, but dare Sehun say it, “Are you jealous, hyung?”


“Me? No,” Minseok answers far too quickly.


“Oh my gosh.”


“Don’t you dare, Sehun.”


Sehun looks at Minseok like they’re meeting for the first time. “It’s kind of cute, though, how jealous you are.”


Minseok lets out a growl, eyes narrowing. “I’m not.”


For some reason, this is entirely amusing, Sehun putting a hand to his mouth so Minseok doesn’t see how wide he’s smiling. It’s futile since his eyes are most likely scrunched up into crescents, but he tries anyways.


Minseok huffs, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that causes his arms to bulge out. Sehun zooms in on the action, mind brought back to all of the times he’s placed kisses there, clung to them when he was scared, held onto them for support as Minseok pounded into him. He has to swallow and look away before his mind takes a turn down to Hell where it usually is whenever Minseok and his capabilities in bed are concerned.


“Why is your face so red?”


Oh God, Sehun just wants the ground to open up and let him drop to Hell; he probably belongs there anyways.


“Oh.” Sehun hazards a glance up, immediately wishing he hadn’t when he notices the glint in Minseok’s eyes. A whimper escapes him unintentionally, mind flitting back to all of the times Minseok had looked at him like that, had whispered, “You’re so good, so good for me, love,” as Minseok took his time plucking Sehun apart from the inside out.


Sehun’s so distracted that he almost face-plants when Minseok grabs his wrist and pulls him up. He barely has enough sense to grab his almost-finished drink, but Minseok simply throws it away for him on the way out.


“Why are you dragging me?” Sehun manages to ask once they’re halfway down the street. Minseok simply sends him one (very smoldering) look over his shoulder and that’s all Sehun needs to know. A shiver courses through him, setting his body aflame with anticipation. Minseok has always been good with his hips, but he somehow gets better when he’s on a mission. Sehun doesn’t know what the mission is this time, but he’s not going to question it, only reap the rewards.


And the reward is Minseok mapping out Sehun’s skin with kisses, fingers laced with Sehun’s as Minseok takes him nice and slow. Tears cling to Sehun’s eyelashes, emotions haywire as he’s continuously brought to the edge only to crash back down when Minseok slows down.


Sehun chokes when Minseok suddenly picks up the pace, hips angling just right to send Sehun tumbling over the edge with a sob, Minseok following not seconds later. Minseok brings him down with soft kisses against his lips, his cheeks, his temples, Sehun letting out a groan when Minseok pulls out, tossing the condom in the trash after tying it off.


“Good,” Sehun says groggily after Minseok cleans him up and pulls Sehun into his arms. They’re face-to-face, Sehun completely spent and lethargic. Minseok has this proud look on his face as he looks Sehun over, a thumb running over the swell of Sehun’s bottom lip. Sehun pokes his tongue out, a devilish yet tired, smirk on his face as Minseok’s pupils dilate.


“Behave,” Minseok murmurs. Sehun wants to see how much he can push it, but a sudden wave of sleepiness overtakes him. He only settles down when he realizes he can wake Minseok up with a blowjob in a few hours.


Snickering to himself, Sehun settles fully into Minseok’s embrace.


☆ ❄ ✿


The next time they walk into the coffee shop, it’s with trepidation. Sehun hopes that Lu Han isn’t around this time, because even though he seems like a very nice person to be around, he wants to be able to unabashedly stare at Yixing today. He was robbed of the opportunity last time, so it’s only fair that he gets to fix the problem today.


Luckily, the universe seems to be on his side, Lu Han nowhere in sight when they walk through the door.


Sehun squeezes Minseok’s hand, a happy smile making its way onto his face that Minseok easily reciprocates.


“At least we don’t have to deal with the cuddle monster today,” Minseok comments. Sehun hums, the both of them slowly walking over to where the cash register is. There aren’t many people around today, so they don’t need to rush.


Sehun almost jumps out of his skin when Yixing walks out from the back, the door swinging open so quickly that it’s a blur in his peripheral.


“Sorry about that,” Yixing says with a little laugh that Sehun absolutely does not swoon at.


“No problem,” Minseok answers for him. Sehun sends him infinite thanks for understanding Sehun so well and knowing when he’s too distracted to act like a regular person.


“Just let me know when you guys are ready to order,” Yixing says before going off to do...something. Sehun follows him with his eyes, completely distracted with the way he can see Yixing’s back muscles shifting underneath the light blue shirt he’s wearing.


Minseok has to nudge him in the side to bring him out of his Moment, Sehun smiling shyly before looking at the menu. He’s been wanting that special drink Yixing made him for days now, but no matter how many times he scans the menu, he can't find it. Nothing sounds right, or if it does, some of the ingredients he remembers being in there aren’t included in the drink.


“Are you ready?” Minseok asks him.


Sehun’s eyebrows furrow. “I know what I want, I just can’t find it on the menu.”


Yixing totters back over, signature smile on his face as he asks, “What would you like today?”


Minseok relays his order of an Americano and Yixing turns to him in expectation.


“What happened to the drink you made me a few weeks ago? I don’t see it.”


And then something amazing happens. Yixing blushes. Sehun doesn’t think that he’s ever seen Yixing’s face turn red, so he’s kind of amazed that it’s happening in front of his eyes. He finds that Minseok’s just as surprised as him when he turns his head slightly and sees that Minseok's eyes have widened, his mouth opened slightly.


“It’s um...it’s not on the menu,” Yixing says after a few more seconds of silence. Sehun’s eyebrows furrow even more. If it’s not on the menu, then how did he make it?


“Oh!” Sehun exclaims suddenly, brain finally registering that Yixing made the drink specifically for him and only for him. Yixing only fiddles with his apron, bangs falling into his eyes as he looks down. It’s probably the cutest thing that Sehun has ever seen and he’s seen Minseok’s baby pictures. Sehun would love nothing more than to tease Yixing about it or coo at him for being so adorable, but he’ll save Yixing just this once.


“Can I get whatever that was, then? A large please, since it was really good.” Sehun smiles, making sure that his eyes curve up; he knows he looks adorable when he smiles like that.


“Sure,” Yixing responds, Sehun resisting the urge to laugh lightly when he sees Yixing’s hand shaking just a tad as he rings up their order.


“He’s so cute,” Sehun sighs once they turn to go, receipt and new post-it in hand.


“That’s my line,” Minseok teases, nudging him in the ribs. Sehun drags Minseok down into the space next to him when Minseok moves to pull away to sit across from Sehun like usual.


Minseok sends him a confused look, Sehun simply saying, “I wanted to be closer to you today.”


“Whatever you want, love.”


Sehun practically glues himself to Minseok’s side when he sits down, cheek pressed against Minseok’s shoulder.


“Are you sure you weren’t a cat in your past life?” Minseok asks amusedly.


“You’re the one that does a great cat impression,” Sehun shoots back.


Minseok groans immediately. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”


“No,” Sehun chirps. “Can you meow for me again?”


Minseok refuses. Sehun’s left to pout up at Minseok, eyes large and sad.


“I’m not looking,” Minseok states as he screws his eyes shut.


“Hyung,” he whines, fingers clutching onto Minseok’s arm to give it a little shake. Minseok continues to keep his eyes closed, even turning to the side for good measure.


Sehun resorts to Drastic Measures.


“Hyung,” he whispers sadly, reaching up slightly to place a kiss to Minseok’s cheek. It has the older man jumping, clearly not having expected the touch. Sehun trails his lips down to Minseok’s jawline and over to his lips, placing a little kiss at the corner. He can feel Minseok’s deep breathing on his nose, Sehun fighting back the smile that wants to appear.


One nip against Minseok’s bottom lip is all it takes for his defenses to come crashing down. The next thing he knows, there’s a hand in his hair, tugging him forward and keeping him in place as Minseok kisses him, a tongue lightly swiping over his bottom lip before pulling back. With a whine, Sehun chases Minseok’s lips, a sigh of content escaping when he feels the familiar soft press against his lips.


“Why do you hate me?” Minseok pants when they break apart, pupils slightly dilated.


“I love you very much,” Sehun responds.


Minseok sighs, but Sehun knows that it's affectionate. “Fine, just because it’s you. Which cat do you want this time?”


“Happy!”


Wiggling around, Minseok gets ready and then very cutely looks at Sehun as he goes, “Meow~”


Sehun barely represses his squeal, but he can’t do anything about the huge smile that lights his face up.


“I love you,” Sehun says happily, leaning forward for another kiss. He honestly doesn’t understand how Minseok can be so adorable and then turn around and be sexy the next second, but he loves all parts of Minseok regardless.


Minseok grumbles something unintelligible, but doesn’t fight against the kisses.


“See, was that so bad? At least I didn’t ask you to do the marshmallow bit.”


Minseok groans. “You can listen to that whenever you want, since you were a brat and recorded it.”


“Marshmallow~” Sehun chirps, laughing at the face that Minseok makes. “It was really cute, hyung. I love it.”


“More than me?”


Sehun gasps. “I’m offended you would even ask something like that. Of course I love you more since your voice comes with you.”


“Brat,” Minseok says, but the way he pushes his nose against Sehun’s cheek is soft, completely contrasting his tone.


“But?”


“But I love you,” Minseok adds. Sehun simply burrows further into Minseok’s side, enjoying the moment.


Yixing calls out their number seconds later, Sehun letting out a groan as he clings to Minseok tighter.


“You’re not going to be able to get your special drink if you don’t let me go,” Minseok points out.


“I hate it when you’re reasonable,” Sehun mumbles, but let’s go of Minseok nevertheless. Minseok places a kiss to his forehead, pulling back with a light laugh.


“I’ll be right back.”


Sehun flops over and into the corner of the booth, eyes roaming over the shop as he waits. He really is happy that Minseok brought him here all of those months ago. Not only does it give them a place that they can call their own outside of their apartment, but it’s just the kind of thing the both of them need to unwind at the end of the week. Yixing’s a beautiful bonus and Sehun only keeps falling further and further the more they come here.


“One pink drink for my love,” Minseok announces when he sits back down. Sehun grabs it immediately, eyes lighting up when he takes a sip. It’s just as good as he remembers it being, only made better by the knowledge that no one but him is allowed to drink it or know about it.


“Do you want some?” Sehun offers, tilting the cup in Minseok’s direction. He looks skeptical of it, but Sehun prods him until he takes a sip, Minseok only drinking it when Sehun promises that it’s better than the white hot chocolate.


“Wow,” Minseok says, smacking his lips lightly to retain some of the taste. “It really is good.”


Sehun beams before pulling the drink back over. “Isn’t it? I’m sure that Yixing wouldn’t mind making one for you as well if you asked for it next time.”


“What about the coffee, though?” Minseok question with a pout.


Raising and eyebrow, Sehun asks, “You can’t go without it for one day? Not even knowing that Yixing made it specially for us?”


“You’re awful,” Minseok groans. Sehun considers it a victory, happily leaning against Minseok’s arm as he hooks their ankles together.


“I’m cute and you know it,” Sehun sing-songs.


Minseok prods the back of his knuckles, Sehun opening his palm in confusion. It only makes sense when Minseok threads their fingers together, Sehun peering up to see Minseok staring down at him with a soft smile.


“Okay, you’re pretty cute, I’ll admit.”


Sehun’s heart is about to beat out of his chest from how lovingly Minseok’s looking at him, cheeks no doubt coloring as the seconds tick by. He settles for burying his face into Minseok’s collarbones, feeling Minseok’s laugh rumble through his chest before he hears it.


☆ ❄ ✿


“I’m here! Did you miss me?”



Sehun literally jumps from where he’s sitting on the couch, a hand flying up to his chest at the unexpected voice.


“Holy shit! What are you doing here, Baekhyun? How did you even get in?”


Baekhyun appears seconds later, a ring with a key on it twirling around his finger. “You gave this to me, remember? For times where you might not be awake, although you know how much I hate when people aren’t prepared for when I come over so I don’t know why you would even entertain the idea of sleeping in when I make an appointment with you.”


Sehun’s still trying to calm down from Baekhyun’s sudden appearance, heart slowing down the longer he sits there.


“Well?” Baekhyun asks. “Are you going to ask me to sit down or what?”


Sehun’s never needed to do that before, eyebrows furrowing as he looks at Baekhyun. “I guess?”


“Thanks!” Baekhyun chirps before plopping down on the loveseat next to the couch Sehun’s currently sitting on.


“Why are you even here?” he asks abruptly. If he’s learned one thing when it comes to Baekhyun, it’s that he needs to be straightforward or he’s just going to get teased about beating around the bush. Then again, Baekhyun teases him for almost anything, so he can’t win regardless.


Baekhyun sniffs dramatically. “Why? Do you not want me to be here?”


“Not really,” Sehun replies bluntly. He ignores Baekhyun’s outraged gasp, continuing with, “I was planning on lounging around all day, but now that you’re here, it makes me feel like I have to be productive.”


“I promise that you won’t even notice I’m here! You can go back to whatever it was that you were doing before I popped in like a little fairy.”


“Fairy...?” Sehun wonders. He suddenly narrows his eyes at Baekhyun. “You aren’t drunk, are you? It’s only two in the afternoon, Baekhyun.”


“That’s Baekhyun hyung to you, but no, I’m not.”


“Are you sure?”


Baekhyun lets out an exasperated sigh “I’m sure. Do you know the wrath I would face if I came home drunk?” He places his hands over his crotch, Sehun almost laughing because it doesn’t even seem like Baekhyun knows that he’s doing it.


“Whipped,” Sehun says, disguising it as a cough.


“It’s not good to be a hypocrite, Sehun. Remember, I’m your editor, which means that I’ve read all of the sappy stuff you’ve written and will continue to write.”


“I never denied I was,” Sehun grumbles, but he knows Baekhyun’s right. He’s really amped up the emotions this time, but the panels just ran away without him, leaving him to get dragged behind.


“That’s the spirit!” Baekhyun exclaims before completely changing focus and asking what Sehun’s watching.


“Are you ever going to tell me why you came over and almost gave me a heart attack?”


Baekhyun bursts into Heart Attack by AOA, Sehun groaning because he’s never going to get an answer.


“Seriously, hyung.”


Baekhyun merely shrugs. “No reason other than I felt like visiting you.”


Sehun simply sighs. He’s in for a long day.


“Well now that you’re here, you can at least help me practice my Mandarin.”


Baekhyun eyes almost pop out of his skull. “I don’t even know Chinese! Just because I dated a Chinese guy for a while doesn’t suddenly make me an expert. Besides, that was years ago, so even if I had, I don’t remember any of it now.”


“Maybe you shouldn’t invite yourself to other people’s houses, then.”


Groaning, Baekhyun slides down until his upper body’s completely parallel with the loveseat, feet placed on the ground. It doesn’t look like a comfortable position, but Sehun doesn’t really care, smirking at the suffering that Baekhyun’s about to go through.


“Okay, let’s start with grammar.”


Baekhyun only groans once more.


☆ ❄ ✿


“His birthday’s in two weeks...what are we going to do?”


They sit there for a few minutes, brains trying to work and think of something.


Minseok sighs. “I’ve been thinking about it for months and I still have no idea.”


Sehun sighs as well. He’s in the same boat, has been for just as long as Minseok. Sehun has ideas, it’s just that he ends up scraping them almost immediately after. A handmade card isn’t good enough, a recording of them singing “Happy Birthday” in Korean or Chinese is too difficult to give, a cupcake has already been made, and giving themselves is a little too forward.


The word “date” keeps popping up in Sehun’s head no matter how many times he pushes it down. He wants to go on a date with Yixing so badly, wants to get to know him on more than a superficial level, but that means he has to prepare for either acceptance or rejection. Sehun’s the type of person that can get hung up on the worst case scenario. Rejection’s easy to prepare for until he’s actually confronted with it. He doesn’t want Yixing to reject him – reject them - and if he doesn’t say anything, he can live in his happy little bubble where he’s allowed to look at Yixing and get a smile in return. It’s twisted, but at least this way Sehun doesn’t have to nurse a broken heart.


And Minseok...even if he wouldn’t show it, Sehun knows Minseok would be crushed by the rejection as well. They would have each other for comfort, but it would be at the cost of losing their favorite shop and their favorite barista, as well as pieces of their hearts.


“Hey,” Minseok calls out softly, placing a hand on Sehun’s arm. His eyes have flecks of concern in them, his lips drawn down as he peers at Sehun. “Are you okay? You looked worried and I know it has nothing to do with Yixing’s birthday.”


“No,” Sehun answers quietly. He doesn’t say anything after that, not wanting to burden Minseok with his thoughts and negativity.


Sehun sees Minseok’s hands flutter around in his peripheral, Minseok seemingly torn between wanting to comfort Sehun and wanting to give him space.


“I don’t like seeing you sad,” Minseok ends up saying softly. And it’s unreasonable, but Sehun feels tears start to well up in the corners of his eyes.


“No, no,” Minseok says, quickly puling Sehun into his chest. Sehun immediately wraps his arms around Minseok’s waist and buries his face into the crook of Minseok’s neck. Minseok’s gentle as he runs soothing hands down Sehun’s back and hums a light melody by his ear. He doesn’t say anything, just lets Sehun cry and sniffle against his collarbones.


Once Sehun’s tears have stopped, he simply stays there, wrapped up in the warmth and comfort that Minseok provides.


“I’m sorry,” he croaks with another sniffle.


“You don’t have to be, but just know that I’m here if you want to talk.”


“I love you,” Sehun says because there’s not really much else he can say that captures his appreciation, his happiness, or his, well, love as effectively.


“I love you, too.” A soft kiss is placed to the crown of his head, a pleasant shiver working its way down his spine.


Eventually, Sehun gathers enough strength to pull back. He doesn’t want to burden Minseok but he also knows that by him crying and not saying anything at all, he’s burdening Minseok more. Communication is always key with them, has been from day one. He’s trusted Minseok with everything; there’s no reason that trust should disappear now.


Sehun takes a deep breath, fingers picking at the hole on the bottom of his shirt. His eyes flicker up towards Minseok only to fall back down when he’s greeted with soft understanding and patience.


It takes him a few more minutes, but when he does start talking, it all flows out. His worries, his hopes, his wants, his fears, everything he’s been unknowingly bottling up, it all spills out into the open.


“And I don’t want you to think that you aren’t enough,” Sehun blubbers towards the end of his speech. “I want us to be with him, but I also really want to be with you. I’m sorry that you’re in this position because of me. I’m sure this isn’t what you pictured when you asked me out, but just know that I do love you and you’re more than enough.”


Minseok thumbs underneath his eyes, an expression on his face that Sehun can’t quite classify. It takes a while for him to respond, Sehun a shaking, sniffling mess all the while.


“You know, I thought I said you didn’t have to be sorry, but it seems you still haven’t gotten the message,” Minseok murmurs softly, a tiny smile on his face.


A laugh bubbles up before Sehun can stop it. Damn, he really loves Minseok.


“Honestly, though,” Minseok starts, only to stop and push back some of Sehun’s hair from his eyes. His thumb is soft against Sehun’s cheeks, but his eyes are even softer. Sehun feels tears starting to gather again. “I love you, you know that, right?”


“Right.”


“And you also know that I’m okay with you liking Yixing, right?”


“Right?” A sniffle accompanies the question.


Wordlessly, Minseok kisses him soft, sweet, slow. It’s too short for Sehun’s liking, but he’s still left breathless regardless.


“Right,” Minseok repeats firmly. “You don’t have to worry, love. I know that you love me and I’ve never felt like a second thought or a third wheel. Your heart is too big to only be given to one person, but so is mine. There’s nothing wrong with that.”


“I just- I feel so awful,” Sehun hiccups.


“You don’t have to be. We’re going to get through it together, whether we have Yixing with us or not. It will be sad if he doesn’t end up joining us, but what if he does? He’s been responsive to both of us and it’s not like we’re messing with him by going in separately. He knows we’re together and probably has a feeling that we like him.”


Sehun simply sniffles again in lieu of answering, but what Minseok’s saying makes sense. While they haven’t been as forward as they could’ve been, it doesn’t seem like Yixing’s actively trying to get away from them. He talks to them, responds to their little post-its, makes up random stories to share, creates drinks just for them.


“Have faith, love. I’m comfortable in my position with you right now, so please don’t worry about it anymore. I want him just as much as you want him.” Minseok kisses him again, this time longer than the last. Sehun clutches Minseok’s shoulders, effectively bringing him closer and preventing him from leaving. There are so many emotions swirling through him right now, but he picks one and settles with it: want. He’ll make sure to express his gratitude again in the morning in a sweeter way, maybe with a cupcake since he knows how to make those now, but at the moment, all Sehun cares about is the addicting drag of Minseok’s lips against his.


Sehun’s fingers dig in deeper when Minseok trails little kisses down his jaw and to his collarbones, lips sucking a nice mark where Sehun’s neck and shoulder come together. A whine leaves his parted lips when Minseok takes his time with Sehun’s collarbones, his lips soft as they skim over the skin before becoming sharp with the nips Minseok places there.


Sehun brings Minseok back up for another kiss, one of his hands finding its way to Minseok’s ass, the other holding onto his shoulder for support.


Minseok groans, hips rutting down at the contact and Sehun wheezes when their hips come in contact.


The next thing Sehun knows, he’s being lifted, legs wrapping around Minseok’s waist as his arms circle Minseok’s neck. Sehun can feel the muscles in Minseok’s biceps and thighs flexing with every step Minseok takes. A whimper dies in the back of his throat at the thought that he’s going to be on the receiving end of the power in those muscles very soon.


Minseok places him on the bed softly, his hand finding Sehun’s to intertwine their fingers as they kiss again. The urgency is gone, the both of them entirely caught up in each other.


Clothes come off easily, years of practice guiding their motions as article of fabric after fabric come loose and are dropped to the floor.


Sehun sighs when Minseok pushes a finger into him, lips leaving light kisses on Sehun’s lips, his cheeks, his collarbones, his chest, his stomach, anywhere that Minseok can reach, there’s a kiss being placed there.


“I love your stomach,” Minseok says, nipping right next to Sehun’s belly button to prove his point. He loves when Minseok pays attention to his stomach, back arching when Minseok adds another finger the same moment he sucks a particularly large spot on the smooth, unmarked skin of Sehun’s tummy.


Minseok’s fingers are gentle in their ministrations, mostly from the knowledge that they don’t need to rush anything. His eyes are even more gentle, as are his lips as they continue to press against any available surface they can find.


A third finger is pushed in just as Sehun’s about to ask for another. It no longer stings, the stretch, Minseok always kind with him and making sure he’s not hurt. It’s exactly what he’s doing right now, eyes soft as they peer up at Sehun from between his legs. It should be obscene – and it kind of is – but Sehun can only see the love swimming in Minseok’s eyes.


Minseok slips a condom on before wrapping Sehun’s legs around his waist. Sehun bunches fingers into the sheets, fighting against the urge to reach up and bring Minseok’s head down for a bruising kiss.


“Are you okay?” Minseok questions softly. Sehun answers by rolling his hips up, Minseok’s fingernails biting into Sehun’s hips.


“Please, Minseok,” Sehun whimpers.


Minseok takes his time, Sehun letting out a frustrated sound at the pace, but Minseok refuses to go any faster. Instead, he leans down and kisses Sehun who automatically wraps arms around Minseok’s neck to keep him in place. Now that Minseok’s so close, he doesn’t want him to go anywhere.


Sehun barely lets Minseok bottom out before he’s pushing up again. Minseok’s eyes peer into his with concern, but he must find something in Sehun’s eyes that has him pulling back and starting a slow pace.


“I love you,” Sehun whispers over and over and over, arms wrapped tight around Minseok’s neck as they breathe each other’s air. Minseok only kisses him again, forehead pressed against Sehun’s as he continues to work those wonderful hips of his.


The only thing that Sehun sees is Minseok, his face so, so beautiful above Sehun’s. From here, Sehun can see every eyelash, every crevice, every fleck of love in Minseok’s eyes.


A choked gasp leaves his lips when Minseok reaches down to wrap fingers around Sehun’s cock, Minseok’s other hand taking one of Sehun’s to clasp them together. Minseok’s hips keep rocking into Sehun, his breath hitching each time Minseok pushes back in.


Sehun comes with love whispered against his lips and delicate fingers pumping him until he’s spent. Minseok comes seconds later, a satisfied sigh escaping his kiss-swollen lips.


Sehun immediately curls up against Minseok once he throws the condom away, his hands coming to rest against Minseok’s chest. He can feel Minseok’s quick heartbeat, a smile curving his lips up.


“Beautiful,” Minseok says softly before kissing the top of Sehun’s head. It only serves to make Sehun blush and wiggle in closer, Minseok’s laugh washing over him like a wave.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun wakes up to Minseok prying his fingers away from where they’re clutching onto Minseok’s shirt.


“Why?” Sehun whines, petulantly pulling Minseok closer and hiding his fists so Minseok won’t be able to break his grip.


Minseok huffs a laugh out, the air hot and uncomfortable against Sehun’s cheek. His gut instinct is to get as far away from the warmth as possible, but he wants to cuddle with Minseok more.


“It’s Wednesday. You didn’t have this problem for the last two days, not that you were even awake when I left on Monday.”


“You tired me out Sunday,” Sehun murmurs, cheeks heating up just thinking about the crying he did and the gentle way that Minseok took him and loved him.


“Even so, I still need to get ready,” Minseok replies softly. Sehun simply burrows closer, even throwing a leg over Minseok’s waist for good measure.


“Don’t make me,” Minseok warns, but Sehun’s already halfway back in dreamland.


He’s violently yanked out of his peaceful state when Minseok twists his left nipple, an area where Sehun has always been sensitive.


“How could you?” Sehun screeches in betrayal, body curled in on itself, arms over his chest. He can hear Minseok’s laugh fade away as he walks to the bathroom.


He’s not angry enough to keep his eyes closed when Minseok comes back and starts stripping, however. Sehun’s nipple might be burning slightly, but his eyes are enamored as he stares at the way Minseok’s back flexes as he pulls on a shirt and at the way Minseok’s butt looks so firm in his briefs before disappearing behind more fabric. A wistful sigh escapes his lips before he even realizes it.


Minseok saunters over with a smirk, leaning down for a kiss when he’s close enough. His palm is warm when he places it against Sehun’s chest. “Have a nice day.”


“You’re awful,” Sehun grumbles, but doesn’t bother retaliating with anything else. It’s too early in the morning and he doesn’t start functioning until noon so it’s not too difficult to drift off to sleep with Minseok’s pretty laugh as his backtrack.


Four hours later finds Sehun sleepily peering into the fridge and wondering what he can successfully make while half-asleep. The ramen in the cupboard is tempting enough, but then his eyes flit over a bright post-it note stuck on top of a take-out box.


It doesn’t take long for his sluggish brain to remember that Yixing had given that to them Monday, a super adorable expression on his face as he handed it over.


“I experimented over the weekend and ended up with too much food,” he had said with a shy smile. It took all Sehun had in him not to coo and pat Yixing on the cheek.


One quick run through the microwave and the smell of noodles and chicken fills the apartment. It smells absolutely delicious when he pulls it out, Sehun’s stomach grumbling in response.


He’s far too impatient to wait for it to cool, only minding a little when he burns his tongue on the first bite. The flavors and the way they come together is enough to distract Sehun from the pain, a low moan of happiness escaping his lips. Despite the heat radiating from the plate, Sehun shovels the food down, only to be upset when he’s done because he wasn’t able to properly enjoy the meal in his blissful state. He briefly thinks that maybe he can ask Yixing for more, but quickly pushes the thought away. He tells himself not to be selfish and that Yixing needs to eat, too. That doesn’t stop him from whining sadly, though.


Sehun’s too lazy to work on anything right away, especially with how content his is from that meal. Watching a show on the television seems like a good enough idea, one that Sehun follows up on within seconds.


His phone pings halfway through an episode of Running Man, Sehun’s eyes flickering down to find that Minseok has texted him.


I’m going to be home a little late today :(


noooooo :c


Sorry love. I’ll try to get home as soon as I can


Flopping over with a sigh, Sehun stares at the screen as if it’ll make Minseok come home sooner.


A light bulb goes off in his head when he realizes that he can go to the coffee shop. Since Minseok’s going to be back late, he’s probably going to get something to eat before coming home. Sehun can always pick something up on the way back instead of ordering in/ and he can get some work done as well.


With a new skip in his step, Sehun goes and gets ready for the day.


Sehun’s in front of the coffee shop within thirty minutes. He would’ve been here sooner if not for his panicked dressing and lack of ability to clear his head enough to find his drawing supplies and a new post-it for Yixing.


He all but stumbles through the door, cheeks burning bright when he looks up and sees Yixing looking at him with an amused smile.


“Hi,” Sehun says, coughing to try and hide how shy he sounds. He’s been talking to Yixing for months, damn it. He should be better at this conversation business by now.


“How are you? I hope you didn’t stumble the entire way here.”


“You’re awful,” Sehun says with a pout. Yixing laughs, his whole face lighting up in that adorable way of his and Sehun’s so doomed.


“I’m merely concerned for your well-being. It wouldn’t be good if you tripped with all of that stuff you’re carrying.”


Sehun makes a noise of disbelief that has Yixing chuckling again. Sehun tries to hide his smile at such a pretty sound, but he’s not sure he succeeds.


“Can I get one hot chocolate, please?”


“White?” Yixing asks, finger hovering over the touch screen in front of him.


“Oh.” Sehun’s cheeks heat up again. He internally sighs; his cheeks were just starting to cool down, too. “Yes, white please.”


Yixing doesn’t even need to tell him the price anymore. Sehun usually has it already ready for Yixing, but today he has to put all of his stuff down on the counter before pulling his wallet out of his back pocket with a huff.


Yixing watches him with clear amusement playing across his features.


“Don’t,” Sehun says firmly. “I won’t give you your post-it otherwise.”


Yixing raises an eyebrow. “Is that so?”


“Yes, so be nice.”


“I’m always nice, though.”


Sehun snorts. “You were just laughing at me when I walked through the door.”


“Are you sure? I could’ve been laughing at anything. Maybe there was a clown behind you.”


Sehun laughs so hard that his stomach starts hurting, not even caring that there are probably several sets of eyes on him. “A clown?” he wheezes out amidst his laughter. “Where did you get that from?”


“I don’t know,” Yixing responds, Sehun’s laughter immediately cutting off. Yixing had said it in Mandarin and Sehun had actually understood it.


“You don’t know?” Sehun replies in Mandarin a few seconds too late, brain trying and struggling to come up with the right sounds and words.


Yixing seems surprised, but then a smile blooms across his face, like a flower in the spring. “You understood that?” he asks, reverting back to Korean.


Regardless of the change, Sehun responds with an affirmative in Mandarin if only to see the way Yixing’s eyes curve happily.


“I’ll bring your drink to you when I’m done making it,” Yixing chirps, a little tilt to his lips. “Unless you trip and fall before you make it to your table.”


“I’m going to stop coming if this is the way I’m going to be treated,” Sehun huffs, not that he really means it. The knowing smile Yixing sends him tells Sehun he realizes that as well.


“Wait,” Yixing calls as Sehun’s gathering his stuff. Yixing walks back over from the machine he was near only to delicately pluck the post-it note off of Sehun’s art book. He beams. “I’ll take this.”


Sehun’s so stunned that all he can do is stand there for a few seconds. The only thing that gets him moving is someone clearing their throat behind him, Sehun jumping because he’s pretty sure that man wasn’t there him five seconds ago.


Still dazed, Sehun plops down in their usual booth, books and pencils clattering against the table where he drops them. It takes him a few moments to blink his way to coherency, a smile so large his cheeks start to hurt appearing. He doesn’t care how creepy it probably looks because Yixing’s honestly the cutest, yet most unknowingly seductive, person that Sehun knows. There’s something about him, how Sehun’s constantly finding things he likes about Yixing, that draws Sehun in like a magnet.


“One white hot chocolate,” Yixing pipes up, Sehun jumping in shock. He hadn’t even heard Yixing walk up. That doesn’t stop his heart from fluttering when Yixing places the drink down on the table with his signature pretty smile, though.


“Thank you,” Sehun says as he reaches for the drink with a happy sigh.


“No problem! Thank you for not tripping,” he teases.


“Oh my gosh, you’re never going to let this go are you?” Sehun asks with a huff.


“Nope, not anytime soon,” Yixing replies happily before bounding off back around the counter.


Sehun can’t even find it in himself to be mad. Instead, he shakes his head fondly, placing the post-it stuck to his drink off to the side for later. He doesn’t deserve to read it just yet; he has to get some work done first.


Luckily, he left off on a good spot the last time he was working on this before Minseok dragged him to bed. One read through and he’s submersed in the plot again, pencil firm yet soft as it presses against the page.


He gets a few more panels done before deciding to take a break and work on something else. He’s learned in the past that the more he looks at the same panels, the less inspired he becomes. It’s best to clear his mind, but only when he’s at a good point where he knows he can easily pick it up afterwards. The break’s supposed to help him, not serve as a way to procrastinate.


Sehun lets his mind go free, mindlessly sketching against the paper with light strokes. He only realizes what – or more importantly who he’s drawn – when he looks down, pushing the paper away with a blush when Yixing’s face stares back up at him.


“Break over,” he mutters to himself.


Sehun draws and draws, completely lost in the atmosphere of the shop and the panels on the pages. He’s so absorbed, in fact, that he doesn’t realize there’s no one there but him until someone taps the side of the table.


Startled, Sehun looks up and is greeted with Yixing’s smiling face. He automatically smiles back even if he’s a little confused.


“It’s almost time for me to close the shop.”


Eyes widening, Sehun checks his phone to find that it’s almost six in the evening. He’s been drawing for almost five hours.


“I’m sorry!” Sehun says, frantically trying to gather all of his stuff so Yixing can go home sooner.


A hand wraps around his wrist mid-grab, Sehun freezing at the soft touch. Yixing’s eyes are even soft when Sehun looks up, but there’s also a little twinkle in them that Sehun can’t help but get lost in.


“It’s okay, you don’t have to rush. Since we’re the only ones here, it wouldn’t make much of a difference if you left now or in ten minutes.”


Sehun blinks. It sounds like an invitation to stay and talk, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up. Yixing’s looking at him like he’s waiting for something, though, so Sehun takes a chance and asks, “Do you want to sit with me?”


Yixing’s smile could rival the sun on its brightest day. He slips into the seat across from Sehun, bringing something out from behind his back before pushing it forward.


“For you,” Yixing says, Sehun lighting up because it’s his special drink.


“You’re amazing,” Sehun praises, eyes curving up happily when he takes a sip of the refreshing drink.


Yixing laughs lightly. “It’s really not that special.”


“Honestly! Not only do you make delicious drinks, but you make good food, too! I was sad this morning when I went to take another bite of the food you gave us and there was nothing left.”


Yixing laughs again, this time a little lighter and with pink sprinkling his cheeks. “It’s not much, I promise.”


Sehun isn’t listening, though. Yixing’s in denial of his skills.


“Is there anything you can’t do?” Honestly. Yixing can cook, he can make multiple drinks perfectly, and he can multitask. Hell, he’s probably even able to keep his living space clean or play the piano or work out every once in a while if his arms are anything to go by.


Yixing waves his arms about and it’s so cute that Sehun can’t help but laugh. It’s refreshing to be the one doing the teasing but it’s also refreshing to hear Yixing laugh and to talk with him without worrying that someone’s going to walk up behind him and want to order something.


Sehun’s phone rings sometime later, right in the middle of Yixing’s story about the time a lady came in and wouldn’t leave until she got the sandwich she wanted even though they didn’t make sandwiches.


“Sorry,” he says sheepishly. Yixing waves him off with a gentle twitch of the lips.


I’m leaving now ^^


Sehun’s eyes widen before he curses softly. He’s been sitting here and talking with Yixing for half an hour now. It’s not like he minds, and he’s sure Minseok wouldn’t mind either, but it’s getting pretty late. He doesn’t want Yixing to stay any later than he has to, even if he had been enjoying their conversation. Yixing hadn’t even looked phased when Sehun started talking about Minseok like he’s wont to do, a smile on his face as Sehun told him about their cupcake adventures (minus the sex part). His interest hadn’t faltered once through the stories Sehun told after that, even asking about Minseok at one point. Sehun felt like his heart was going to burst from happiness.


“I have to go,” Sehun says sadly. He doesn’t make any moves to leave, though, and neither does Yixing, the both of them seemingly reluctant to go anywhere.


It’s Yixing that moves first, a little smile on his lips as he helps Sehun pack his stuff away. “It’s okay, I should go, too.”


“Hey, your birthday’s next week, right?” Sehun questions innocently even though he knows very well when Yixing’s birthday is.


To his credit, Yixing looks surprised, hands stopping before resuming putting Sehun’s pencils away. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”


Sehun shrugs good-naturedly. “Well even if I forgot, we still have the post-it with the date on it.”


“Good point,” Yixing replies, laughing. “But yes, it’s next week. Are you planning on kidnapping me or something?”


Sehun’s heart skips a beat, but he keeps himself under control enough to mutter, “Or something.” If things work out as planned, they’re going to be taking Yixing on a date, a thought that both terrifies and excites Sehun.


“I’m sorry?”


“Nothing!” Sehun squeaks, hastily changing the topic so Yixing doesn’t start asking questions.


They manage to clean up within a minute, Yixing all cheery smiles as he hands Sehun’s supplies over. Sehun absolutely doesn’t blush, not at all.


“Um, well, have a nice night?” Sehun flinches, wondering how he could be this bad at having a conversation like a normal human. He had been doing so well, too.


Yixing simply continues to smile, the twinkling in his eyes coming back full force and leaving Sehun almost breathless with it. And then Sehun freezes with Yixing’s next question, foot stopping mid-step in the air.


“Would you like a ride home?”


“I- uh, you drive?”


All things considered, Sehun’s pretty grateful that he managed to get those words out. The thought of being alone with Yixing in a car – a car that no doubt smells entirely like Yixing – is enough to have Sehun’s brain shutting down.


“I do. Do you live far? Not that it really matters anyways, but distance is nice to know if I’m going to be taking you home.”


Sehun doesn’t remember agreeing, but he’s not about to pass up the opportunity.


“It’s maybe five minutes away? Since it normally takes fifteen minutes to walk over.”


Yixing’s eyes widen. “You walk all this way every week? What’s so special about this coffee shop versus the ones in your area?”


Sehun barely, barely resists the urge to say, “You.”


Instead, he settles with, “There aren’t any other shops in our area.”


It’s not entirely a lie, but it’s not entirely the truth either. Since Minseok had found this shop, they hadn’t bothered to look around for others. There might be one near them, but they don’t know it exists so it doesn’t matter to Sehun. It’s weird that Minseok even found this place in the first place since he doesn’t typically like going to shops for coffee when he could just make it himself the way he likes it. He’ll try some every once in a while, but he’s never gone back a second time until now.


Yixing’s eyes widen even more if possible. “There aren’t? I find that hard to believe.”


Sehun shrugs in what he hopes is a nonchalant manner, hoping that his cheeks aren’t flaming to give him away. “Shouldn’t you be happy that we keep coming back? We’re paying customers.”


“True,” Yixing hums. “It’s always nice to see the two of you.”


Sehun blushes. “It’s, um, always nice to see you, too,” he says quietly, but he knows that Yixing heard him if the little pleased noise Yixing lets out is any indication.


The next thing Sehun knows, he’s outside. He doesn’t even remember walking out the door, much less walking along the sidewalk to the parking lot. He blinks owlishly as he takes in the tiny lot. Yixing’s standing next to a black car and Sehun’s never really been good with cars, but it doesn’t look too bad in his opinion. It’s definitely not a sports car, but he likes it all the same, or at least he likes what he can see of it since the lamplight in this area is pretty poor.


“Sorry it’s a little messy,” Yixing apologizes once Sehun’s in and buckled up, his supplies resting on his lap.


“Messy?” Sehun wonders, eyebrows just about shooting into his hairline. “There’s nothing on the floor, I don’t now what you’re talking about.”


“You’re only saying that because you can’t see the floor. They should really put some lights back here,” Yixing sighs.


“They should, but even if there was light, I would still say your car’s as clean as newly dried laundry.” He had kicked his feet around to look for whatever it is Yixing claims to be littering the floor and only made contact with one thing.


“You heard that, right?” Yixing asks. “You just kicked something lying around.”


Sehun snorts before laughing and he knows that was probably terribly unattractive, but he can’t help it.


“What?” Yixing wonders in amusement, looking at Sehun briefly before looking behind himself so he can back out.


“You’re silly,” Sehun says, but doesn’t elaborate. Only Yixing would be worried about something as insignificant as this.


“I’m not.” Sehun looks over to see Yixing pouting, but he ends up getting distracted by Yixing’s side profile and the way he looks while driving. There’s nothing extraordinary about it, but Sehun feels something in the way Yixing’s arms flex as he goes to turn and the way he looks out the window with curiosity when they stop at a red light, his fingers tapping against the steering wheel to some beat that Sehun isn’t privy to.


“Turn right here,” Sehun says reluctantly. He doesn’t want his time with Yixing to end, but he can’t be selfish and keep Yixing to himself. He has no idea how far away Yixing lives, so it would be best to let him get home as soon as possible; he’s delayed Yixing enough as it is.


Yixing pulls into a parking space easily before turning to Sehun. “Okay, well have a nice night. Maybe I’ll see you on my birthday when you kidnap me.” His eyes are doing that twinkling thing again and Sehun’s torn between wanting to kiss him and bang his head against a wall. Neither are very appealing since one would cause him pain and the other would give him entirely too strong heart palpitations, which, now that he thinks about it, is just another form of pain. It’s a lose-lose situation in his mind.


Luckily, he has enough to sense to mumble out, “Sure. Thank you for the ride,” before practically bolting.


He takes a deep breath of non-Yixing saturated air once he steps out of the car, lungs expanding and contracting. His heart beats away regardless of the rhythmic motion, the fluctuation of air not slowing the beating down in the slightest.


Minseok isn’t home when Sehun opens the door, no pair of shoes on the floor next to Sehun’s unofficial-official spot. It’s probably for the best – there’s probably a large, dopey smile on his face.


He speaks too soon for the door opens just as he’s setting his stuff down on the coffee table, Sehun jumping in place from surprise.


“Sorry, love,” Minseok says, but he doesn’t sound very sorry at all, a teasing lilt at the end of his sentence.


“You’re not,” Sehun mumbles, but he sighs happily when Minseok pulls him in for a quick kiss. Sehun wraps his arms around Minseok’s shoulders to prevent him from moving, another happy sign escaping when Minseok hugs him back, his arms winding around Sehun’s waist.


“Long day?” Minseok wonders.


“No, you just give nice hugs.”


Sehun feels Minseok’s chuckle against his chest. “So you’re just using me.”


“Maaaaybe.”


Sehun laughs, squeaking slightly when Minseok pokes him in the ribs.


“You love me,” Sehun sing-songs.


Minseok sighs heavily. “I don’t know why, but I do.”


This time it’s Minseok’s turn to be on the receiving end of a finger to the ribs.


“You can’t use my attack against me!” Minseok makes to move away, but Sehun clings tighter, thinking koala-like thoughts as he holds on. Minseok huffs, but Sehun knows that Minseok enjoys Sehun’s hugs if the way he constantly leans into them is anything to say.


All of a sudden, Minseok pushes his face further into Sehun’s shoulder.


“Hyung?”


Minseok’s eyebrows are scrunched when he pulls back. “Did you go to the coffee shop today? You smell like coffee and I know that’s the only reason you would.”


Sehun flushes, Minseok exclaiming, “You did! What happened? Your cheeks are telling me that something happened.”


“I-” Sehun’s tongue-tied just thinking about the time he spent with Yixing today. God, he’s in so deep.


Minseok’s eyes are twinkling and he can’t help but think how it’s completely unfair that his eyes don’t sparkle like that. How come Minseok and Yixing have twinkly eyes? Hell, even Lu Han has a sparkle in his eyes. Did the twinkling eye fairy just skip over him at birth or something?


“Love,” Minseok calls, gently patting Sehun on the face. Sehun snaps out of it with a distracted hum. “What happened?”


Oh right. He doesn’t hold back in his story-telling, making sure to get his displeasure about the eye thing out before continuing on.


“And then he gave me a ride back here while practically telling me that he was free for us to take him somewhere on his birthday.”


Minseok’s eyebrows do that thing of theirs where they arch before straightening out. “Is that so?”


“I think that’s what he said...” He had seemed pretty straightforward, so there’s no way Sehun’s overthinking it, right?


“I trust your judgment.”


We at least that makes one of them because now Sehun’s frantically thinking back to ten minutes ago, hoping that he correctly understood what Yixing had implied.


A soft kiss against his cheek breaks him out of his panic, eyes blinking as he takes in Minseok peering up at him with a smile. “Don’t overthink, just believe that you understood him.”


Sehun swoops down for a kiss. “You always know what to say,” Sehun mumbles against Minseok’s lips.


“It’s part of my charm,” Minseok whispers back, Sehun shivering at the way Minseok’s lips brush against his with every syllable.


“One of many,” Sehun points out. His hand snakes around Minseok’s waist to pull him closer, the other threading through Minseok’s soft, soft hair. He could run fingers through Minseok’s hair all day and never get bored with the way the strands feel like silk against the pads of his fingers.


They stay in their little bubble for a little longer, just standing there and taking in each other’s presence.


Sehun’s stomach ends up ruining the moment. Minseok laughs while Sehun groans and buries his face in Minseok’s shoulder. It’s a bit of a reach down, but not so much so that it’s painful. He’s only mildly placated when Minseok softly places a kiss to Sehun’s cheek before asking, “Do you want something to eat?”


“You just got home and it’s late, I don’t want you to work more.” He’s not sure Minseok understood that since some of it probably got lost in the fabric covering Minseok’s shoulder. Somehow, Minseok hears enough of it and starts to waddle-walk them towards the kitchen. Sehun only puts up half a fight, part of him hungry yet the other part awful that he can’t make something on his own.


“I don’t mind.” Minseok detaches himself with another soft kiss, but he takes Sehun by surprise by lacing their fingers together. “Let’s make something together.”


Sehun smiles, more than happy with this plan. Together, they make a simple soup with rice off to the side and settle down on the couch with their bowls in hand despite Minseok’s protests.


“I don’t want anything to spill on the couch,” he had said. Sehun had pouted and that was the end of that.


It only takes a few seconds before Sehun feels like the nerves in his fingers are burning off, quickly but carefully placing the bowl down on a napkin on the table.


Minseok laughs at him, his fingers nice and cold from the fact that he had put his bowl down before sitting.


“Do you see why it would’ve been better to eat at the table?” Minseok asks with a smirk. Sehun ignores him in favor of blowing air on his fingers. Minseok only laughs before nudging Sehun’s foot. He refuses to be swayed and of course that only prompts Minseok to nudge more until Sehun huffs and hits back. It becomes some weird game of sideways footsies that has a lot more cursing and missing than what normally happens, but they’re laughing by the end of it. They end up snuggled on the couch as they eat their soup, Sehun blushing a healthy shade of red when Minseok teasingly reaches out with a spoon full of rice while saying, “Ahhh.”


“I’m not a kid,” Sehun mutters, but opens his mouth anyways, flushing even more when Minseok coos.


Sehun’s lethargic when they crawl into bed half an hour later, entirely pliant when Minseok pulls him to his chest so Minseok can be the big spoon today. Sehun wiggles closer with a happy sigh, always content in Minseok’s arms.


Minseok breaks the silence just as Sehun’s on the cusp of sleep. “Can you imagine if Yixing were here? Do you think he would be the big or little spoon?”


Sehun whines. “Why do you put thoughts like this into my head?”


Gentle fingers run through his hair. “Just wondering. He would probably switch off, huh?”


Sehun’s heart flutters at the thought of Yixing in his arms, of him being in Yixing’s arms, or even worse – him in Yixing’s arms as Yixing’s in Minseok’s arms.


Sehun whines again. “You hurt me.”


“Sorry, love.” Just like earlier, Minseok doesn’t sound sorry at all.


“I hope Yixing smothers you in cuddles,” Sehun mutters darkly.


“He can smother me with his thighs, too.”


“Hyung!” Sehun cries, eyes shooting open as he twists and looks at Minseok.


“Where’s the lie, though?”


Sehun doesn’t dignify that with a response. He just wants to go to sleep, not get hard because he’s thinking about how Yixing’s muscles would flex as he lifts Sehun up or as he’s thrusting into Minseok and fucking hell, Sehun just wants to go to sleep. He wills his body to listen to him, but he knows it’s not that easy, his shoulders not the only thing that are stiff.


A warm puff of air hits Sehun on the back of the neck as Minseok chuckles, the sound huskier than normal. It absolutely does not help with the current situation.


“Need help, love?”


Damn, Minseok had noticed. Well, it’s not like Sehun’s about to pass up the chance to have Minseok’s hand wrapped around him, so he nods with red cheeks. Minseok’s quick and efficient, but no less pleasurable than normal, when he reaches down Sehun’s shorts and gets him off within a few strokes.


“Thank you,” Sehun sighs once they’re back in bed, Sehun having helped Minseok with his own problem in the bathroom.


Minseok runs a soft thumb over Sehun’s bottom lip, eyes twinkling as he says, “Thank you.”


Sehun blushes, cuddling closer so Minseok can’t see his face. Minseok simply laughs, wrapping arms around Sehun and placing a kiss to his hair.


“Sweet dreams, love.”


☆ ❄ ✿


“Breathe, love, breathe.”


Sehun inhales, but it’s too quick, a cough bubbling up and escaping. Minseok rubs soothing circles on his back with a teasing smile.


“I can’t help it,” Sehun mutters and he doesn’t need to say that he’s nervous for Minseok to understand him.


“Well at least you look hot, so the only thing that would turn him away is your personality.”


“You’re awful.” Sehun turns to leave, but Minseok’s hold on his hand is strong, even stronger when he motions to move.


“Ready?” Minseok asks, moving forward without even bothering to wait for an answer. Sehun’s thankful for the push; if he was alone, he probably would’ve stayed outside for hours before going in. Okay, maybe not hours, but long enough that people would definitely notice.


Panic sets in when they walk in and Yixing isn’t behind the counter, not even after a few seconds of them standing there.


Lu Han waves at them brightly from the spot Yixing usually occupies.


“We’re so stupid,” Sehun whispers frantically. “Why did we think that Yixing would be working on his birthday? Don’t most employers give employees the day off when it’s their birthday?”


“Just act natural for now. Lu Han’s looking at us and we don’t want him to know something’s wrong.” Minseok’s eyebrows are furrowed like he’s thinking, but Sehun’s too busy trying to focus on breathing evenly that he barely notices.


“Hi!” Lu Han greets and he sounds so happy that he might have been a fairy or something in his last life to be this peppy and bright in the present one. Sehun can believe that.


“Hi,” Minseok replies. “One medium white hot chocolate and a large vanilla frappuccino, please.”


“Coming right up,” Lu Han says happily once Minseok hands the money over, his smile almost blinding.


Sehun lets out a long sigh once they sit down, a fingernail despondently tracing random patterns on the tabletop. “We wasted our time getting ready for this.”


He doesn’t mention that he’s sad; Minseok probably already knows. It’s always been beneficial that they could read each other likes books because that way Sehun doesn’t have to say certain embarrassing things out loud.


He looks up when he doesn’t receive a response, which is unusual. Minseok’s looking over Sehun’s shoulder with a curious look on his face, eyebrows slightly pinched together and mouth downturned just so. And then suddenly his eyes light up like he’s seeing a cup of coffee or a little kid, hand flying out and tapping Sehun on the wrist. “Look, love.”


Sehun doesn’t know how he could even be excited when all of their planning went to waste – not to mention all of the hours that Sehun needed to mentally prepare himself – but he turns around anyways, just for Minseok. His jaw drops when Yixing walks out of the back room looking more attractive than usual and it’s really fucking unfair because Yixing’s already handsome enough. Sehun almost drools when he spots the black button up that practically clings to Yixing’s chest. If he looks hard enough, he might be able to see a faint outline of Yixing’s pecs. His eyes travel down Yixing’s glorious torso only to frown when the counter stops his journey, only a black belt looped through the holes of black pants visible.


Turning around before he gets caught, Sehun resists the urge to fan himself. It’s gotten a little hotter all of a sudden, and he’s sure it’s one-hundred percent because of Yixing.


“He’s hot,” Minseok announces, Sehun snorting.


“What happened to ‘He’s so cute’?”


“He’s cute, too, but the overwhelming urge to have him in our bed right now is overriding that feeling at the moment.”


“Oh my God, hyung!” Sehun cries, discreetly looking around to make sure that no one had heard that. Luckily it seems that no one had, but Sehun’s cheeks still burn bright.


Minseok shrugs, not even looking disturbed or embarrassed in the slightest.


Their order gets called a few minutes later just as Minseok’s telling Sehun about something amusing that happened in the office the other day.


“Do you want to get it?” Sehun asks.


Minseok thinks about it for a few seconds, a cute expression on his face as he does, before shaking his head. “I would probably jump Yixing or make a lewd comment. It’s best to save those for later.”


Sehun only groans before heaving himself out of the booth. He wonders where Minseok got this confidence from because just last night as they laid in bed when Minseok had thought Sehun was sleeping he had whispered, “I hope everything works out well tomorrow.”


A pretty smile coupled with pretty eyes greets Sehun once he gets to the counter, his own lips curling up on instinct.


“Happy Birthday,” Sehun says shyly.


If possible, Yixing’s smile grows even wider. “Thank you,” he replies in Mandarin, Sehun sputtering as he tries to quickly get the Mandarin version of his birthday wish out. It comes out as a garbled mess of words that probably sounds nothing like it’s supposed to, but Yixing doesn’t say anything about it. He just says, “Cute,” in Mandarin and Sehun figures that this is the moment he passes out from heat exhaustion thanks to the warmth emanating from his cheeks.


“You’re free later, right?” Sehun can’t help but ask, immediately biting his lip after. The way he said it hadn’t really left any room for discussion, like he was practically forcing the invitation onto Yixing. “I mean, um, are you? It’s okay if you have something to do or someone to see, I was just curious.” It hurts, the possibility that Yixing has someone else to see or that he might already have plans with his friends, but Sehun needs to figure it out sooner rather than later lest they wait for Yixing for hours only to find out that he’s already busy.


Yixing laughs softly. “Breathe, Sehun. Yes, I’m free later. I thought we made plans last week?” His eyes are doing that twinkling thing again and it’s hard to think. Why is it that Sehun’s noticing this all of a sudden? He doesn’t remember being so captured by Yixing’s eyes before.


Sehun realizes he still hasn’t answered the question a few seconds too late, hiding his embarrassment behind a cough. “Well we did, but Minseok’s, um, also here.”


This isn’t exactly the way that Sehun wanted to tell Yixing about their possible arrangement, and it’s not exactly like he outright said it so they’re still going to have to talk about it, but it’s a start, he supposes.


Yixing blinks at him, tilting his head slightly. “I assumed he would be going, too.”


Sehun sputters with wide eyes. “You know?”


“Kind of?” Yixing says, more like a question than anything, but he doesn’t sound apposed, just a little confused. “Or at least I think I do? Now I’m not sure...”


Sehun laughs before he can stop himself. A bubble of relief pops in his chest only to spread out and envelop Sehun in warmth that he hasn’t felt since Minseok asked him out or told Sehun that he loved him.


“Don’t confuse yourself too much. It’s most likely what you think it is, unless you think we’re vampires or something, then you would be wrong.”


Yixing snaps his fingers, sighing out a, “Darn.” Sehun laughs again because Yixing’s just so, so cute.


“I’ll talk to you later?” Sehun wonders. He doesn’t want to accidentally spill the secret about their plans and the longer he stands here, the higher the chance is.


Yixing blinks, seeming to remember where they are. He sends Sehun an easy smile, one that reduces Sehun’s insides to goo. “Yeah, I’ll come over to your table in a couple of hours, if that’s okay with you?”


“Sounds perfect,” Sehun breathes, heart fluttering at the last grin Yixing gives him before he’s off to take someone’s order.


“What took so long?”


Snorting, Sehun slides Minseok’s drink over. “You’re welcome.”


“Thanks, love, but why did it take so long?”


Sehun holds his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. “I was just asking him if he was free later, since it would be kind of dumb to wait here for someone that’s going to be busy.”


“That would’ve taken seconds, a minute tops. You talked about something else, too.”


Sehun chuckles, not at all used to seeing Minseok jealous or anything close to it. “You should’ve gotten the drinks if you wanted to talk to him so badly,” he teases.


Minseok makes an affronted noise, like he can’t believe that Sehun’s teasing him at a time like this.


“Okay, okay,” Sehun says with a chuckle. “I asked him that and wished him a happy birthday, but we also talked about you to an extent and how it would be all three of us on the date.”


“And he was okay with it?”


Sehun nods with a hum, absentmindedly picking up his drink to take a sip. It’s just as perfect as usual, and it might just be him, but it tastes a little better today, like there’s something extra added in.


Minseok lets out a sigh of his own. “Well that’s good.”


“You’re nervous.”


“I’m not!” Minseok exclaims, Sehun laughing in response.


“You sure about that, hyung? You responded pretty quickly.”


“I’m sure,” Minseok huffs, but Sehun sees right through him. It’s nice to know that behind all of that confidence, Minseok’s just as worried as he is, a smile spreading across his features when he thinks about Minseok asking him out all of those years ago. He wonders if Minseok was worried then, too, if he felt the nervous fluttering of heart all throughout his body, if his hands got clammy, if his toes curled in anticipation and slight worry.


It’s comfortable between the two of them as they talk about their week and ask questions to pass the time. Sehun’s always, always loved these little dates they have every week; it gives him a way to get closer to Minseok without feeling forced. He thought that, after all this time, there wouldn’t be anything else to learn about Minseok, but he keeps finding more things to love and notices some old habits taking new forms. He can’t wait to learn about Yixing’s quirks as well, his heart feeling warm and full the more he thinks about it.


About an hour later, the bell above the door rings, Sehun errantly wondering how Yixing could stand working here with that noise sounding every time the door opened. He doesn’t pay the bell any mind as usual, and is about to turn back to Minseok to grab his hand and play with his fingers, when he hears girly squeals. Sehun looks around, but he doesn’t see any idols in the place, although that one guy in the corner is wearing a hat and sunglasses indoors.


Minseok’s grip visibly tightens around his paper cup, eyes narrowed as he looks over Sehun’s shoulder.


He sees what’s wrong once he turns around, a frown overtaking his features. The two girls that had squealed are up at the counter, leaning over very obviously. He wouldn’t mind as much if it was Lu Han behind the register, but as it stands, Yixing’s the one there, Lu Han no where to be found.


Minseok places his cup down with a little too much force, Sehun quickly refocusing on his boyfriend.


“We need to work harder,” Minseok mutters. He’s usually more sensible than this, the one that always thinks things through and makes sure he understands the situation completely, so it’s weird seeing him like this.


It’s Sehun turn to be the sensible one. “I’m sure it will be fine.” He does admit that he’s a little worried, though. Those two girls were attractive from the little glimpse he got and Sehun has no idea what Yixing’s preferences are.


“Wait, hyung look,” Sehun says, blindly reaching behind him to tap his palm against the table.


Yixing looks uncomfortable even though he’s trying his best to hide it. His smile’s strained at the corners and his shoulders are hunched. Sehun blinks, not having realized that he knew Yixing’s habits so well; to anyone else, it might look like Yixing’s just being polite, but Sehun can tell that’s not the case.


Nevertheless, Yixing is trying to politely turn the girls away and get them to order as quickly as possible. They don’t seem to be getting the hint, Sehun starting to feel frustrated for him. If there’s one thing that he doesn’t like, it’s when people can’t take a hint that someone doesn’t want to be talking to them. It’s the reason he never wanted to get into customer service because Minseok had told him about one of his old jobs and the same thing happened to him almost daily. The added ego boost wasn’t worth being annoyed in Sehun’s opinion.


A pair of eyes is staring right at Sehun when he tunes back into Earth. Yixing smiles softly, just a quirk of the lips, but Sehun can tell Yixing’s laughing at him. He narrows his eyes playfully before sticking his tongue out, smiling when Yixing hides a laugh behind his hands.


The girls from before choose that exact moment to walk by their table, flipping their hair over their shoulders with twin scoffs. Sehun only smiles, more than happy to be the one to teach them that they can’t always have what they want.


A gentle tap to his foot brings his attention to Minseok, who’s looking at him softly.


“Yes?” he wonders, cheeks heating up under the stare.


“You’re cute,” Minseok notes, but doesn’t elaborate further. Sehun kicks Minseok’s foot in lieu of responding and that sets off a game of footsies that Sehun knows they’re too old for, but doesn’t care about.


It’s a wonder they don’t run out of things to talk about throughout the time they’re there, but the next thing Sehun knows, someone’s standing next to their table.


“Hi,” Yixing greets, his dimple coming out to say hello as well.


“Hey,” Minseok replies. “Happy Birthday! I’m sorry that I don’t have a big cake or anything.”


Yixing’s face heats up. Lu Han had decided earlier to burst out of the back room with a large cake in his hands, loudly singing “Happy Birthday” to Yixing. The customers in the store had joined in and Yixing’s face looked like it was about to burst into flames. It was adorable and Sehun had been glad to be a part of it, even if it had been Lu Han’s idea.


“It’s okay, I would prefer if you didn’t,” Yixing says.


Sehun stares at his legs, finally able to now that there isn’t a counter obstructing his view. Minseok taps him on the shin, Sehun startling out of his daze to quickly start gathering his stuff even though all of it’s already in his pockets.


“Are you ready to go?” Sehun wonders as he gets out of the booth. He feels a sense of pride when Yixing takes a peek at his legs. He knows they look great in the pair of pants he’s wearing, but his butt looks even better, Sehun making sure to wiggle around a little as he pretends to smooth out the wrinkles in his pants.


“Yeah,” Yixing says, a little breathy quality at the end of the word.


Sehun smiles to himself before starting to lead the way. The three of them end up walking in a line with Yixing in the middle. Sehun’s fighting with himself, knowing that it might be too early to hold Yixing’s hand, but wanting to so, so badly.


“Oh!” Sehun suddenly exclaims, the other two looking at him with curious expressions. “What about your car? I wouldn’t want you to have to come all the way back here after we’re done...”


“I took the bus today, so don’t worry.” Yixing smiles and Sehun melts.


Talking with Yixing is easy, albeit a little terrifying. They’re going to be together much longer than they usually are, which means there’s more time for Sehun to talk which means there’s more time for him to make a fool of himself. It’s a good thing that Minseok’s here to be a mediator of sorts because Sehun wouldn’t be able to get more than one word out if it was just him and Yixing.


Sehun loves watching and hearing Minseok talk with Yixing. He doesn’t even mind that they’re in their own little world, Yixing’s hands fluttering around in excitement when Minseok mentions that he likes to go jogging every once in a while (Sehun internally cries because sweaty Minseok’s a Problem and now he’s going to have to deal with a sweaty Minseok and a sweaty Yixing) and that he likes to eat cheesecake (“I love making cheesecake!” Yixing exclaims happily before listing all of the different versions that he definitely has to make for Minseok).


And then suddenly Yixing’s rounding on him with large, excited eyes. “What about you? Do you like cheesecake, too?”


“I, um, yes? I like cookies more, though.” Yixing launches into a story about the one time he made cookies for a friend’s birthday only to find out that they were allergic to one of the ingredients he put in it.


“I promise the cookies were good, though! And that he safely got to the hospital. He even let me make him a different kind next year.” Yixing beams and Sehun’s so taken that he honestly can’t do anything but stare. Minseok’s the same, although he’s a little less subtle with his staring. Sehun sees the smile on his face regardless if Minseok tries to hide it.


“I’m sorry,” Yixing suddenly says, Sehun’s eyebrows furrowing. What’s there to be sorry about? “I’ve been told that I can ramble sometimes, so I’m sorry about that.”


“There’s nothing to be sorry about, though?” Sehun really doesn’t like the sad look on Yixing’s face, like he’s been scolded or made fun of for his enthusiasm before. “I can’t speak for Minseok hyung, but I really enjoy listening to your stories.”


Minseok nods from Yixing’s right. Yixing still doesn’t look entirely convinced, though, so without thinking about it, Sehun lacing their fingers together to give a comforting squeeze. It’s clear that Yixing hadn’t been expecting that since his eyes go wide. Sehun sends him a shy smile that grows larger when Minseok grabs Yixing’s other hand. They don’t let go and Yixing doesn’t ask, simply walks forward with an extra skip in his step.


It’s only after they’ve been walking for a while that Yixing asks where they’re going.


“We only really had one place in mind, but after that, we kind of figured we could walk around if that’s okay with you,” Minseok says.


Yixing beams like that’s the best idea in the world. Sehun doesn’t know how he’s still standing since his legs always seem to turn to jelly when Yixing smiles.


“That’s good because we’re here,” Sehun hears Minseok say through his haze of everything that is Yixing. It’s probably a little unhealthy how much he already fawns over Yixing, but he’s not going to question it. Fawning over Minseok is what lead him here in the first place, and he’s learned to trust his gut because of it. And right now, his gut’s telling him that Yixing’s special, that he’ll stay around. Now it’s just a matter of how much Sehun wants to believe it.


“Ice cream?” Yixing asks happily.


“We remembered you writing about how much you liked it but couldn’t get it that often since you were too tired on the way home,” Sehun explains. He was actually the one that remembered, Minseok on board within seconds. It had seemed like a good idea a few days ago when they were planning.


Right now, though, right now Sehun really fucking regrets his decision. It’s almost obscene watching Yixing lick his ice cream cone, his tongue darting out to lick a long strip up the side before curling back in his mouth, lips curling up in the corners as he makes a pleased little noise in the back of his throat. Sehun didn’t think it could get worse after that, but Yixing’s cookie dough ice cream is white and Sehun’s mind is in the damn gutter. He physically has to restrain himself when some of the ice cream melts down the cone and ends up on Yixing’s fingers, Yixing happily slipping his finger into his mouth to suck the liquid away.


Minseok doesn’t seem to be fairing any better, knuckles practically white as he grips his cup of mint chocolate chip, eyes almost to the point of flaming as he watches Yixing.


The worst part is that Yixing doesn’t even seem to know what he’s doing to both of them and if he does, he deserves an award for being able to do all of that with a straight face.


Conversation’s a little slow, if only because two of them are too busy gripping the table so they don’t jump the third person. Now isn’t the time to get hard, yet Sehun’s traitorous body thinks otherwise and he’s half-hard by the time they leave the store, Minseok and Sehun’s ice creams a puddle in their respective cups.


And then Sehun sees it. It’s quick and if he hadn’t been staring at Yixing’s mouth like a moth to a flame, he wouldn’t have noticed, but right when Minseok and Sehun turn from throwing their trash away, he spies the remnants of a smirk fading from Yixing’s lips. Sehun realizes with a start that Yixing did it all on purpose. Sehun doesn’t know whether he should cry a river because Yixing’s going to fit in with them perfectly or weep because this is too fucking much. He settles with neither, instead nudging Minseok in the lower back. Minseok looks at him in confusion, but Sehun can still see some remnants of the fire from earlier. All Sehun has to do is nod discreetly for Minseok to understand and he gets a nod coupled with a tiny smirk in return.


Game on.


They had initially planned for this date to be sweet and easy-going, but now the objective has changed slightly. Of course the original plan is still in motion, just now with a little more spice. If Yixing wants to play this game, then he has no idea what he’s signed up for.


Sehun leaves it to Minseok to do most of the work because even though he finds Yixing ridiculously attractive, he just knows that he wouldn’t be able to brush his fingers lightly over Yixing’s butt with a straight face like Minseok or be able to lean close to Yixing’s face under the guise that there’s some left over ice cream on his lip like Minseok without his face flaring.


There’s a tiny part of Sehun that’s always been scared he would feel jealous seeing the two of them together, but he’s never been more glad to be wrong. It’s hard to do anything but coo when he sees them talking to each other, Yixing chuckling at something Minseok whispers right into his ear, or when Yixing leans his head against Minseok’s shoulder as they’re standing in line to buy a donut that Sehun had seen through a window of a bakery.


And they make sure to be affectionate with him as well. Minseok’s more daring with his affection, but that’s not surprising since they’ve been together for years. It’s second nature for Minseok to press against his side or kiss Sehun’s cheek before smiling up at him in that adorable way of his. Yixing sticks with simply holding Sehun’s hand, Sehun blushing each time their fingers intertwine. Yixing’s palm is warm and comforting, his fingers slender and beautiful as they fit into the spaces between Sehun’s slightly shorter digits.


It’s like their first anniversary instead of their first date with how loving and soft they are with each other.


They eventually stumble upon a large bookstore that’s even larger inside than it looks on the outside.


“I didn’t even know bookstores existed anymore,” Sehun says in awe, thinking back to the last time he was in a place that had books of this number that wasn’t the library.


Yixing lightly swats him on the arm before re-joining their hands. “Of course they still do.”


Sehun pouts at the hit even if it wasn’t hard if only to get a tiny squeeze to the hand as a form of apology. Sehun would’ve preferred a kiss, but baby steps.


“Let’s split up,” Sehun suggests, tugging Yixing closer to him. “Yixing hyung and I can go this way while you can go upstairs, hyung.”


Minseok raises an eyebrow. “How come I’m the one that has to go alone? Why don’t we all just go upstairs?”


Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Sehun drops his hand, fingers slipping free from Yixing’s. He misses the warmth already.


He grumbles the entire way up the staircase and he can hear Yixing laughing at him, which only causes him to grumble more.


“I don’t even like reading books,” Sehun mumbles as the runs fingers over the spines of fiction books for children. Yixing and Minseok had gone off when they all reached the top of the staircase, leaving Sehun to wander around by himself. Sehun had the errant thought to follow one of them or keep tabs on where they are, but figured it was too much work. Besides, he needs a break from all of the close proximity he’s been in with both of them today. His head’s spinning with the feeling of Yixing’s hand in his and the sight of Minseok’s smile.


All of a sudden, Sehun hears light humming from a few rows down that sounds extremely familiar. A devilish smile works its way onto his lips.


Poking his head around the shelf, Sehun makes quick work of slipping around the shelf to get closer to Minseok. It’s kind of fun and he feels like he’s a spy or something, covertly sneaking around as he looks for his target.


Sehun’s just starting to peek around the next corner to see if Minseok’s indeed in the aisle like he thinks when arms wrap around him from behind. He squeals before quieting down, and automatic reflex from when he had been shushed so many times in the library.


A familiar chuckle rings out behind him, Sehun relaxing at the familiar sound. When he turns, he barely pulls back in time to stop his nose from crashing into Yixing’s – or worse, his lips from pressing against Yixing’s soft-looking pair.


Seeing Yixing’s smile this up close and personal is breathtaking. Sehun really, really hopes Yixing doesn’t raise his hands up from where they’re settled around Sehun’s stomach or else he’ll be able to feel the frantic beating of Sehun’s heart.


“I found you,” Yixing chirps happily.


“I wasn’t aware I was supposed to be hiding,” Sehun replies as best he can. Yixing feels so warm and Sehun can feel it in his bones that Yixing would give the best hugs and the most cuddly of cuddles.


“You weren’t until a few seconds ago when I found you.”


Sehun gives him an amused look as best he can while still being held and turned at an odd angle. “That doesn’t seem very fair.”


Yixing smiles, his dimple looking even cuter at such close proximity. Sehun wants to poke it or kiss it, neither of which seem entirely appropriate. “No, it’s not.”


“Awful,” Sehun whispers. He can’t help but let his eyes fall to Yixing’s lips. He’s so close it would be easy to just lean forward and close the miniscule distance. He made a promise to himself, though. Until he was completely sure that Yixing was comfortable with this relationship, he wasn’t going to try anything. He needs to let Yixing decide on his own no matter how much his brain is screaming at him to scoot forward a tiny bit.


It’s difficult, but he manages to look away. “How about we pounce on Minseok as well, then?”


“Good plan!”


And together they peek around corner after corner until they find Minseok flipping through a book in one of the young adult sections. Sehun motions to Yixing who nods back from his position on the opposite end of the shelf. He holds up a finger, checking one more time to make sure Minseok’s still engrossed in the book, before nodding, the both of them springing out at the same time.


Minseok wheezes when they crash into him from both sides, the book falling to the floor with a low thump.


“What-”


“We found you!” Yixing exclaims. Sehun can’t stop grinning, not because of the stupefied look on Minseok’s face, but because Yixing’s honestly one of the cutest people he’s ever met. He can be innocent and adorable like now, but then he can also be a fucking tease. He’s just about perfect in Sehun’s eyes, and judging by the soft light in Minseok’s eyes as he looks at Yixing, Minseok seems to think so as well.


“I think we should play again,” Sehun announces after they all untangle themselves. “It wasn’t really fair the first time.”


“I thought it was fair,” Yixing disagrees.


Minseok lightly flicks him on the arm. “That’s only because you were the only one of us that knew about the game.”


Yixing pouts, but agrees. “Who should be looking, then? It would never end if all of us are hiding from each other.”


“I’ll do it,” Sehun volunteers. Minseok’s eyebrows raise in surprise since he knows that Sehun’s the person that wants to do the least amount of work as possible, but Sehun just smiles innocently. The chance to pull Yixing into a backhug and bury his face in Yixing’s hair to find out if it really is as soft as it seems is too large to pass up.


Yixing doesn’t seem any the wiser, happily exclaiming, “Okay, go count over there! And no cheating.”


Sehun puts his hands up in the universal sign of surrender, completely melting under Yixing’s pout. “Don’t worry, I play fair.”


Minseok sends him one last look before he disappears around the corner. Sehun simply waves brightly and sends a flying kiss that has Minseok’s eyes widening in surprise. Snickering, Sehun motions him away before turning around and starting to count.


Sehun takes his time walking around when he’s done counting. He may have offered to be the finder, but he never said he was going to do it quickly despite the growing urge to have Yixing in his arms.


It’s pretty fun sneaking around the bookstore, quickly looking around a shelf before shuffling around and doing the same thing for the next shelf. The kid in him is jumping with glee while the adult in him is just happy that Yixing can be as playful and excitable as him.


Five minutes later and Sehun still hasn’t found either of them. The bookstore isn’t even that big so either Sehun isn’t looking very hard or Minseok and Yixing are too good at hiding.


It seems almost too good to be true when he stumbles upon a corner with a very familiar mop of hair barely visible over the top of a chair.


“Hyung!” he calls happily, practically prancing towards Minseok.


Minseok’s face twists up. “Took you long enough to find me.”


“So mean,” Sehun says right as he flops down into Minseok’s lap, pleased with the groan Minseok lets out at the unexpected move. Regardless, arms snake around his waist, Sehun leaning into the embrace.


“You’re pretty bad at this game, though,” Minseok murmurs. A shiver runs its way up and down Sehun’s spine, Minseok’s voice so, so close to his ear. A smile’s pressed against the spot right below Sehun’s ear and he just knows that Minseok’s doing this on purpose, though he can’t fathom why.


“No, we still need to find Yixing,” Sehun says as he wiggles his way out of the hold. Minseok blinks up at him innocently, Sehun narrowing his eyes in response. “Don’t act innocent with me. You were trying to start something.”


“I wasn’t trying to start anything,”


“Liar,” Sehun growls.


The next thing Sehun knows, Minseok’s pressed up against his front, on his tiptoes as he presses a soft kiss to Sehun’s lips. “If you say so,” he whispers against Sehun’s lips.


Groaning, Sehun pulls away despite how difficult it is. “Let’s go. I like Yixing too much to leave him alone in this bookstore. May I remind you that we’re on a date.”


“Oh, I didn’t forget, it’s just fun messing with you.” Sehun doesn’t even need to turn around to know that Minseok’s smirking.


“I’m leaving you here.”


Despite his claim, Sehun doesn’t, but it’s not like he could anyways. Minseok clings to his hand and makes sure they aren’t separated.


“He’s really good at hiding,” Minseok murmurs a few minutes later. It seems like they’ve gone around the entire floor at least twice and there’s still no sign of Yixing.


Sehun gets an idea when they pass by the stairs for the third time, casting a questioning look down them. “You don’t think he would’ve gone downstairs, do you?”


They share a look before racing down the stairs, not even caring about how loud they’re being.


It only takes them another minute to finally locate Yixing, the both of them tackling him down in a hug when they find him browsing through some fiction books.


“Woah!” Yixing exclaims with a laugh, but he’s smiling and Sehun’s about to burst with how adorable he is. He barely resists the urge to kiss Yixing’s cheek, but only barely. He can tell Minseok’s in the same boat as him with the way his fingers clutch Sehun’s and the way his eyes can’t seem to stop landing on Yixing’s lips.


Yixing’s incredibly warm and Sehun doesn’t want to let go, but there’s a lady standing a few feet away who’s looking at them like they just emerged from battle and Sehun would rather not deal with her. It reminds him of all the weird looks he used to get during his last poly relationship; the scars on his heart throb at the thought.


As if sensing his discomfort, Minseok rubs soothing circles onto the back of his hand and that snaps Sehun out of it.


“Why don’t we go get some actual food?” Minseok wonders. Yixing agrees happily, laughing when he starts to move but can’t due to Minseok and Sehun’s koala hugs. Sehun makes sure to kiss Minseok quickly in thanks when Yixing walks a little ways ahead of them as he wonders out loud about what kind of food to get.


“Anytime, love,” Minseok whispers before the two of them jog ahead to catch up with Yixing.


Dinner’s simple just like the rest of the date, nothing too fancy but nothing too cheap that they feel like they’re eating out of greasy paper bags. Sehun barely eats anything, too full from the love he feels. Minseok pokes fun at him for it, but Sehun only sticks his tongue out and protectively brings his plate closer to himself when Yixing motions to steal some.


They leave the quaint little shop almost an hour later, the three of them not having realized how late it’s gotten until they looked outside and saw the sun starting its descent past the horizon.


“Wait,” Sehun says, eyes trained on the pretty glow that emanates from the sun dipping down to kiss the earth. He can’t help but stare, lost in the sight since he’s rarely ever outside to enjoy it. Looking at it in pictures and looking at it in person, completely uninhibited by his laptop screen or brooding buildings, is a whole new experience. He doesn’t even bother taking out his phone to take a picture, knowing that it could never capture the beauty of the moment.


Once the sun’s mostly gone, only faint shades of pink and orange spreading out from behind the horizon, does Sehun turn around.


“What?” He blinks at Minseok and Yixing who both have smiles on their faces. It’s a little alarming how similar they look at the moment despite their faces not being the same at all.


“Nothing,” Yixing chirps, but Sehun isn’t buying it.


Minseok changes the subject before he even has a chance to demand to know why they had been smiling at him weirdly. “Is there a bus stop around here that takes you to your apartment, Yixing? We can wait with you if you want or we could walk you home.”


Yixing waves his hands about. “Oh, no that’s not necessary.”


Sehun grabs his hand and makes sure to droop his eyes down as much as possible. It’s kind of cruel, but Sehun values Yixing’s safely more than anything. “Please? It’s late and I would rather know that our date is home safely before going to sleep.”


Yixing doesn’t stand a chance, barely looking at Sehun for two seconds before nodding with a sigh. “There should be one around the corner.”


And so they wait at the bus stop and even get on with Yixing despite his insistence that he can make it back safely. Sehun and Minseok simply tug him forward and sit down in a row with three seats. The bus ride doesn’t take longer than ten minutes and by the time they step off, Sehun’s sad. He doesn’t want Yixing to go nor does he he want to be parted from Yixing any more than he has to be. Since they’ve been together for hours, it seems wrong that they’re parting.


“Thank you for coming with me even though I said you didn’t have to.” Yixing glares at them, but it’s weak and Sehun can tell he’s happy despite his tone.


“It’s not a problem,” Minseok says with his signature gummy smile. “Thank you for letting us spend your birthday with you.”


Yixing blinks like he had forgotten what day it was himself. Then he laughs, the sound wrapping Sehun up in a warm blanket. “If anything, I should be thanking you for not letting me lock myself away in my apartment for the day. The food I ate today was much better than the frozen dinner that had been waiting for me.”


Sehun frowns at the thought of Yixing being all alone on his birthday. He doesn’t remember ever being alone on his, either celebrating with his parents or with Minseok, sometimes will all of them at the same time. He makes a vow to make it so that Yixing never has to be alone on his birthday ever again.


Arms wrapping around Sehun’s torso bring him back to Earth, his arms automatically going around the other person’s waist as naturally as breathing. Up this close, Sehun can see the eyelashes that line Yixing’s pretty eyes, his heart thundering in his chest. He fervently hopes Yixing can’t feel the strong beats, but decides it doesn’t really matter in favor of bringing Yixing closer.


Yixing pulls away and gives Minseok a hug as well and then he’s waving at them as he walks into the building, Sehun feeling cold from the lack of Yixing in his arms.


“See you and thank you again!” Yixing calls right before he disappears behind the doors.


“He’s so cute,” Sehun sighs.


Minseok laughs. “Trust me, I know.”


Yixing sends them a blinding smile when they walk into the shop the next day, Sehun’s knees completely turning into jelly.


“When are you guys free again?” Yixing asks, not even waiting until they’re in front of the counter to fire it off.


Sehun and Minseok exchanges surprised glances before Minseok turns back to Yixing. “We don’t have anything this weekend.”


If possible, Yixing smile gets brighter. “Great, I was walking to the grocery store this morning and saw a nice little café that reminded me of the both of you so I was wondering if you wanted to go sometime?”


Sehun knows it’s unattractive, but his mouth drops open in shock. Yixing actually wants to go out with them again? Yixing actually thought about them? The fact that they’re on Yixing’s mind is enough to send the butterflies in Sehun’s stomach into overdrive, but the fact that Yixing’s the one suggesting a second date has him melting into a puddle.


“We would love to,” Minseok replies, seeing as Sehun’s clearly incapable at the moment.


“Awesome! Could I get your numbers so we can talk about it some more? That way we’ll also be able to find each other.”


Sehun walks out that day with a giant grin on his face and Yixing’s number safely stored in his phone.


“We have another date with Yixing,” Sehun squeals as they’re walking, the fact finally catching up to him even though it’s been half an hour since Yixing suggested it.


Squeezing Sehun’s hand, Minseok sends him a sunny smile. “We do. Things are looking up.”


Sehun smiles back. “Just the way they’re supposed to be.”


☆ ❄ ✿


“Minseok!”


“Shhhh,” Minseok chides softly with a twinkle in his eyes.


Huffing, Sehun wipes the flour that Minseok just rubbed against his cheek away and turns back to the bowl in front of him. Minseok hip-checks him while Sehun just grumbles.


“We don’t want to wake Yixing up, now do we?”


“No,” Sehun replies, but it’s not his fault that Minseok attacked him as he was peacefully mixing batter. Minseok does have a point – it had been extremely difficult to untangle themselves from Yixing’s iron-clad grip half an hour ago without waking him – but Sehun can be grumpy if he wants to be. He had to get up earlier than usual and even though he likes Yixing more than he likes sleeping, nothing much beats waking up in Yixing and Minseok’s arms.


“That’s the spirit!” Minseok chirps.


“Shhhh,” Sehun says, eyes curving into crescents when Minseok whacks him on the arm. “If you can shush me, then I can shush you.”


“Just get back to stirring.”


Giving a mock-salute, Sehun goes back to mixing the ingredients in the bowl.


Just as they’re both popping a tray of cupcakes into the oven, Yixing stumbles into the kitchen. Sehun’s breath catches, a whine dying in the back of his throat when he notices that Yixing isn’t wearing his own shirt, but Sehun’s. The sleeves are too long and the bottom of the plain white cotton tee drapes a little lower than Yixing’s boxers, one of the sides hanging off his shoulders. Sehun wants to scoop Yixing into his arms and press little kisses against his whole face, but alas they still haven’t kissed on the lips yet. Sehun always likes to tease Minseok about it since he seems to be getting a little impatient.


“You let me kiss you after the third date,” Minseok had complained. “We’ve already been on six with Yixing. That’s double the time!”


“Patience is a virtue,” Sehun had said between fits of laughter.


Minseok had buried his face in Sehun’s shoulder with a groan. “I’m not trying to rush him, but his lips. I still think about our first date and the ice cream parlor.”


Oh, Sehun remembers that ice cream bit, even to this day. It haunts him and will probably continue to haunt him for as long as Yixing eats ice cream in his vicinity.


“Good morning,” Sehun greets softly, all too used to how sleepy Yixing is in the morning. He’s only stayed over twice thus far, but each time Yixing has woken up and stumbled his way through the first twenty minutes of consciousness. It had been the most adorable thing Sehun had ever seen and he vowed to drag Yixing down for sleepy cuddles one day in the near future.


“Hi.” Yixing yawns, leaning against the closest thing, which happens to be Minseok. It’s amusing watching Minseok struggle with his instincts since Minseok always pulls Sehun in for a kiss first thing in the morning or vice versa.


Yixing gives a sleepy hum in question when Sehun snickers, but he doesn’t detach himself from Minseok’s shoulders.


“It’s nothing,” Sehun assures, hiding another laugh behind his hand when Minseok glares at him.


And then suddenly, Yixing’s straightening up, eyes wide and alert. “Do I smell cupcakes?”


Crap, he wasn’t supposed to figure out until they were done, but now that the smell’s permeating throughout the apartment, it’s kind of difficult to deny.


After confirming it, Yixing seems to wake up even more. “So do I finally get to see the process that goes into making those wonderful treats? Ever since you gave me that one cupcake weeks and weeks ago, I’ve been wondering if I would ever get to see the whole process.”


“It’s not very special,” Minseok replies in amusement.


“It’s special only because you made it for yourselves and then gave one to me.”


“We made you a cake last week, too,” Sehun points out, grinning in delight when Yixing blushes a pretty shade of rose. It had been the sweetest confession they could think of, Yixing deserving nothing less considering how sweet he always is.


“Can I help you decorate them?” Yixing asks. It’s obvious that he’s trying to change the subject, and Sehun lets him off just this once.


Yixing practically glows when he’s able to fill the little paper cups himself and put a batch in the oven. He wiggles cutely as he puts frosting on one of his creation’s and bounces as he sprinkles some sprinkles on. Sehun and Minseok don’t even decorate theirs, too entranced by the sight in front of them.


Sehun falls in love just a little more.


There’s just something about the way Yixing lights up, about the way he looks so adorably concentrated as he makes sure to spread the icing out evenly, about the way his lips curl up and his dimple peeks out as he shows them his final product, that has Sehun falling.


Sehun doesn’t even mind, can’t mind when the fall’s softened by Yixing, Minseok, and so, so much love.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun’s walking to the kitchen to get a snack, back cracking as he moseys down the hallway from where he’s holed himself in the bedroom to finish some more panels. Minseok and Yixing had settled down for a movie a few hours ago, some action movie if the loud explosions that had reverberated throughout the apartment were anything to go by. It’s since gotten quiet, Sehun’s curiosity as well as the growling of his stomach causing him to get up and explore.


Minseok and Yixing are sitting on the couch where Sehun left them, but this time instead of casually reclining, they’re simply sitting there staring at each other, faces less than four inches apart. It feels like he’s the one that’s sitting there with how quickly his heart starts beating.


He doesn’t want to miss this, not like he could look away if he tried. This is a Moment, one that he’s been hoping to happen for a while now. It doesn’t even matter that he’s the one watching off to the side and that Minseok gets to kiss Yixing first. Any step in the forward direction is nice, regardless of how much he wants a kiss of his own. They’ve been taking things slow since it’s the first time Yixing has ever been in a three-way relationship and they don’t want to scare him off too soon. Even after explaining that their relationship wasn’t really that different from others – they just had more love to share and there would be double the kisses and sweet moments shared – Sehun still wants to take things easy, knowing just how intimidating and scary it might seem.


Movement startles him out of his thoughts, Sehun barely repressing his squeal when Minseok and Yixing lean closer and closer to each other, eyes still locked. Sehun’s next breath gets stuck in his chest when their lips are barely half an inch apart.


He doesn’t repress his fist pump when they finally, finally kiss, Minseok’s eyes fluttering shut at the contact. It looks sweet, tentative, and so soft that Sehun almost melts with it.


They break apart with flushed cheeks and Sehun takes that moment to scamper into the room with a loud exclamation of, “Hyungs!”


The both of them are clearly startled, but Sehun doesn’t give them time to do anything before he’s flopping onto both of their laps, smiling brightly up at them from his horizontal position. Yixing’s cheeks are steadily getting darker, eyes wide as he looks down at the youngest while Minseok’s eyes are starting to get their usual focus back into them. Sehun wants to laugh because Minseok’s just as screwed as he is, no matter how aloof he tries to act about it all.


He doesn’t mention seeing the kiss. It’s fun seeing the two of them trip over themselves as they try to steer the conversation away when Sehun says anything mildly suggestive or allusive.


Minseok swats at him for it while Yixing tries to discreetly cool his face down. Despite the hit, it doesn’t stop Sehun from being clingy for the rest of the night to try and get a kiss of his own.


(Yixing corners him a few days later, muttering something about temptation and teasing. Sehun’s toes curl at the sweet press of Yixing’s full bottom lip against his thinner pair.)


☆ ❄ ✿


“Come on love, you can do it.”


Sehun whines. “It’s so heavy. Why do you get to carry the box with plushies while I get the one with clothes?”


“If you worked out, then you wouldn’t be having this problem.”


“But you work out, which is why you should be carrying this box instead.”


The elevator dings, signaling their arrival and Sehun lets out a long sigh of relief. His arms are starting to turn to jelly and they still have at least four more boxes to bring up, and that’s only counting those that are currently in the car. Sehun can feel the strength leaving him when he thinks about how many boxes are actually left.


“Yixing,” Sehun calls out once they walk through the door. “Where do you want your clothes to go?”


Yixing appears from around the corner and quickly takes the box with ease. Sehun’s panting, which is pretty unimpressive since he wasn’t carrying the box for that long, but his heartbeat speeds up for another reason when Yixing kisses him gently.


“Thank you,” Yixing murmurs against Sehun’s lips before disappearing. Sehun tips over, using the wall as support as his knees threaten to give out. He’s still in the stage where all of Yixing’s touches reduce him to a boneless mess, but he won’t mind if he stays in that stage forever.


Minseok laughs when he passes by, Sehun kicking his leg out just a second too late to make contact.


“Don’t act like you’re immune,” Sehun hollers. Minseok simply laughs again.


“Hun!” Yixing calls a few seconds later.


Sehun’s heart expands until he’s almost completely enveloped in love as he stands in the doorway to what used to only be his and Minseok’s bedroom and sees Yixing’s things littered around. The mess is probably driving Minseok up the wall, but it’s cute how he’s holding himself back from cleaning the mess up.


Yixing’s standing in the middle of the room, boxes at his feet, Minseok neatly depositing another one down. He looks put-out, a pout on his cute face.


“Yes?”


“I don’t know where to put all of this.”


That gets Sehun and Minseok laughing.


“We asked you if you wanted help, but you denied our offer,” Sehun teases.


“That was before I realized moving sucks.” Yixing’s pout deepens and it’s incredibly unfair. He knows how weak Sehun is to his pouts.


Minseok snickers and Sehun just knows that he’s laughing at him. “Payback,” Minseok mouths. Sehun ignores him.


“How do you want me to help?” Sehun asks. Minseok outright laughs this time, but Sehun’s too distracted by the pearly white smile Yixing gives him. Sehun knew he was pouting for show, but it’s too late now since Yixing’s pulling him forward and to the closet.


At least he doesn’t have to carry anymore boxes, he thinks as he hangs up yet another tank top. He cries a little on the inside when he sees some of the clothes that Yixing has, thinking about all of the skin that’s going to be shown in certain shirts. He’s going to suffer when summer comes and it won’t be just because of the heat.


Miraculously, they finish moving all of Yixing’s stuff within the next three hours. Sehun’s just grateful Yixing doesn’t have half of the stuff he has or they would’ve had to move for at least two more hours.


It’s with glee that Sehun pulls Yixing down onto their bed (he doesn’t sigh internally at that thought, not at all) and wraps around him.


Yixing blinks, lips parted like he’s about to ask a question. Sehun kisses him to prevent him from saying anything and then leans his head on Yixing’s pillow with a smile at how dazed Yixing seems.


“No talking, just napping,” Sehun says, lips curling up a little more when Yixing chuckles and slips an arm around his waist.


“What about Minseok ge?”


Sehun cracks an eye open. “What did I just say about talking?”


“Okay, okay.” Yixing laughs again before snuggling up to Sehun’s chest.


This is perfect. He’s thought about wrapping Yixing’s smaller form up in his for so long and to finally be able to do it...the feeling’s indescribable.


Just as Sehun’s on the cusp of sleep, the door opens, Minseok letting out a loud gasp.


“How could you, Sehun?” he shrieks in a high-pitched voice that’s eerily similar to a woman in those American dramas that Sehun likes to watch every once in a while, where they find their significant other in a compromising position. “Starting cuddles without me?”


Sehun groans, but doesn’t make any move to respond more than that. Through his half-asleep state, he can feel little bursts of air Yixing puffs against his collarbones. It takes his muddled brain a while, but he eventually recognizes that Yixing’s laughing.


And then all of a sudden, there’s another body on the bed, Sehun wheezing when Minseok ends up partially landing on his side and ribs.


“That’s what you get, brat,” Minseok murmurs. Yixing gets up to move, Sehun clutching at his back tighter.


“No, don’t go. Stay and kiss my wounds better,” Sehun pleads, but Yixing wiggles away easily due to Sehun’s slack grip and hazy mind.


Yixing reaches up slightly and so does Minseok, Sehun’s nose wrinkling when he hears the little pop once they break apart from their kiss.


“Gross,” he grumbles. Someone – probably Minseok – jabs him in the ribs, Sehun groaning again. “Why do you keep hurting me like this?”


“I love you, though,” Minseok softly whispers in his ear. Sehun wiggles closer to Yixing even if his heart’s fluttering away in the confines of his ribs.


Yixing’s slightly stiff when Sehun latches on. He peers up at Yixing in question only to see Yixing hide his face in Sehun’s shoulder.


“Xing ge?”


“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” he responds, albeit slightly muffled due to his current position. Sehun can tell that it’s not nothing, but he doesn’t press. He just hopes that, whatever it is that’s bothering him, Yixing will tell him eventually. Communication’s important in every relationship and theirs isn’t any different, but if Yixing doesn’t want to talk, then Sehun won’t force him.


With a hum, Sehun stretches out, torn between scooting forward to curl around Yixing more or leaning backwards where Minseok’s warmth is. Minseok ends up solving the problem for him by moving forward and throwing a leg over Sehun’s, his arm coming up to rest on Sehun’s tummy.


“No,” Sehun whines sleepily when Minseok’s fingers start caressing his stomach. Yixing shifts around in his hold, Sehun pressing a kiss to the crown of his head to let him know it’s nothing. “Sleep, hyung, sleep.”


Snickering, Minseok stops and leaves his hand just above Sehun’s belly button.


“Whatever you say, love.”


Sehun falls asleep within seconds, feeling the most warm he’s felt in a while and it has nothing to do with the extra body heat.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun shifts, fighting down his instincts to say something. It’s quiet, entirely too quiet considering Baekhyun’s over, and he still hasn’t gotten used to it. No matter how many times Baekhyun comes over, Sehun doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to get over the complete silence as Baekhyun’s eyes scan over his work. He loves where the story is going and he loves what he’s done, but if Baekhyun doesn’t think it’s good, then it won’t matter what Sehun thinks about it.


Baekhyun’s on the last page that Sehun’s worked on for this check-in and he’s about to rib the fabric covering the couch off, he’s so nervous.


It sounds like doom when Baekhyun places Sehun’s book down on the coffee table. It looks like heartbreak when Baekhyun clears his throat, smoothing out the lines of his pants before looking right into Sehun’s eyes.


The seconds tick by and Baekhyun still doesn’t say anything. Sehun’s growing increasingly more nervous and petrified as time goes on, but he can’t look away, partially in fear that Baekhyun’s going to yell at him and partially because he’s frozen with how sharp Baekhyun’s gaze is.


And then the spell breaks, the ice melting away in the face of spring when Baekhyun grins. It’s such a drastic difference in facial expression that Sehun has to blink rapidly to make sure he’s seeing things correctly.


“I’m really impressed,” Baekhyun says.


“It’s not terrible? You don’t hate it? I don’t have to start over?”


Baekhyun laughs, the sound so loud that Sehun’s pretty sure their neighbors and the people that live a floor above and below them can hear it.


“Why would you think that?” Baekhyun asks once his laughing fit subsides.


“You just stared at me for a solid twenty seconds without doing or saying anything!” Sehun cries.


Baekhyun waves him off. “I just like messing with you. Do you seriously not know my habits and personality by now?”


“The only thing I’m ever certain of is that you’re a menace,” Sehun grumbles. Baekhyun somehow hears him despite how lowly he had said it and he beams at Sehun.


“Thank you, I take pride in that. I have a few suggestions, but nothing major needs to be changed.”


Baekhyun pulls the book back over and flips through it with Sehun for half an hour, going over different color schemes and some dialogue issues, before they’re done.


“It’s really coming along nicely,” Baekhyun comments just as he’s about to leave.


Sehun just smiles and says, “I know.”


☆ ❄ ✿


It’s become somewhat of a habit for the both of them to ask Yixing about certain phrases or words in Mandarin. Since he moved in, Yixing’s taken it upon himself to randomly say a sentence in Mandarin and it goes one of two ways. Either he’ll light up and reward them with little kisses or he’ll pout and wonder if he’s a bad teacher since they don’t know in which case they kiss him. It’s a beneficial deal either way, but Sehun always feels bad when he can’t respond properly. He’d taken to studying more often when Yixing and Minseok are out and working, but Yixing had thrown the book aside one day, plopped in Sehun’s lap, and said, “Don’t use the book, anymore. Just ask me.”


It was unreasonable, but Sehun had felt something shift in his gut at the low way Yixing had whispered that, not to mention the fact that Yixing was sitting on him. Sehun still doesn’t know how he managed to get out of that situation in one piece without alerting Yixing to anything.


Today, Yixing’s trying to help Sehun with his pronunciation, but his methods are a little...unordinary. It had been fine in the beginning, Sehun trying his hardest to wrap his tongue around the syllables to get the right sounds out, and he had thought he was getting somewhere until Yixing had tilted his head to the side with gentle fingers.


“Let’s try something else,” Yixing had whispered before leaning closer and pronouncing the word right against Sehun’s lips.


One thing leads to another and now they’re kissing, Sehun leaning back against the arm rest of the couch as Yixing lays almost directly on top of him. It reminds Sehun of a few years back when Minseok had pushed him down on the couch of his apartment before riding Sehun like his life depended on it. Now, though, now this is Yixing and they’ve barely been living together for three months. Sehun’s fighting with himself, resisting the urge to lift his hips up and into Yixing’s. He can’t help the way his body reacts when Yixing pulls back to nip at Sehun’s lips before littering kisses up and down his jawline, or when Yixing swipes a tongue across his lips before dipping inside and mapping Sehun’s mouth out with enthusiasm that makes Sehun’s head spin.


“We should really get back to the lesson,” Sehun says when he pulls back for air. He can’t help but bring Yixing in for another kiss despite his statement, though. Yixing just looks so kissable with his plump bottom lip even puffier from all of the kissing. His chest is rising and falling just as rapidly as Sehun’s and it’s nice to know that Yixing’s just as affected as he is.


“We could keep kissing, though,” Yixing responds. He has a valid point, Sehun whining before pulling Yixing back down.


“I love kissing you,” Sehun murmurs as he runs a thumb over Yixing’s bottom lip. “I could do it all day and never get tired of it.”


Yixing’s eyes are on the way to being fully blown out as they look down at Sehun. “I could say the same for you. You’re just so-”


He doesn’t finish his sentence, merely kisses Sehun again and again. They should really stop before things get too heated, but Sehun’s too absorbed in the feeling of Yixing on top of him to do anything serious about it.


Somehow, they slow down, the fire fading out until all that’s left is soft smiles and tiny pecks. Sehun doesn’t even mind, much preferring the slow touches and lingering breaths. They’re less urgent and aren’t going to push them into something they might not be ready for.


“This is nice,” Yixing murmurs sometime later. Sehun’s books are long forgotten on the table, Yixing comfortable lying on his chest as he peers up at Sehun. It’s an adorable sight and he goes kind of cross-eyed looking at Yixing, but it gets Yixing to laugh, so it’s worth it.


“Well at least one of us is comfortable. I can’t feel my ribs,” Sehun wheezes, mostly for show than anything.


Yixing gasps, scandalized. “Are you implying that I’m heavy?”


“What if I am?” Sehun shoots back teasingly.


Sehun’s not sure if he’s seeing things correctly, but he swears that Yixing’s eyes darken. They’re still as large and adorable as they were a few seconds ago when Yixing’s was peering up at him, but now it’s different. There’s something there that Sehun’s pretty sure he can place, but doesn’t want to in fear of having heart palpitations.


Luckily, Minseok comes home then, Sehun audibly sighing when he hears the jingling of the key in the lock before Minseok comes in.


“Honey’s, I’m home!”


Sehun groans. No matter how many times he’s told Minseok to stop saying that, he keeps shouting it when he comes home, especially when he knows both Sehun and Yixing are awake. Yixing smiles, all traces of whatever was just in his eyes gone and replaced with bright light. And that, Sehun thinks, is probably why Minseok keeps doing it.


When Minseok comes into view, he raises an eyebrow at the both of them. Sehun only remembers that Yixing is still entirely on top of him then. His cheeks color because up to half an hour ago, it’s exactly what it looks like and Sehun can’t even deny it currently. The heat emanating from his face only gets worse when Minseok smirks at Sehun knowingly. Sehun chooses not to respond.


“Ge!” Yixing chirps before reaching a hand out to pull Minseok forward and down into a kiss.


Sehun watches even though he probably shouldn’t. The kiss isn’t innocent by any means and Sehun can tell that Minseok’s surprised that it’s not the usual quick kiss that Yixing gives him. Sehun barely resists the urge to groan when he sees Yixing’s tongue push its way into Minseok’s mouth.


Yixing looks entirely satisfied with himself when he pulls back and, if anything, his lips look even more kissable now. Minseok’s completely dazed, but so is Sehun. He can’t even find it in himself to tease Minseok because he had been in the same position not too long ago.


Yixing smiles up at Minseok. “So, do you want to join us for a Mandarin lesson today?”


Sehun groans. He’s not going to make it through the night.


☆ ❄ ✿


Miraculously, Sehun makes it through the night, but he doesn’t last longer than another month.


“Fuck,” Sehun exhales once he’s fully seated on Yixing’s cock. It had taken a lot of preparation that Sehun had insisted wasn’t necessary, but Yixing had been adamant. Sehun’s pretty sure that it was just because Yixing’s a damn tease and likes to continuously bring Sehun to the edge only to stop and let Sehun come crashing back down without any relief.


The fingers on Sehun’s hips tighten until Sehun’s moaning at the feeling of Yixing’s pretty hands molding to arguably one of the best parts of his body after his stomach and his ass. The only thing that makes this worse is knowing Minseok’s watching off to the side, his eyes no doubt taking in the way Sehun’s head is thrown back and the way Yixing’s thighs are flexing from holding himself back.


“Move,” Sehun grits out on a pant, eyes slightly unfocused as he looks down at Yixing. He should be the one in control since he’s on top, but Yixing has a surprisingly tight grip that prevents him from lifting up and dropping down like he desperately wants – needs - to.


“No,” Minseok calls from the side. Sehun growls, the sound choking off into a moan when Yixing reaches up and rolls one of his nipples in between his fingers. Minseok looks calm, collected, controlled, but Sehun knows he’s anything but. His cock’s hard, Sehun licking his lips thinking about all of the times he’s had it in his mouth, about how much he wants it right now.


Yixing moves, but not the way Sehun wants him to. He pushes himself into a sitting position and Sehun wiggles around to get him to do something, pleased when Yixing hisses. He pays Sehun back by pulling his other nipple in between his teeth to tug, Sehun’s back arching at the wet, warm suction.


“I swear, if you don’t move-”


“What are you going to do? Ride me until I come? That’s not a punishment,” Yixing whispers, a spark shooting throughout Sehun at the husky undertone to his usually sweet voice. Sehun wants to know if he sounds even more wrecked after having a cock in his mouth, but maybe some other day. Right now, Sehun needs Yixing to move.


So Sehun does what he does best in these situations, clamping down hard as he moans quite possibly the filthiest moan he has ever let out. It must work, for Yixing grips tighter before thrusting up, Sehun’s gasp barely louder than the growl Minseok lets out from the side.


“You could always join,” Sehun pants out because Yixing’s picking up speed now. Sehun’s only too happy to push Yixing down with hands on his chest and ride him like his life depends on it, making sure to swivel his hips every once in a while. It’s incredible, the faces that Yixing makes as he’s being pleasured even if there’s a latex barrier in between them.


Through the haze of Yixing, Yixing, Yixing, Sehun manages to hear Minseok say, “It’s fine. You’re taking him so well.”


Sehun whimpers, the praise going to his already leaking cock. He’s chasing his own pleasure, but more than that, he’s giving it to Yixing, making sure that he feels good. He wants their first time to be good for Yixing, wants him to feel loved more than anything else. The way Yixing’s lips part on a silent moan, Sehun giving in to his urges to kiss Yixing, is beautiful and has the fire settling deep in Sehun’s belly burning brighter. It’s filthy and barely a kiss at all, their lips meeting only for a brief second before their tongues meet in the middle. The new angle has Sehun keening into Yixing’s mouth and he ruts his hips down to chase the spark of pleasure that just raced down his spine.


“Come on, love. Make him see stars,” Minseok prompts and that only serves to make Sehun straighten up and bounce faster.


Yixing’s hands flutter from the bedsheets to Sehun’s hips to his own hair before settling one on Sehun’s hips and one in the sheets. He looks completely fucked-out, his hair a mess, his eyes dark and hooded, and Sehun could come right then and there, but he doesn’t, his entire focus on Yixing.


“You feel so good around me, baby.” He says the last word in Mandarin, Sehun shuddering at the way the word curls around Yixing’s tongue beautifully, snaking its way into his chest to zip around his whole body. It makes it harder to hold back from coming, so Sehun speeds up, purposely clenching around Yixing until his eyes roll back into his head and his lips part with a small moan as he releases into the condom. Sehun makes sure to ride him through it until Yixing weakly pushes at his chest, muttering something about sensitivity.


Whimpering, Sehun pulls off before turning to Minseok with heavy-lidded eyes. Minseok’s over in a flash, their lips coming together with bruising force, Sehun tangling fingers in Minseok’s hair as he nips harshly on Sehun’s already puffy bottom lip. Yixing moans from somewhere next to them, Sehun smirking slightly only to keen when Minseok wraps a hand around his cock and finishes him off with quick strokes.


“So soon,” Minseok murmurs before sucking his fingers into his mouth to lick away the cum. Sehun can’t look away, can’t stop staring at the way Minseok’s tongue curls around his fingers or the way he swallows it with a satisfied hum and smirk.


“Shut up,” Sehun snaps once he finds his voice. “You try riding a cock like that and see if you can last longer than a few minutes.”


“Oh, I will,” Minseok promises, sending a look over in Yixing’s direction. Sehun looks over, too, mentally taking a picture of Yixing spread out on their bed, black hair mussed and tousled everywhere, eyes halfway closed as he pants. He’s beautiful.


“He is,” Minseok says, Sehun realizing he had said that out loud. He’s not even embarrassed, can’t be when he’s able to see Yixing like this hopefully for the rest of his life.


Sehun’s only reminded that Minseok’s still hard when he shifts and Minseok hisses through his teeth.


“Oh,” he says innocently. “It looks like we have a problem, Xing ge.”


Yixing musters up energy to crawl over and place a kiss to Sehun’s cheek. “Looks like we do.”


And as if they planned it, they both go right for Minseok’s cock, Sehun sighing happily once he sucks on the tip before sucking going further down. Yixing takes to kissing around the base where Sehun doesn’t reach, Sehun practically preening when Minseok threads a hand through his hair automatically, his other hand going for Yixing’s locks. He can tell Yixing’s affected by it too if the way his jaw goes slightly slack is anything to go by. Sehun stores that away for future use before going back to the task at hand.


Sehun looks up at Minseok though his eyelashes when he pulls back, loving how absolutely wrecked Minseok becomes from that.


“Fuck,” Minseok exhales as he thrusts his hips forward.


Sehun pulls off only to mouth at the side with a pleased hum. His lips meet Yixing’s occasionally and they pull back to kiss once before going back to licking Minseok’s cock. Sehun can tell Minseok’s close when his breathing starts getting sharper and he’s just about to suck down Minseok’s cock again when Yixing beats him to it. Surprised, Sehun freezes briefly before kissing up Minseok’s thighs to his abs, leaving little marks behind that he knows are going to last for at least a few days.


Yixing looks like he’s in heaven, Sehun’s own cock twitching at the sight of Yixing’s beautiful lips wrapped around Minseok. Another day, he promises himself, reaching up to kiss Minseok when he comes.


“Better?” Sehun whispers with a smirk. Minseok simply rolls his eyes.


When Sehun turns back to Yixing, he barely catches Yixing licking his lips, a tiny bit of cum still on his tongue. It’s hot, borderline erotic, and Sehun can feel another fire starting up in his belly, but he wills it down.


“I’m going to get a washcloth,” Yixing informs them before depositing the condom in the trash and heading to the bathroom. Sehun stares unashamedly at his ass as he walks by and catches Minseok doing the same when he turns back.


The two of them end up maneuvering so they’re on the bed facing each other, Sehun with a blissful smile on his face.


“He’s amazing,” Sehun mutters, not daring to speak louder in case he breaks the atmosphere.


“He really is. It’s just a shame that I didn’t get to test his hips out or have him sit on my cock,” Minseok sighs.


“There’s always tomorrow. We could break the apartment in. Again,” Sehun offers with a devilish smirk.


Minseok kisses him. “I love the way you think.”


“I love the way I think, too.”


Minseok swats him on the ass, Sehun half-giggling and half-groaning because he’s still sensitive.


“Do you think he would let me drag ice down his chest? Maybe leave one on his nipples?”


That would be a sight to see – Yixing writhing, eyes closed, fingers scrambling for purchase as Minseok pushes an ice cube around his nipples.


“Don’t get me worked up again.”


Minseok laughs. “It’s not my fault that your hormones are through the roof.”


Sehun raises his eyebrows. “That’s a little hypocritical of you.”


Before Minseok can respond, he sees movement out of the corner of his eyes. Yixing’s standing in the doorway with a washcloth in his hand. He’s staring at the two of them and even from a distance, he can tell that the usual light in Yixing’s eyes is dimmed. Sehun easily recognizes the way Yixing’s body stiffens and he doesn’t miss the way Yixing bites down on his lower lip and then he gets it.


Before Yixing can go anywhere, Sehun reaches out. “Xing ge, come here please.”


Yixing shuffles over slowly, depositing the washcloth on the nightstand before he’s pulled down by two sets of hands and in between both of them.


Sehun kisses him, sweet and slow, a hand reaching up to mold against Yixing’s jawline. Softly, he pulls back and looks into Yixing’s pretty brown eyes as his thumb lazily runs up and down.


“Don’t be scared,” he whispers. “We both want you here as long as you’re willing to stay.”


This time, Yixing’s the one that kisses Sehun, a scant trace of desperation and more than a little happiness infused in.


When they break apart, Minseok turns Yixing’s head to place a kiss on his lips, too.


“I was right,” Sehun says, fingers tracing feather-light over Yixing’s abs. “You do have power under those clothes,” Minseok laughs loudly and Yixing has a dumbfounded look on his face, but Sehun’s just happy that he doesn’t look uncomfortable or despondent any more. He would be willing to do anything just to make sure that Yixing feels comfortable in this relationship.


“Thank you?” Yixing ends up saying, but it comes out as more of a question, like even he isn’t sure that he should take that as a compliment.


“It was a compliment,” Sehun murmurs, lazily tracing patterns on Yixing’s hipbones. “It’s too bad that I didn’t get to fully test out these today, too.”


Yixing chokes on his spit and Minseok practically guffaws this time. Minseok reaches over and pats Sehun on the butt as he says, “Next time. Maybe I can use that pretty mouth of his after.”


Sehun chuckles before nuzzling his way under Yixing’s chin despite him being the taller one.


Somehow, someway, this transitions to Minseok and Sehun taking Yixing apart piece by piece, mapping him out until Yixing seems delirious with it. Sehun trails kisses up and down Yixing’s torso, occasionally stopping to suck a mark next to his belly button or lick along the ridges of his abs.


“So beautiful,” Sehun whispers before kissing Yixing. He clutches at Sehun desperately a few seconds in, Sehun smiling because he knows that Minseok just did something. He only figures out that Minseok has pushed his cock in (the both of them having prepped Yixing beforehand) when Minseok exhales and Yixing whimpers into their kiss.


He keeps Yixing distracted with kiss after kiss, some on his lips, his cheekbones, his eyelids, his neck, his jaw, anywhere that Sehun can reach, he places a kiss there.


Minseok’s nice and slow as he takes Yixing, gentle and loving in a way that Sehun would never be able to tolerate. Yixing deserves the world and that’s what they’re going to give him, Sehun softly carding through Yixing’s hair as Minseok works his hips.


“We’re so lucky to have you,” Sehun says as he nuzzles against Yixing’s neck. He feels so content, so complete with Yixing in his arms like this.


It comes as a surprise when fingers wrap around his cock, a moan startled out of him at the contact.


“A thank you,” Yixing manages to say before his chest arches so beautifully that it could be art in a museum.


Seeing Yixing on cloud nine is enough to send him over the edge as well, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he settles down. Minseok must finish a few seconds later and clean Yixing up, but Sehun’s eyes are already closed, curling up in the warmth that Yixing has to offer. He barely even startles when a wet wash cloth runs over his stomach, muscles contracting to get away from the feeling before its gone and he’s scooting closer until he’s flush against Yixing.


The weight on the bed shifts slightly, Sehun assuming that Minseok’s climbed back on. A familiar weight’s draped over Sehun’s waist and Yixing’s by proxy.


There are words Sehun’s dying to say on the tip of his tongue, but he holds back, content with just holding Yixing in his arms. He falls asleep thinking about maybe’s and when’s, but nothing’s as important as the two people that are close to him physically and even closer to him in his heart.


☆ ❄ ✿


Sehun’s a shivering bundle of nerves. The paper in his hand vibrates with his jitters no matter how much he tries to control it.


“Baby?”


Sehun jumps, eyes wide as he stares at Yixing. There’s a pretty smile on Yixing’s face as he looks at Sehun from his place on the couch. It reminds Sehun of a puppy, or of Baekhyun (but Yixing’s much, much cuter and preferable), as he places his head on his hands on the back of the couch.


“H-hi,” Sehun stutters, attempting a smile as he hides his paper behind his back.


Tilting his head to the side, Yixing asks, “What’s that?”


“What’s what?” Sehun’s never been good at keeping secrets, especially when he’s excited and just wants to blurt out everything on his mind.


Yixing motions him foward, Sehun shuffling over, drawn in like a magnet. Yixing gets up on his knees and softly presses a kiss to the corner of Sehun’s mouth. He all but melts into it, eyelashes fluttering when Yixing kisses him fully, just a short touch, but no less wonderful than the rest of the ones they’ve shared.


“Are you sure it’s nothing?” Yixing wonders, peering into Sehun’s eyes. It’s like he’s looking right into Sehun’s soul, pulling out of the information he can and replacing it with love.


Closing his eyes, Sehun leans his forehead against Yixing’s. “You’re awful, you know that?”


“I’m wonderful and you know it.” Sehun can see the smile that Yixing has on his face without even looking, heart pounding at the mental image. He’s in so deep, but he’s never been happier. Their one year anniversary is coming up in two days, but his feelings for Yixing have never once faltered – if anything, they’ve grown exponentially until Sehun’s almost bursting from all of the affection he has for both of his boyfriends.


“Okay, but you need to close your eyes first.” Yixing does so automatically, Sehun’s lips twitching.


Sehun leans back before taking a deep breath, steeling himself and his nerves. There’s absolutely no reason for him to be nervous, but he can’t help all the questions and emotions swirling through his head. The chance of Yixing not liking it is slim, but Sehun’s always felt nervous about unveiling his work. His latest novel has been out for two months now, but there’s not a day that goes by where he doesn’t feel jitters thinking about people reading and looking at his work despite how well it’s doing in sales.


With one last inhale, Sehun brings the paper out from behind his back, spending a few more seconds than necessary making sure it’s facing the right way and everything’s perfect before telling Yixing he can look.


It’s like watching the sun rise in the morning with how Yixing’s entire face radiates when he sees what Sehun’s giving him.


“Finally,” Yixing says teasingly, but there’s no denying the soft way he takes in the drawing, hesitating before reaching out and touching the paper, tracing the lines of ink that swirl together and leave a drawing of his beautiful smiling face behind.


Sehun’s gaping. “What do you mean finally?”


Yixing’s gaze shifts up, Sehun almost stumbling back from the utter affection and love in his eyes. “I saw it when I helped you clean up your papers all of those months ago, I just didn’t say anything. I didn’t want it to seem like I was forcing you to finish it or give it to me in case whatever you felt passed or something.”


“My feelings for you would never change,” Sehun replies adamantly. “If anything, they’ve only gotten stronger. You’re amazing and I’m always going to be thankful that you gave us a chance.”


“I think I should be the one thanking you if anything. It’s not everyday that you have two hot guys hitting on you,” Yixing jokes. There’s something that he’s not saying, Sehun can just tell, but he goes with it in fear of making Yixing uncomfortable.


“And now you can be hit on all the time,” Sehun teases, Yixing laughing.


“Want to see something?” Yixing asks, patting the space next to him before Sehun even replies. He taps away at his phone and scrolls a bit before letting out an accomplished noise.


“Is that-” Except Sehun never gets to finish his sentence, too transfixed with the image on the screen.


“Yup!” Yixing exclaims proudly. “It’s you on our first date, right after we came out of that little shop for dinner. You looked so beautiful standing there with the sunset as your backdrop.”


Sehun sputters as best he can, brain still caught up on the picture. “Shouldn’t the sunset be the focus instead of me?”


The way Yixing looks at him – as if he’s the reason that the stars twinkle in the sky – is quite possibly more breathtaking than the sunset had been that day.


“I never got to tell you how beautiful you looked that day,” Yixing says softly.


“It’s an amazing picture,” he finally breathes after a few seconds of internal flailing.


“It is,” Yixing says and Sehun hazards a look up, only to wish he hadn’t because his cheeks are now flaming with the delicate way Yixing’s still looking at him.


“Don’t be gross,” he mutters, but his heart’s beating a mile per minute. It can’t be healthy yet Sehun doesn’t even care. This amazing man in front of him wants to be in a relationship with him – in a relationship with him and Minseok. That fact never fails to amaze him.


“Sehun?”


“Yes?” Sehun’s nervous now. Yixing doesn’t really call him by name anymore, much rather preferring to use his nickname. Sehun’s pretty sure Yixing only does it because of how much his cheeks flame at the term of endearment, but if Yixing likes it, then he likes it, too.


Yixing bites his lip, the seconds ticking by to the beating of Sehun’s heart.


“I know you just told me not to be gross, but I’m going to do it anyways. I love you.”


“I love you, too,” he responds automatically, as natural as breathing. His eyes widen when he realizes what he just blurted out, hands coming up to cover his mouth. Yixing laughs, large, open-mouthed, with his signature little hiccups sprinkled throughout and Sehun’s so in love that the words just keep spilling out. Now that he’s finally said it, he can’t stop, like he’s trying to make up for all of the times that he’s wanted to say it but held back.


He only stops when Yixing places both of his hands on Sehun’s cheeks, smiling when he brings Sehun down for a kiss. It’s the same as always, but it’s not. Something extra pushes his heart to beat deeper, causes his lungs to constrict before releasing, makes his head spin and not because of the lack of oxygen.


“I love you,” Sehun says again when he pulls back, a permanent grin on his face.


Yixing’s eyes are twinkling when they meet his. “I love you, too,” he responds in Mandarin and that sets off a whole other round of love declarations from Sehun.


“Sehun, you cheater! It’s an illegal move to give Yixing your anniversary present a few days before our actual anniversary!”


Sehun’s hearts leaps into his throat, and he squeaks slightly as he turns to see Minseok in the archway that connects the foyer and the living room.


Minseok marches over with a pout. “You promised you would wait two more days.”


“I couldn’t help it! Do you see how cute Yixing looks bundled up in this sweater? It was too hard to resist,” he defends himself. He really hopes that Minseok hadn’t heard his embarrassing twenty thousand confessions but Minseok’s eyes are twinkling with mischief and Sehun just knows that he had.


Minseok rakes appreciative eyes over Yixing’s frame. “He does. Shame on me for thinking that you would be able to resist a cutie in a cute sweater.”


“You think it’s cute?” Yixing questions at the same time Sehun runs a hand down his face with a groan. Minseok’s never going to let him live this down.


Minseok bops Yixing on the nose. “Yes, but you’re cuter.”


Light red appears on the apple’s of Yixing’s cheeks, both Sehun and Minseok cooing at him.


“Stop,” Yixing whines from behind his hands, which are covered by the ends of his red sweater. It only serves to make Sehun and Minseok coo more, gently prying a hand each away from his face.


“Cute,” Minseok claims before kissing Yixing.


“Not cute,” Yixing mumbles with dark red cheeks that almost exactly match his sweater.


“Cute,” Sehun reaffirms. Yixing makes a noise of contempt, but doesn’t say anything more, probably already knowing that he’s not going to win.


“Just so you know,” Minseok says later that night as they’re cuddled together in bed, his bare thigh pressing against Sehun’s. “I love you, Yixing.”


Sehun can’t see since Yixing’s on the other side of Minseok, but he can probably guess that Yixing’s hidden his face in Minseok’s chest. He peers over Minseok’s shoulders just in time to see Yixing shyly peeking up and saying, “I love you, too.”


Sehun didn’t think his heart could grow more, but he’s never been more glad to be wrong.


“You love me more, though, right?” Minseok asks, Sehun immediately squawking in denial.


“No, he loves me more. We cuddle more often and I gave him a nice drawing earlier today.”


“How do you know that I’m not going to give him something more amazing?” Minseok counters.


They continue to squabble like children, only stopping when Yixing’s laughter rings out.


“You guys are weird.”


Gasping, Sehun looks at Minseok with an affronted look. “Did you hear that, hyung?”


“That I did, love. How should we retaliate?”


Sehun doesn’t even have to say anything for Minseok to know, the both of them lunging for a scrambling Yixing.


“Let me go!” Yixing cries, completely at the mercy of their tickling.


“Never,” Sehun responds and he means that in more ways than one.