Archive of Our Own ^beta

He’s busy talking to Sohyun about all the different ways to frost cupcakes, and different methods he’s tried to get the perfect consistency for frosting. It’s a rare moment of downtime in Sweets Bakery so he’s decided to, for once, utilize his time and finally get around to training the not-so-new girl. It’s been almost two years and she’s gone through nine different hair colors so far, insisting she’s not indecisive, but just likes change. He’s just about to delve into the importance of peanut awareness and how to properly prevent cross contamination when the bell above the door at the front jingles. He leaves Sohyun at the back, practicing her frosting penmanship, and enters the front of the shop with a smile that quickly falls from his lips when he sees just who has entered his store.

“Chanyeol,” the man says, with eyes fixated on the display counter filled with assorted pastries. He doesn’t receive a response, just a quiet hum of acknowledgement.

“What do you want, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol finally asks after moments of silence, “I know you’re not here to buy anything.” His eyes scan the expanse of tattooed skin on display, running from Baekhyun’s wrists all the way up to where they disappear under his cut-off shirt sleeves. Baekhyun is short and slim, with dark eyes and hair that’s a permanent mess, not to mention the fact it’s dark with red streaks complete with a little mullet that curls around his neck; it’s hideous. Chanyeol looks him over once more. He really hates Baekhyun.

There’s a brief standoff when Baekhyun finally looks up; they both know why he’s here. He only ever comes here for one reason. Baekhyun’s mouth opens, but Chanyeol beats him to it, “For like, the hundredth time, I’m not turning down the air conditioning,” he shrugs, “You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Their dislike for each other goes back to the beginning of the previous year, when Baekhyun bought the building connected to the bakery. He’d fixed it up and turned it into his very own tattoo shop. Chanyeol’s ultimate decision to dislike Baekhyun began the first time they’d met on the sidewalk, Chanyeol in the midst of transporting a cake, and Baekhyun toting some demolished drywall. Chanyeol had initially thought Baekhyun’s tattoos we’re pretty. Colorful flowers swirl up his arms, with birds and other things Chanyeol doesn’t know the meaning of. Yes, Baekhyun’s tattoos were nice until he accidentally knocked the cake out of Chanyeol’s hands, and then proceeded to lecture Chanyeol on watching where he was going. It was a poor relationship from the start.

Baekhyun had realized quickly that there was only one thermostat, and its location in the small hallway that both buildings shared meant easy access to change the temperature whenever he pleased. It’s been a battle over warm and cold ever since, and no one was winning, especially not Chanyeol’s cakes that tend to lean when Baekhyun cranks up the temperature.

“When are you two gonna just shut up and kiss already?” Sohyun asks once Chanyeol returns to the kitchen. She’s got her freshly-dyed blonde hair pulled back into a small ponytail now and her round metal-framed glasses perched at the tip of her nose. The glare she receives from her boss puts a smirk on her lips, but she says nothing further, just pushes her glasses up with the back of her hand. She knows, from lots of firsthand viewing experience, that her boss is secretly infatuated with the tattooed man from next door. She also knows that Chanyeol will never admit that to her, or himself, but she likes to tease.

“I want to go back in time to 1986 and punch whoever oversaw renovating this building,” Chanyeol grumbles to himself as he’s pushing Sohyun aside. He begins showing her the proper way to make a rose with a piping tip; she’s not paying attention. “Who the hell turns one building into two but keeps their thermostats connected?” His eyes are wide when he looks to Sohyun and he’s unknowingly squeezing the tube of frosting, making a mess on the metal countertop.

“Are you like, wanting an answer? Or, are you just giving me your scary eyes for no reason?”

Chanyeol realizes the mess he’s making and sets the piping bag down with a sigh. “I hate that tattooed jerk.” He chooses to ignore Sohyun’s rolling eyes and her whisper of ‘Sure you do’. He looks to Sohyun in desperation and asks exactly what he’s supposed to do to get Baekhyun to leave him alone.

“You could maybe, I don’t know, turn the air down just a bit?”

It takes every bit of self-control he has not to gag. Chanyeol turns to Sohyun and very seriously says, “I would rather die than give him what he wants.” He shrugs, “Besides, we need it cold in here more than he needs it warm in his stupid tattoo shop.”

Summer is one of the best seasons for a bakery. Graduations, weddings, and it seems like ninety percent of the population of the Windy City was born during the summer. It’s a busy time for the bakery. Busy means two things: more money, and five or six ovens constantly set to 375°. It gets hot in the kitchen in the summer, unbearably so, especially when the idiot next door keeps setting the thermostat to 75°.

Chanyeol is tall, his shoulders broad and his limbs gangly; he’s got an ashy sort of soft, pretty brunette hair that tends to fall into his eyes. He’s very fashionable and trendy and likes to wear a lot of pink because he enjoys watching old men stare at him in confusion and fear. Not that people don’t stare already because of his big ears that stick out from his head, but he likes the extra attention. He’s cute. He’s also very intimidating when he’s angry and stomping across black linoleum floor loud enough to be heard over the buzzing of tattoo guns.

“You!” His nostrils have an angry flare and his eyes are dangerously close to bugging out; he’s pissed. “I am going to kill you,” he growls through clenched teeth. Baekhyun takes his time strolling over, eyes glazed and a lazy smile on his face. “You have ruined my life for the last time!”

“What are you going on about now?” Baekhyun presses his hands into the glass counter top and leans closer, noticing just how angry Chanyeol is. “Oh, you’re probably mad about the temperature, huh?” He smirks, the little stud in his bottom lip catches light and shines and Chanyeol wants to rip it out, or punch it to the back of his throat.

“I-I have never hated anyone more than I hate you right now.” Chanyeol squeezes the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, trying his best to calm himself with deep breaths. “You melted a six-hundred-dollar cake I made this morning because you, for some dumb reason, like it to be a tropical island in here.”

Baekhyun doesn’t give a reply necessarily, but a small smirk and a laugh he tries desperately to hide behind his lips pressed into a tight, thin line. He knows it’s only fueling Chanyeol’s anger, but he can’t help it, not when this giant man is standing at his register trying his best to look big and bad in his pink hoodie and cutoff shorts. Baekhyun composes himself only moments later, “I’ve asked you nicely many times to turn the air down a bit, but you never listen,” he shrugs.

Chanyeol feels the anger inside of him simmer, boil, spill over into rage. He leans forward on his fists balled against the glass and glares, grits his teeth to the point of pain. “Maybe if you wore shirts with sleeves on them you wouldn’t get so cold. You ever think of that?”

“Showing off my ink is good for business, not just a fashion choice, dude.”

Chanyeol inhales a deep breath and puffs out his chest. He wants to grip Baekhyun up by the collar of his raggedy shirt and shake him until he gets brain damage, but he thinks he might already have it, so he doesn’t. He also wants to shout at Baekhyun and tell him just the kind of awful person he thinks he is. Instead of either, Chanyeol’s shoulders slump and he sighs, defeated. He wishes he wasn’t such a chicken.

“How’d it go, boss?” Sohyun asks. She rushes across the kitchen and points her frosting covered rubber spatula in Chanyeol’s face. “Did you give him a piece of your mind? Did you tell him what an ass he is? Did you call his hair stupid and ugly for me?”

Chanyeol only sighs and trudges to the opposite end of the kitchen. He pulls out butter, eggs, brown sugar; when he gets to the chocolate chips Sohyun clicks her tongue, gives him a knowing look.

“Chocolate chip cookies.” She watches her boss’s bottom lip tremble; he wipes at his nose with his sleeve. “It went that bad, huh?” Chanyeol just nods as he cracks an egg.

For as long as he can remember, chocolate chip cookies have been his go-to baked good for when he’s feeling down. Something about making such a classic, well-loved cookie lifts his spirit when he’s sad or feeling like an idiot, or both, like he is now. From somewhere behind him he hears Sohyun say something about something even better than cookies and then he jumps when Sohyun slams a large glass bottle down onto the counter beside the mixing bowl and gives him a mischievous grin.

“This is such a bad idea.”

He’s got the thermostat set to 60° just to spite that tattooed bastard neighbor of his.

From what Chanyeol can tell, Sohyun’s boyfriend Luhan is an okay guy. He’s been in the back with them for around an hour. When he arrived to pick Sohyun up he was drunkenly invited to join the tiny kitchen party; so now, all three of them are drunk.

There are three empty wine bottles on their sides on the metal counter beside Chanyeol, who is lying down because he can’t handle sitting on a chair any longer. He’s always been a lightweight and wine is no exception.

At one point Chanyeol is going on about how he hates living across the hall from Baekhyun. Him and his friends always stay up much too late into the night, blasting music, shouting; he even gets the occasional whiff of weed that seeps over into his apartment. Baekhyun and his little tattoo shop friends, Jongdae and Minseok, are inconsiderate and Chanyeol just wishes Baekhyun would move somewhere far away.

He listens to Sohyun ramble about Luhan, on and on about all the great things he’s achieved since moving to Chicago from China. How he’s perfected English as a second language, graduated from the best university in the state, landed a great job. Chanyeol thinks he’s got a cute face too, at least when his double vision fades out and he can focus on things; he thinks Luhan is attractive enough. He also thinks Luhan looks a bit like Sohyun, but he supposes that’s just the wine talking.

Chanyeol sighs, he feels like a failure. He dropped out of university, he’s painfully average looking, he can’t even go stick up for himself to the dick next door. He sighs once more, wonders if Luhan would be able to stand up to Baekhyun. Probably, he thinks, Luhan is apparently perfect. He sulks quietly to himself for the rest of the night, listening Sohyun and Luhan flirt and tease each other; he wishes he could dissolve. They’re so cute it makes him sick.

“Oh!” Sohyun says excitedly, swatting sloppily at Chanyeol’s shoulder to get his attention. “Did I tell you what happened when my dad called me earlier?” She waits for Chanyeol to shake his head and then continues. “So we were talking about something, I can’t remember, and he called me Sehun.”

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything, but he raises both eyebrows. It’s been a very long time since he’s heard of anyone slipping up and calling her Sehun; he’s done it once or twice himself and he feels like total shit every time.

Sohyun smiles, “But get this, he apologized! Like a full on, stuttering apology.” She clasps her hands together and bounces happily in her seat, “Isn’t that great?”

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything again, and Luhan catches on quickly. He grabs Sohyun’s shoulder and pulls her close to him. “We should probably get going babe, it’s pretty late and Yeol looks beat.” He sneaks a quick smile to Chanyeol from behind his girlfriend’s shoulder and Chanyeol nods in appreciation. “See ya’ dude.”

In his bed his thoughts run wild. He jumps from thinking about Luhan, to Sohyun’s dad, and finally lands on the unpleasant thought of Baekhyun. Short, tiny, shrill-voiced, mullet having, Byun Baekhyun.

As if on cue, he hears Baekhyun coming up the stairs; it’s loud so he must be with his friends. Chanyeol sighs, rips the covers off his legs and sits up; he knows friends over means loud music, which means no sleep for him.

But, he’s so tired. So unbelievably tired and still a little drunk. He whines loud into his empty room and lets his shoulders slump. He just wants to sleep.

When he’s still unable to sleep, and the clock shows it’s well into the morning, he can’t take it any longer. He gets up and storms from his room, across the living room and rips his door open. He doesn’t let himself think things through because he knows he’ll actually rationalize what he’s doing and turn around to go right back into his apartment where it’s safe.

His large fist pounds hard on Baekhyun’s door. The sound of his knocking pulls him out of his furious haze and he gasps, frantically questions what the hell he’s doing. But the music stops, along with the shouting coming from inside, and the door opens.

“What?” Baekhyun snaps, looking up at his neighbor with a half-full beer in his hand. He rakes his eyes up and down Chanyeol’s body and holds in a laugh. “Nice jammies.”

Chanyeol doesn’t look down, he doesn’t need to see it to know he’s wearing the most embarrassing pair of pajamas he owns. A pink t-shirt with multicolored stripes all over it and matching shorts to really complete the look. He wants to die. He clenches his fists and clears his throat. “Do you think you could possibly turn the music down? I’d like to get at least some sleep tonight.”

It’s then that Baekhyun’s friends make an appearance. Both around the same height as Baekhyun, they peek out from behind Baekhyun, one on each side of him. Chanyeol knows them, he actually likes them more than Baekhyun.

Minseok has dark wavy hair that he parts down the middle and he’s got these amazingly fierce eyes that Chanyeol has trouble looking into for too long. He knows the man is nice though, he’s had a conversation or two with him on the sidewalk in front of their shops before. He may look intimidating, but Minseok is soft spoken and has a cute, crooked smile. He’s also amazingly gifted, having done a few of his own tattoos that he’s shown Chanyeol.

Jongdae is blond and loud, and a professional piercer. He’s offered more than once to give Chanyeol a piercing that he had to google to find out what it was. He still shudders when he thinks back to the biggest mistake he’s ever made with google images. So many dicks on one screen.

Minseok and Jongdae, though nicer than Baekhyun, are his little minions. They seem to go everywhere with him, following behind him, supporting him in all his assholery. They are Baekhyun’s own personal idiot cheerleading squad.

“Hey Chanyeol,” Jongdae says with a tone in his voice that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than flirty. “Cute outfit.”

Chanyeol flusters, he’s never been good at handling the type of directness Jongdae gives out. “I…it’s not…” he takes a deep breath and sighs. “Can you guys just please keep it down? I’m really tired.”

“And, you smell a little drunk,” Minseok says, leaning forward just enough to smile up at Chanyeol. “You should have drank with us, we’re lots of fun.” His little smile and bright eyes are much too genuine for Chanyeol to mistake the offer for sarcasm.

“I…no that’s okay. I just really want to sleep and—“

“We’ll be quiet,” Baekhyun deadpans and then shuts his door with a loud bang. Chanyeol stands in the hallway for an uncertain amount of time, trying to recover from the shock of having a door slammed in his face. Baekhyun really is an asshole, he thinks.

Back in his apartment, curled up in his comfy bed once again, it’s finally quiet. Chanyeol rolls onto his side and pulls the covers up to his chin, pouting at how the events of the last fifteen minutes played out. He falls asleep thinking of how he finally, kind of, stood up for himself.

It’s never a good thing when he walks into the kitchen in the morning and Sohyun doesn’t have her headphones jammed into her ears. She’s told him before how she likes to work with music playing, it calms her, helps her focus when she’s doing intricate frosting work. And today, she’s in early to finish up the fondant of a four-tiered wedding cake for a very picky, very bitchy bride.

“Everything alright?” Chanyeol questions, making his way closer, but not too close as Sohyun slams a bowl down onto the counter.

“Yeah, I’m fucking great.”

Chanyeol has a fleeting thought of just going upstairs and crawling back into bed, but the tears lining Sohyun’s eyes stop him. He asks why she’s crying and watches her chin tremble as she blinks up at the fluorescent lighting.

“Luhan…he um, broke up with me last night, so…” She doesn’t finish her sentence before Chanyeol is scooping her up into a tight hug.

“What the hell? You guys we’re totally fine when you left here.”

Sohyun pushes out of Chanyeol’s embrace and grimaces, she slams her fists down on the counter. “You know, me and Luhan…we hadn’t had sex yet.” She lets out a pained laugh and shakes her head. “He knows,” she says, giving Chanyeol a broken expression, “he knew…what I am…what I have. He always said he was okay with it, that me being trans didn’t bother him.” Chanyeol reaches out again, realizing what Sohyun is trying to express. “He saw me naked and looked at me like I was the most hideous thing he’d ever seen.”

Chanyeol lets her cry into his shoulder, gradually getting breathier, hyperventilating. He squeezes her tight and reassures her that she’s easily the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen and that Luhan is just a dumbass.

Chanyeol catches a whiff of something and tilts his head to sniff at Sohyun’s hair. “Sorry, not to like ruin this moment but like, did you smoke weed before you came in this morning?"

Sohyun leans back, arms still around Chanyeol’s neck, and makes a face, “No, of course not. Probably just Baekhyun and his two idiots getting high next door.”

They share a silent understanding and nod at each other. Sohyun is scary when she’s angry and right now she’s beyond pissed; it’s the perfect opportunity for her to march next door and chew into the tattoo shop workers for stinking up their kitchen.

She nearly kicks the door in, the bell hanging above falls and crashes to the floor. Her eyes narrow as she scans the room, looking for Baekhyun, or any of his friends; whichever poor bastard she sees first, really. But, there appears to be no one inside, not even any customers. Sohyun huffs out through her nose, annoyed, and begins marching down the hallway toward the studios. Chanyeol follows behind her filled with giddy excitement, and maybe a tiny bit of apprehension; he’s seen her this angry before and it’s awesome but also terrifying.

Minseok is the first person they see, his head pokes out from the last room on the right at the end of the hall. His eyes widen and he disappears back into the doorway. Sohyun doesn’t stop marching, her footsteps echoing loud in the otherwise silent building. Jongdae peeks out now and smiles, steps out into the hall bringing Minseok with him.

“Where’s Baekhyun?” Sohyun demands, her hands balled into fists at her side. She’s here strictly for business and doesn’t feel like dealing with these two. “I’d like to tell him off for reeking up our kitchen.”

“Oh,” Minseok scratches at the back of his head, “that was us, actually.” He takes a step back when Sohyun waltzes right up to the both of them; he looks terrified with wide eyes and the way he’s curling in on himself.

Jongdae, clearly much less smart than Minseok, reaches out to stroke his hand down Sohyun’s arm, a cocky grin curling his lips. “We’ll smoke outside from now on, pretty thing, wouldn’t want to upset you.”

Chanyeol gasps, he knows what’s going to happen and he’s excited and scared; he doesn’t have money to pay for a lawyer. Sohyun’s head tilts and Jongdae smiles, thinking he’s won her over. Her fist raises, cocks back, and she sends it flying directly into Jongdae’s cheek. Chanyeol moves forward quickly, before Sohyun takes the chance to get another punch in on the poor guy cupping his face with both hands and using the wall to keep him upright.

“Hey, I’ll take it from here,” Chanyeol says quietly into Sohyun’s ear, “go back to the kitchen and finish up that wedding cake, yeah?” Sohyun nods and makes her way out of the shop, but not before giving one final warning glare to Minseok and Jongdae.

Chanyeol just shares an awkward silence with the other two. He’s honestly grateful for a friend like Sohyun, someone who can go in and get the job done when it comes to confrontation. Sure, she may have taken it a bit too far, but he doubts any weed will be smoked in the building again after this. All that’s left now is to tidy up the situation, which is something Chanyeol is especially good at. He may not be able to handle many types of difficult situations, but he’s always been great at diffusing left over tension.

He looks at Jongdae, still leaning with his back to the wall in a stunned silence; his hands are pressed to his cheek, one over the other, and he’s staring into the direction Sohyun walked off in. “Hey uh, you okay? I’m sorry about that,” Chanyeol begins, taking a step closer. “She tends to punch when she’s pissed.”

“I-I…” Jongdae gulps, letting his mouth hang open afterward, “I think I’m in love.”

Chanyeol makes a face and Minseok rolls his eyes. “He likes ‘em feisty,” he says as he’s hauling Jongdae off into the room they’d walked out of. Chanyeol is ready to follow them but the front door opening stops him.

“What are you doing in here?” Baekhyun asks, arms folded across his chest. “Did another pastry melt, flower boy?” Chanyeol gawks. It takes him nearly a full minute of confused staring to realize Baekhyun meant ‘flour boy’; it was honestly clever but he’d never tell Baekhyun he thought so.

“No,” Chanyeol grumbles, he wishes that Sohyun hadn’t already left, he could use that fist of hers right about now. “I came to ask your friends to stop smoking in the building, I don’t want to sell weed scented baked goods.”

Baekhyun crosses the waiting area, making his way slowly down the hall with a scowl. “Maybe if you did, you’d have more customers.”

Chanyeol scoffs at that. He knows he doesn’t like to argue or anger people, but Baekhyun is just purposely trying to hurt him now. “I get enough customers, thank you.” His eyes narrow as he turns to keep eye contact with Baekhyun who’s now passing him in the hallway. “Can’t say the same for you, this place is empty.” He immediately wants to take it back as soon as the insult passes his lips, “You must be a terrible artist.” The way Baekhyun’s strong gaze falters for just a second forces an apology out.

“Get the fuck out,” Baekhyun sneers, “I don’t want your apology.”

“Sohyun, I feel awful.”

He hasn’t been able to forget about the shift in Baekhyun’s demeanor. He spent all day at work thinking about it, about what he said to Baekhyun, how he so clearly struck a chord that hurt him. He was so engrossed in his guilt he’d messed up three easy orders and dumped an entire large mixing bowl of cake batter all over himself.

Now he’s in his apartment, happy to be away from the kitchen, and to be drinking wine straight from the bottle with Sohyun on his couch. He lets out a sad whine and presses the bottle to his mouth, taking a long swig. “I know I hate him, but I can’t stop thinking about how I hurt his feelings.” Sohyun plucks the wine from his hands and maneuvers him by the shoulders to lay his head in her lap.

“It’s okay, Yeollie,” she smiles and it comforts Chanyeol the tiniest bit. “On the bright side, at least you didn’t punch anyone.” Her grin widens and she nudges Chanyeol’s shoulder as her other hand mindlessly plays with his hair. She takes her own sip from the bottle now and smacks her lips. “You know, I’m still waiting for your dumb ass to realize the crush you have on him.”

Chanyeol chokes on spit; he wants to fake gag but he’s afraid he’ll actually throw up. He knows Sohyun has a habit of saying outlandish things at inappropriate times, but this, this is too much. He sits up and scoots a cushion away from her, giving her the most offended look he can in his mildly inebriated state.

“Oh please, don’t give me that look. You and I both know he’s exactly your type.” She makes a face, the one she uses when she’s proving Chanyeol wrong.

“That’s absurd,” he says, snatching the bottle back from her. He finishes what’s left and lets the bottle fall to the floor and roll under the coffee table. “I do not have a type.”

“Oh, you so do! Don’t you sit there and lie to me Park Chanyeol!” She studies Chanyeol’s face before deciding to continue, to further prove her point. “I saw your last boyfriend, Kyungsoo. And I know for a fact you think Minseok is attractive.”

“What’s your point?"

“My point is, you like short and small with a cute little face. And Baekhyun, my dear friend, is all three.”

“Maybe so,” Chanyeol says, moving to sit up and hug his knees to his chest, “but…that mullet though.” They burst into a raucous laughter and, much to Chanyeol’s delight, the discussion ends there.

Sohyun runs to the kitchen to fetch another bottle of wine, bringing two glasses along because ‘We’re not savages, Chanyeol’. They talk, mostly about unimportant things, and then about new things to try at the bakery. They speak briefly about Chanyeol’s parents back in Korea and how they’re doing well; he wants to go visit them this Christmas.

Sohyun brings up Luhan, gives Chanyeol the full story of what happened when they went back to her place, when he broke up with her. She refuses to cry though, says he’s obviously an asshole that’s not even worth her tears. She says she doesn’t need it, but Chanyeol hugs her anyway and she sniffles a few times into his shoulder before pulling away with a soft thank you.

The hours pass easily, just them chatting, gradually getting drunker. The conversation gets louder as the night goes on and there’s a lot more laughter; Sohyun snorts when something is especially funny and Chanyeol thinks it’s the cutest thing.

“I wish I could be more like you,” Chanyeol says as he watches Sohyun polish off the second bottle of wine. She raises an eyebrow at him, telling him to continue. “Just, you’re so…brave.”

“Explain.”

“Like, first of all you’re you. And like, you’re just so…brave."

Sohyun laughs, “That clears it up.”

“No like,” Chanyeol pauses to think, he can feel himself swaying gently, “you punched Jongdae in the face earlier. I could never do that. I can’t even stand up for m’self with words, ‘ya know?” He frowns and digs his fingers into his thighs. “And then when I finally do, I spend all day feeling guilty ‘bout it.” He looks to Sohyun with pleading eyes, “Honestly, what kinda loser am I?”

“Yeollie, you’re not a loser. You’re a soft, kind-hearted person and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“But I don’t wanna be that person. I don’t wanna be the kid that wasted four years getting a degree that made his parents happy, or the guy that is so scared of disappointing people he just has no friends because it’s easier that way.” His chin trembles and tears begin to gather at the corners of his eyes. “I’m sick of getting walked on and always playing things safe. I wanna be like you and dye my hair different every week and stick up for myself and just be…not me.”

Sohyun looks like she’s watching one of those sad commercials about abused animals. She takes Chanyeol’s face between both hands and wipes at his tears. “But Yeollie, you’re amazing. You’re the sweetest, kindest, most amazing person I know.”

Chanyeol doesn’t hear her, his mind is busy racing, taking him back through his life, showing him all the things he wishes he would have done differently, and things he wishes he would have just done at all.

“What if I got a tattoo?” Chanyeol suddenly asks, cutting into Sohyun’s continuing ramble of every single thing she likes about him. “D’ya think that’d be a good idea?” He knows he’s slurring and that one of his eyes are more open than the other, but he can’t fix it, not even after five or six slow blinks and a shake of his head.

He sits up suddenly and hops off the couch, grabs Sohyun by both shoulders. “’M’gonna go get a tattoo and tell that inked up pretty boy just what I think of ‘em.” He gives a rough jab to Sohyun’s shoulder with his index finger and stumbles toward the door, mumbling to himself about flowers on biceps and stupid, striped hair.

The tattoo shop is empty when Chanyeol rips the door open, tripping over his own feet on his way inside. He regains his balance, for the most part, and steps further inside, past the unmanned register.

“Baekhyun!” he shouts. He can hear now just how drunk he sounds and he cringes. “Hey where are ‘ya? I want a tattoo! Come tattoo me!” Just the man he was looking for appears from a doorway toward the end of the hallway he’s standing in.

Once inside the small, square room Chanyeol has a blissful smile on his face, compliments of the wine. He pulls his shirt off and twists to look at Baekhyun, still standing in the doorway, curious of what in the hell is going on and why exactly Chanyeol is stripping layers off.

“I want a cupcake,” Chanyeol giggles, “right here.” He arches his back and turns his head to look at where he’s attempting to point at his shoulder blade. “Pink with lots of sprinkles.” He flops down into the leather chair, straddling the sides and presses his face into the head rest.

“Okay?” Baekhyun speaks finally and, with an aggravated sigh, takes a seat at the rolling stool beside the very clearly drunk baker.

Chanyeol has his eyes closed, he’s thinking about recipes, about baking, about how good Baekhyun smells this close to him. No. No, he’s absolutely not thinking that. He’s thinking about how much he dislikes Baekhyun, how much he wishes he would move his shop. He’s thinking about how he is finally doing something he’s always wanted to do but has always been too scared. He opens his eyes when he hears the first buzz of the tattoo gun.

“Why are you doing this?” Chanyeol asks, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “I thought you’d tell me to get out.” Baekhyun just smirks, he leans in and the gun buzzes again and this time, Chanyeol gasps when he feels the needle press against his skin. “Hey, that doesn’t even hurt.”

He spends the entire time that the tattoo takes complaining to Baekhyun about, well, Baekhyun. The liquid courage he’d indulged himself in really hit the spot, and now he can’t keep his mouth closed if he wanted to, which he doesn’t. It feels good to finally tell Baekhyun exactly what he thinks of him. He complains of his loud music, the cigarette stink when you walk past his open door, how rude he is. Chanyeol brings up the thermostat, the main reason for their mutual dislike. Baekhyun remains silent the entire time, just listening to Chanyeol go on and on until finally, the tattoo gun stops and he rolls back on the stool.

“You’re done,” Baekhyun says, getting up to take his gloves off and drop them into a little plastic bin. He returns to Chanyeol’s side, wipes his shoulder blade off with something wet and then tapes a paper towel over it. “Don’t come bitching to me tomorrow when you regret this.”

Chanyeol stands slowly and sways, grabs his shirt off the table beside him and slips it on. “Thank you,” he mumbles, not looking up at Baekhyun. “And…” he takes a deep breath, the words he’d said to Baekhyun earlier in the day coming back to him now, “I’m sorry, for what I said to you this morning. I didn’t mean it.”

Baekhyun huffs and lets a bitter smile spread, “Don’t worry about it, not the first time I’ve been told I suck.” He’s got his back to Chanyeol now, making his way down the hall toward the cash register. He steps behind the counter and ducks down, Chanyeol watches from the opposite side wondering what he’s doing.

When Baekhyun pops back up he’s holding a bottle of booze and two shot glasses. He gives a small, barely there smile to Chanyeol and twists the cap off, pouring equal amounts into both glasses.

Chanyeol accepts the shot when it’s handed to him and they both down them in one gulp, slamming the empty glasses down on the counter. He’s pretty confused, trying to reason through the drunk haze in his brain why Baekhyun is being nice to him. He shivers from the taste of the vodka and sighs. “Your art isn’t bad,” he says, giving a quick glance up at Baekhyun who’s pouring himself another shot.

“Yeah, thanks,” Baekhyun says halfheartedly.

“So how much do I owe you?”

Baekhyun sniffs and wipes at his nose, giving Chanyeol a shrug. “I don’t know. I’m tired. Come back in the morning and we’ll talk about the price.” He reaches over to grab Chanyeol’s shot glass, and the baker can’t help but stare; Baekhyun’s tattoos are really pretty.

“Can I see your tattoos?” He’s not even sure why he asks, even as the words spill out he can’t seem to stop them.

Baekhyun narrows his eyes suspiciously but nods anyway, holding his arms out and turning them over.

Chanyeol smiles, “I’ve seen those. I meant, show me the rest.”

The tattoo artist looks a cross between amused and annoyed and he lets out a sigh, but doesn’t say anything in protest. He pulls at the buttons on his shirt and pulls the two sides apart, revealing a colorful collage of beautiful artwork. He can’t even see the skin on Baekhyun’s chest and stomach, every inch is covered with ink. It’s mesmerizing.

“Wow,” Chanyeol breathes slowly, trying to decide if it would be inappropriate to reach out and trace the straight red line spanning the entire length of Baekhyun’s torso. He ultimately decides against it, but he’s not done appreciating the art. “Is your back covered too?”

Baekhyun arches his back and lets the shirt slide down his arm, bunching at his elbows. He turns and Chanyeol gasps, taking a few steps closer to get a better view of the intricate line work and shading; he’s speechless. He chuckles at a small cartoonish bear that looks out of place.

“What’s with the bear?”

Baekhyun turns and pulls his shirt back on, leaving it unbuttoned. He pours them each another shot and hands one to Chanyeol, and they both drink them down quickly. “My mom used to call me baby bear when I was a kid.”

“Cute,” Chanyeol says mindlessly, eyes still fixed on the sliver of tattooed skin peeking out from Baekhyun’s open shirt.

Baekhyun’s smile falls then and he drags Chanyeol’s shot glass away, returns everything to under the counter where he grabbed it from. He clears his throat and looks around, “You should go, I need to clean up and get to sleep.” He doesn’t wait for an answer before walking away, back into his studio, leaving Chanyeol alone at the register.

Chanyeol leaves through the front door, goes into his shop and to the back stairs, up to his own apartment. He’s not sure how to feel after everything that just happened. He doesn’t know if he still hates Baekhyun as much as he did. He does know he’s much too drunk to try and deal with mixed feelings right now, so he decides to just crawl into bed and sleep; he’ll deal with things in the morning when he can think without wine and vodka clouding his judgement.

The alarm wakes him up at his usual hour, loud and blaring, causing the throb in his head to pound harder. Chanyeol sits up and swats at the alarm clock until it shuts up, then swings his legs over the side of his bed to stand. He makes it halfway to his bathroom, feet dragging across the hardwood floor, and then he stops. He lets out a noise that would probably hurt a dog’s ears and runs to his mirror, tugging at his shirt to try to see it. He can’t believe he went and got a tattoo last night, and from Baekhyun of all people.

He runs down the stairs that lead to his shop, hustles through the kitchen, out to the café area and then out the main door. His mind is racing; he’s terrified, thinking Baekhyun probably tattooed a penis or something else stupid on his skin. Permanently. Forever.

“Off!” he yells once he’s standing in front of Baekhyun. “Get this tattoo off of me! Right now!”

Baekhyun looks unamused. He crosses his arms and tells Chanyeol that he clearly doesn’t understand how tattoos work, that he can’t just take it off. He sighs with that annoyingly smug smile spread across his face. He motions for Chanyeol to turn around and promptly tugs at the back of his shirt, pulling it up to bunch under his armpits. Chanyeol can feel himself blush and curses internally, telling himself he’s not a fourteen-year-old girl and to calm down.

“Oh, you haven’t even looked at your tattoo yet,” Baekhyun says with too much enthusiasm. “Here, let me just take this paper towel off and…”

Chanyeol winces as he feels the tape pulling from his skin. He turns with the guidance of Baekhyun’s hands on his waist and gazes at his shoulder in the mirror. He blinks, blinks again, then feels that same embarrassed anger bubble up from his stomach and settle as a hard lump in his throat. It’s most definitely not a cupcake, Chanyeol observes; it’s not even a tattoo. Scrawled diagonally across his shoulder in blue pen reads, ‘I don’t tattoo drunk assholes’. He turns with narrowed eyes, shirt still held up by his armpits; his chest heaves angrily but it’s more aimed at himself than Baekhyun. He’s so embarrassed, again.

“That’s not funny,” Chanyeol cries out, pulling his shirt down as he rushes toward the front door.

Baekhyun runs up ahead of him, slamming the door closed with a palm pressed flat to the wood. Chanyeol looks offended but he ignores that. “You should be thanking me,” Baekhyun says, arms crossed over his chest.

“Thanking you? For what? Being the world’s biggest jerk?”

Baekhyun lets Chanyeol exit the storefront, but he follows him onto the sidewalk. He sighs in disbelief and follows him into the bakery. “You know, I could have been a real asshole and actually tattooed you last night. I could have tattooed anything on you and you wouldn’t have known, you were so drunk.” He walks around the counter, stepping up to Chanyeol who’s trying hard to ignore the tattoo artist. “I did you a favor, even while you were sitting there bitching me out. I still decided to be nice and not let you make a huge mistake!” He throws his arms out and Chanyeol can’t make out the emotion on his face.

One full-bodied sigh later and Chanyeol is chewing nervously at his bottom lip. He’s popped his hip out to rest a hand on and he really, really hates that he’s about to be nice to this idiot in front of him. “Thank you,” he mumbles, “I guess.”

The addition puts a teasing grin on Baekhyun’s face, “You guess?” he mocks, leaning an arm on the counter beside him. “I think you owe me an apology for being a drunk asshole last night.” He holds in his chuckle while he watches Chanyeol contemplate if swallowing his pride is worth it or not. “Think I deserve a sincere thank you as well.” He purses his lips, looks around the room. “Maybe a kiss, who knows?”

This has Chanyeol’s thought process, his entire world, freezing in time. Did tattoo boy really say that, or are his ears deceiving him? His narrowed eyes are questioning, skeptical, and the grip his hands have around the hem of his shirt is tight, but he’s always twisted his shirt when he’s especially nervous.

Baekhyun is just smiling up at him; Chanyeol hates how he’s so much taller than Baekhyun, but feels small standing in front of him. “You’re messing with me.” It’s a question, but it doesn’t come out like one. He’s not entirely sure if he wants an answer anyway.

“No, pretending to give you a tattoo last night was messing with you. Now I’m being completely sincere.” He raises his hand up, like that means anything, like that proves he’s being honest. “Sohyun told me about your little crush on me,” Baekhyun finally says, shrugging like it’s no big deal.

Chanyeol decides it’s time to either fire or kill the girl. “Okay so she’s a liar, what’s your point?” He knows he’s been caught. He knows Baekhyun doesn’t believe him. He knows that Baekhyun is moving closer to him, puckering his lips. Oh god, he thinks he might have a heart attack.

“Now I’m messing with you,” Baekhyun whispers into Chanyeol’s ear, followed with a quiet chuckle. He pulls back another inch. “I’ll keep the thermostat at a reasonable temperature from now on.”

Sohyun walks into the kitchen with a face that says she knows something she shouldn’t. Her smile scares Chanyeol, quite honestly. She sprawls her upper body across the counter and looks up into Chanyeol’s eyes. “Baekhyun told me you guys are best friends now?”

Chanyeol groans and tells Sohyun, first, to shut up and then, that they are far from best friends. He also tells her that he should fire her for spilling his secret to Baekhyun. “Do you always just run over there before work and gossip?” His eyes go wide and he sputters for a second. “How many things have you told him about me?”

“But you guys are good now, right?” Sohyun asks, ignoring the questions.

Chanyeol sighs. “I guess,” he says with an exaggerated eye roll, “he kind of did me a solid last night and I may have realized he’s not as bad as I’d previously thought.”

Sohyun gasps. “Oh my god, are these happy chocolate chip cookies you’re making then?” She places her hand over her heart, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

Chanyeol grunts and smashes his wooden spoon to the bottom of the mixing bowl in front of him, tells her he’s just making them as a thank you for Baekhyun not actually tattooing a pink cupcake on his shoulder. She asks when they’re getting married and is promptly chased from the kitchen by a spatula wielding Chanyeol.

At seven that night, Chanyeol shuts off the open sign and locks up, deciding to leave the mess in the sink for Sohyun in the morning. He makes his way up the stairs at the back of the kitchen. He’s always loved having his apartment above his bakery; it gives him more time to sleep in the morning without having to worry about a commute.

He stops at the top of the stairs to shift the small white pastry box in his hands; he smiles at the logo, a little mixing bowl with the shop name, Sweets, in purple frosting curving around the bottom.

Baekhyun’s apartment is also above his shop, their doors directly across the hall from one another. He rocks on his feet for a moment, trying to decide if he’s making an incredibly stupid mistake. Before he can fully weigh his options, he hears Baekhyun coming up the stairs; Chanyeol drops the box in front of Baekhyun’s door and quickly locks himself into his apartment.

A stubbed toe, groaning, complaining, all while his hands feel up the wall searching for the light switch. His clock says 2:43 in the morning and he’s not happy to have someone seemingly trying to pound a hole into his door.

He shouts ‘What’ when he pulls his door open, flinging it back so hard he almost goes flying with it. Baekhyun is standing in front of him, the small white box of cookies in his hand. Chanyeol can smell how high Baekhyun is, which would explain his red eyes and the three or four cookies he currently has shoved in his mouth.

“It is almost three in the morning, what do you want?”

Baekhyun just stares, continues to chew slowly. When he finally swallows, he smiles, “These are seriously so good.”

Chanyeol is admittedly a little awestruck. He can’t find it in himself to be angry, or even a little annoyed with being woken up anymore, not with how adorable Baekhyun looks as he over-stuffs his mouth with another two or three cookies. He thanks Baekhyun for the compliment while staring at the space on the carpet between their feet.

“I don’t really know why you made me cookies, but you gotta make them for me again.” He jams another cookie into his mouth, “So good.”

Chanyeol agrees, tells Baekhyun he’ll make more when he has free time, and then tells him goodnight, shutting the door in Baekhyun’s face. He makes it just over halfway to his room before more knocking echoes through his apartment. This time Chanyeol says nothing when he opens the door, just glares.

Baekhyun pushes his way into the apartment, not asking, but informing Chanyeol that he’s going to come in. He places the empty box on a table and spins around to face Chanyeol, who looks sleepy and a little pissed off; it makes Baekhyun smile.

“I’m going to assume these surprise cookies mean you don’t hate me as much as you did yesterday?” Baekhyun asks, raising an eyebrow as he waits for Chanyeol’s answer.

“I think…possibly. Maybe.” Chanyeol grimaces, “You’re an okay person. I guess.”

The smile on Baekhyun’s face widens and he moves across the room, pulling Chanyeol into his arms and squeezing him around the middle. “So here’s the deal,” he says, taking Chanyeol by the shoulders. “You’re gonna teach me how to make these cookies so I don’t have to bother you all the time to do it for me, and I’ll give you a free tattoo.” He looks up to think for a second and then smiles, “A real one this time.”

“I guess…that could work,” Chanyeol says slowly, stepping back, out of Baekhyun’s reach. He nods, “Okay, yeah I can do that.” He watches Baekhyun walk to the door and pull it open. “Just come to the bakery tomorrow and I’ll teach you.” Baekhyun gives a simple hum and exits, leaving Chanyeol alone in his apartment, staring at the empty pastry box in confusion.

Teaching Baekhyun, he finds out, is not an easy task. The tattoo artist has a habit of not paying attention, then asking Chanyeol to repeat steps. He eats the dough by the spoonful when Chanyeol turns away and then pretends he didn’t. Chanyeol is going to rip his hair out.

“So I found that when you use melted butter instead of…” he sighs, “Are you even paying attention?”

Baekhyun turns, a spoon hanging from his mouth that he smiles around. He nods and motions for Chanyeol to continue the demonstration.

“So anyway, the melted butter helps the cookies to…” Chanyeol picks up a rubber spatula and hits Baekhyun over the head with it. “Will you stop eating all the dough and actually pay attention?”

Baekhyun looks annoyed and huffs, but then he puts this adorable pout on that has Chanyeol’s knees going weak, but he totally holds it together. “But, it’s so good,” it comes out almost like a moan and his eyes roll back; Chanyeol has to look away and hopes that Baekhyun doesn’t notice how hard he gulps.

“Let me try,” Baekhyun says, impatiently shoving Chanyeol out of the way. He grabs the spoon from Chanyeol’s hand and begins to furiously mix the dough. Chanyeol watches in terror, waiting for the dry flour at the top to come flying out of the bowl.

“Go slower, you’re doing it too hard,” Chanyeol grabs Baekhyun’s wrist and moves it slowly, showing him the proper way to mix without making a huge mess. “See, much better. Now you’re not getting flour everywhere.”

Baekhyun turns his head to look up at Chanyeol with a devious smirk. “You gonna let go of my wrist any time soon?”

“S-sorry.” He releases the wrist, his face burning red, and pushes the bowl closer to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun lets out a short laugh and uses his sleeve to wipe at the sweat on his forehead. “Your crush on me is gonna be so much fun.” He doesn’t look, but he can just imagine the face Chanyeol is making; it makes him smile.

“I hate you,” Chanyeol mumbles as he goes to the cabinet to grab a cookie sheet. “You better hope you remember this recipe because I’m not gonna do this again.” Baekhyun chuckles.

The next hour goes by quickly, the time passes with more of their back and forth bickering and Baekhyun using every opportunity he can to drop a sexual innuendo to make Chanyeol fluster and stutter. Chanyeol hates how genuinely funny Baekhyun is, and how pretty he is; he’s almost completely forgotten about his ugly mullet.

When the cookies have been in the oven for a little over ten minutes, Sohyun comes running into the kitchen looking like she’s on a mission.

“Baek, I need a favor.” She places both hands on the counter in front of him and leans in. “Tell me everything you know about Jongdae, because he’s kind of an asshole but he’s also really cute and I wanna know if it’s worth my time to bake him something.”

Baekhyun laughs loud then dives headfirst into a long rant of how great and funny Jongdae is, and how totally worth her time it would be to bake for him. Sohyun explains how she’d been over at the tattoo shop all morning talking to Minseok about a tattoo she wants, and how Jongdae kept popping in to check her out.

“What should I bake for him?” Sohyun asks, turning to Chanyeol now.

“I don’t know?” He shrugs, “Blueberry tart? I feel like blueberries are very passive aggressive.”

Sohyun nods, knowing exactly what Chanyeol means.

Baekhyun gapes in confusion. “How the fuck is a fruit passive aggressive?”

“You know,” Chanyeol shrugs, “they just…are.” Sohyun nods in agreement.

“I think that could work. It says, hey I baked you something because please make out with me, but also I’m not afraid to punch you in the face.”

“Again,” Chanyeol says.

“Again,” Sohyun agrees.

She gets to work on her tart while Chanyeol and Baekhyun pull their cookies out of the oven. They’re perfect and Baekhyun wants to devour them straight off the hot baking sheet; Chanyeol smacks his hands away and tells him to wait for them to cool. Baekhyun grumbles, unhappy with being told to wait, and then tells Chanyeol he wants to go check on his shop and that he’ll be back in ten minutes.

“So,” Sohyun says from across the kitchen once they’re alone.

“Don’t.”

“You two are looking awfully friendly, yeah?” She’s got a little smirk that Chanyeol swears she had to have picked up from Baekhyun. “It’s cute, you guys look good baking together.”

Chanyeol grimaces but doesn’t say anything. He’s been trying all day to keep his cool, to not remember the fact that Baekhyun absolutely knows about the crush he has on him. But here’s Sohyun, throwing all of that in his face, reminding him of why he should feel nervous and awkward. “I still hate you for telling him I have a crush on him.”

Sohyun looks up, her mouth hanging open and her hands buried in dough. “Oh, no I never told him anything, he just knew,” she shrugs. “You’re not very good at being discreet.”

He feels his soul leave his body, really feels it this time; this is beyond his average embarrassment. He wants to shrivel up and die. He imagines his funeral; he wants white roses on his casket and no one is allowed to cry. He presses his cheek against the cool metal counter and pouts; he lived a decent life, he’s ready for death. Preferably sometime before Baekhyun comes back. “I want roses on my casket,” he tells Sohyun.

Sohyun laughs, “Oh, quit being so dramatic.”

Baekhyun returns shortly after Chanyeol pulls himself together and immediately begins to devour the cooled cookies. He insists they don’t taste as good as the ones from the night before and Chanyeol tells him it’s most likely because he tried to mix the dough to death.

The three in the kitchen fall into an easy conversation. Minseok joins them for a bit and ends up showing off some of his tattoos. One on his arm was done by Baekhyun, a realistic skull with flowers spilling out of the eyes. It’s beautiful and Chanyeol apologizes to Baekhyun once again for telling him he wasn’t talented.

When Minseok leaves, Sohyun and Baekhyun follow behind him; Chanyeol stays to clean up. He lets out a long sigh when he hears the front door close, happy to finally be alone to think. Okay, so he definitely does not hate Baekhyun. It’s okay though, he can handle this, he’s an adult.

Now that they’re friendly, they realize the thermostat issue really isn’t an issue.

It takes them approximately fifteen minutes of talking it out over cups of coffee at the coffee shop down the street to resolve things. Baekhyun agrees to call someone to come out and rewire the buildings, adding a second thermostat, and Chanyeol agrees to pay for half of the work. It’s a fast, easy fix that they both should have thought of months ago instead of constantly arguing.

Another month goes by, argument free, and Chanyeol has managed to handle his crush responsibly. There are moments when he’s caught staring, with his mouth open, seconds away from drooling because now that he doesn’t hate Baekhyun he can fully appreciate just how sexy his tattoos are. And sometimes, he swears Baekhyun is checking him out as well, but he can’t be sure. Chanyeol has always prided himself on his impeccable record of correctly labeling someone’s sexuality, but with Baekhyun, he just can’t tell. And, it’s frustrating.

He starts off with stereotypical things: Baekhyun’s hair, the way he talks, how he dresses, even tries to find out what kind of hobbies he has. He has no hobbies other than drinking with his rowdy friends, check one for straight, Chanyeol thinks. But, he knows he can’t rely on stereotypes because they’re often wrong. Baekhyun does dress really nice though, he thinks as he stares at Baekhyun standing beside Sohyun who’s teaching him how to knead dough, and his skin looks like he takes care of it. He shakes his head and forces himself to refocus on his current cake order. “I’m gay and I don’t even take care of my skin,” he mumbles to himself.

He spends time in the tattoo shop as well; Sohyun’s been trying to work out a tattoo she wants, so he wanders next door with her sometimes. He likes this because he gets to observe Baekhyun in his natural environment, see the way he speaks to customers, try not to cry over the big, eye-crinkling smile he gives to people when he says goodbye. Baekhyun is adorable, he’s decided, and it’s bad. It’s so, so bad.

“Why don’t you just ask him,” Sohyun says. She rolls her eyes; it’s been months and Chanyeol still hasn’t worked up the nerve to ask Baekhyun out and, quite frankly, she’s tired of hearing him whine about it.

She carries her tray of cookies to the cooling station and returns to where Chanyeol is pouting over a large bowl of buttercream. “I’ve slept with Jongdae literally more times that I can count already and you’re still over here pining after Baekhyun.” She pokes him in the ticklish spot on his ribs and chuckles at his flailing. “You’ll see him in the morning. Ask him out then, I’m literally begging you.”

“I had a dream that I checked my credit score last night,” Baekhyun says with a long yawn. His shop doesn’t open for five more minutes, so he’s in Chanyeol’s kitchen waiting for the raspberry scones to finish baking. He’s made a habit of showing up in the mornings to sneak something for breakfast.

Chanyeol knows he’s only here to steal himself something to eat; he doesn’t mind. “What was it?” he asks.

“940.”

The oven timer goes off. Chanyeol slips oven mitts on and pulls the tray out, setting it on the counter to cool. “But, doesn’t it only go up to like 840?”

Baekhyun snatches a scone from the tray and bounces it between hands, blowing to try and cool it off faster. “Okay, and? So I have the bestcredit,” he says with a flourish of his free hand. He bites into the scone and, much like every time he eats one of Chanyeol’s pastries, he moans as he chews. “God, it’s so good,” he says through a mouthful, “How’d you get so good at baking?”

Chanyeol is a bit lost. He’s stuck watching Baekhyun lick his lips between bites, humming, suggestively if you ask him, over the flavor. Baekhyun eating is dangerously close to watching porn, and Chanyeol absolutely should look away.

“What are you making tomorrow?” Baekhyun asks, licking at the little sugar crystals left over on his fingertips.

He’s going to do it. He can totally do it. Just ask him out, Chanyeol, that’s all you gotta do. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself, maybe calm his nerves a bit; he’s as ready as he’s ever going to get, all he has to do is get the words out.

“Hey uh, Baekhyun…would you—“

“Baek!”

Minseok walks in and Chanyeol isn’t sure if he’s upset or relieved.

“Why is the shop still locked? You too busy in here stuffing your face to go open up?”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun defends, “I’m just eating breakfast.”

“Sure you wouldn’t rather be eating the baker instead?”

Chanyeol gulps, hoping to swallow down the heat spreading through his face, warming his cheeks and ears. “You guys should go open shop. I got a lot of orders to get to today anyway.”

That short conversation is all he can think about all day. What did Minseok mean by that? Was he trying to hint that Baekhyun is attracted to Chanyeol? Does Minseok know about Chanyeol’s crush on Baekhyun and he was making fun of it?

“What’d that caramel do to you?” Sohyun’s voice calls out. She steps up beside him and pats his back a few times, lips pressed into a thin line that says she knows something is wrong. “What did Baekhyun do now?”

“Minseok kinda said something earlier today.” He sounds confused by his own words, like he still can’t wrap his head around what happened. “Baekhyun was here this morning to eat free food like he always does and Minseok asked him if he’d rather be eating me instead.”

“Caramel is burning.”

Chanyeol scrunches his brows in confusion then gasps; he pulls the pot from the heat quickly and stirs it rapidly, trying his best to save the caramel.

“Did you say anything? Use that as your in to ask him out?”

“No,” Chanyeol shrugs and returns the pot to the stove, “Of course I didn’t. You know I didn’t.”

“Yeol!” Sohyun shouts, smacking him gently on the arm. “That was the perfect chance to say something! You have to ask him out now, you can’t just leave it at that.”

“I don’t wanna,” Chanyeol pouts. “Can we just get drunk tonight and forget about how pathetic I am?”

He’s moved up from wine, deciding a hard liquor is what he needs tonight to properly drown his sorrows. As he pours himself another shot, he can’t help but piece together the last few months in his head. How he went from hating Baekhyun to wanting to ask him out he has no idea. But that’s where he’s at, and that’s what he’s hoping this whisky will help him deal with. He’s right on the cusp of self-loathing when Sohyun bumps her hip into his, startling him out of his thoughts.

“I invited Jongdae and Minseok over to drink with us, is that cool?”

He gives a quick glance around his apartment; it’s clean enough. He sighs. “Fine, but no kissing in front of me. And, definitely don’t talk about Baekhyun in front of them.”

Sohyun’s eyes roll but she agrees.

It’s Chanyeol that brings up Baekhyun in conversation first, within less than five seconds of Minseok and Jongdae entering his apartment. He asks where Baekhyun is, why he didn’t come with them. It’s mostly because he’s curious, but he also wants to be sure he’s not going to randomly show up when Chanyeol is as drunk as he’s planning on getting by the end of the night.

Jongdae crosses the room and plants a firm kiss right to Sohyun’s lips, squeezing her ass a little on the sly. So much for the only two rules Chanyeol set.

“He’s at a friend’s tattoo shop across town,” Minseok says, “I guess his friend wanted some help with showing a few apprentices this shading technique or something.”

They end up all seated cross-legged in a circle on the living room floor, passing the bottle of whisky and a glass of chaser around as they chat. They talk about the tattoo Sohyun wants for a while, then Minseok shows off some more of his; Jongdae can’t keep his hands to himself, and Chanyeol is ready to kick everyone out and go to sleep.

“Do you have any tattoos?” Minseok asks Chanyeol as he’s passing the whisky to Jongdae.

“Oh, no…I want one though.”

“But you’re too scared!” Sohyun shouts in her drunk voice.

Chanyeol cringes at the volume and at the truth behind her words. He’s always too scared to do anything he wants to do. He sighs, “Yeah, I’m too scared for most things.”

“Like what?” Jongdae asks.

The whisky is handed to Chanyeol and he takes a large gulp of it, shivering as it burns its way down. He looks up at the three sets of eyes staring at him and feels small once again. “I don’t know,” he shrugs, beginning to nervously pick at the hem of his shirt. “Everything?”

“Oh yeah,” Sohyun says, raising a shaking hand to swat at Chanyeol across from her, “He wants a tattoo! He’s wanted his dimple pierced for soooo long!” She pauses to hiccup and then giggles to herself. “He wanted to dye his hair like five months ago but couldn’t decide on a color and then talked himself out of it.”

Chanyeol can feel how red his face is. He’s so uncomfortable sitting across from three people all with piercings, two covered in tattoos, and Sohyun with her blue hair. He feels so lame compared to them.

Suddenly, Minseok jumps to his feet and is grabbing at Chanyeol’s shirtsleeve. He tugs until Chanyeol gives in and stands. “Lucky for you,” he says with the brightest smile Chanyeol’s ever seen, “You’re in the company of an amazing tattoo artist and a master piercer!”

“What’s your point?” Chanyeol asks cautiously; he doesn’t like the look Jongdae and Minseok are sharing.

“My point is! Let’s go down to the shop and help you face your fears!”

“Yeah!” Jongdae shouts, jumping up beside Minseok. “I’ll pierce your dimple for you, piece of cake!”

“I’ll give you a tattoo, free of charge.”

Sohyun stands now too, a little slower and a bit wobblier, but with just as much passion. She shouts, “And, I’ll dye your hair for you! Whatever color your giant heart desires.”

For the next few hours Chanyeol is manhandled, shoved in every which way and put through excruciating pain. He’s happy he’s a little drunk for all this. A brief thought that he shouldn’t be getting tattooed while intoxicated passes through his mind, followed by a slightly less brief thought that Minseok is drunk as well and is about to tattoo his skin. But, he shrugs it off and relaxes into the chair.

The first buzz of the tattoo gun makes him jump. He can hear Minseok chuckle from beside him and Chanyeol tries his best not to blush in embarrassment.

“You sure about this?” Minseok asks; Chanyeol can see him dip the needle in the ink, hears the gun buzz once again. “Tattoos are forever.”

Chanyeol’s mouth opens, then closes, and he sighs. “Would I be a total loser if I wanted to back out?”

Minseok chuckles, “You know if it helps, Baekhyun really likes guys with tattoos.” He raises an eyebrow at the look Chanyeol is giving him. “What? You’re totally obvious.”

“Just do it,” Chanyeol says with a nod, “I’m ready.”

The next stop Chanyeol makes on his journey of self-discovery is the room directly next to Minseok’s. It looks pretty much the same as the one he was just in, minus the tattoo guns and ink. He watches Jongdae dig through drawers, pull out something that looks like an intimidating pair of tweezers; he turns back and gives a wide smile to Chanyeol who’s begun to sweat nervously. And then, he sees the needle.

“I don’t know if I can go through with this one you guys.” He looks at Minseok and Sohyun bunched together in the doorway, hoping for some reassurance that they won’t think he’s a big baby if he chickens out.

Jongdae turns, now wearing gloves, his bangs pushed back off his forehead, the tweezers in one hand and the needle in the other. “If you can sit over an hour for a tattoo, you can do this. It’ll be over quick, just a little pinch,” he grins, “Promise.”

Chanyeol gulps and closes his eyes tight, grips the arm rest as hard as he can. “Sohyun, please come hold my hand before I shit myself.”

Sohyun approaches him, sits in the small wooden stool Jongdae pushes over to her, and laces her fingers with Chanyeol’s. “You’re so cute when you’re terrified.”

“Thanks. I think.”

An hour later he’s much less drunk, probably sober enough to drive if he needed to, and he’s happy that the painful parts are over. He runs his tongue over the flat bit of metal inside his left cheek. It’s a weird feeling, foreign. He can feel the metal touching his teeth when his mouth is closed and it brings him the same joy that running his fingers over the wrapping around his right forearm does. He finally did it, and he’s never been more proud of himself.

He takes a step toward the mirror on the wall, wanting to see his piercing, but is stopped by Sohyun grabbing him by the shoulders.

“Oh no you don’t,” she says, turning him around and walking him forward, “You don’t get to look until everything is done.” She pushes him into a chair and shakes a plastic bag in his face. “It’s hair time!”

Chanyeol watches as Sohyun dumps the bag on the table beside him, four boxes tumbling out.

“Bleach,” she says, holding one box up to his face. “I also got pink, blue, and purple.” She smiles at the confusion on Chanyeol’s face. “I went to the store while you were getting tattooed. Now pick a color.”

He stares at the boxes, contemplating for a long time. It’s not permanent like the tattoo, but there are so many choices he feels overwhelmed. “Just…do all of them.”

“All of them?” Sohyun questions, raising an eyebrow.

Chanyeol shrugs, “Go big or go home, right?”

Another hour and a half later he’s finally finished. Tattooed, pierced, and dyed. He feels like a new man. He can’t wait to look in the mirror to see if he looks like a new man as well.

Sohyun comes up from behind him and puts her hands over his eyes. He tells her it’s not necessary, but she assures him that, yes, it most definitely is.

Someone peels the wrapping off his tattoo, and he feels himself being pushed forward. The anticipation is killing him. Sohyun pulls her hands away and, for a moment he’s too afraid to open his eyes. What if he looks stupid, or ugly? What if he hates everything about how he looks now and he wants to hide away for the rest of his life? He takes a deep breath and—

“Holy shit.”

Chanyeol doesn’t even get to look at himself, the sudden voice startles him and he whips around, coming face-to-face with a stunned Baekhyun. He can’t tell if Baekhyun is impressed or horrified, but his eyes are wide and his mouth is hanging half open; he’s frozen in the doorway with his phone still lit up in his hand. They just stare at each other.

He watches Baekhyun’s eyes move from his hair, to his piercing, then down to his tattoo and back up to meet his eyes. He wonders what he looks like right now, if Baekhyun likes it, if he thinks he looks good like this.

“You look…”

Chanyeol is holding his breath, heart pounding anxiously, waiting for Baekhyun to finish his sentence.

“Good?” Minseok says.

“Amazing?” Jongdae tries.

“Sexy?” Sohyun supplies.

“I was gonna say weird,” Baekhyun says, making his way past Chanyeol and stepping up behind the counter.

Chanyeol turns and gapes at Baekhyun who's looking down, paying his phone more attention than him.

“Weird?” Chanyeol says; he’s moments away from tears.

He turns and finally looks at himself in the mirror and what he sees makes him smile. He loves his piercing, how his dimple forms around the small, jeweled stud. His tattoo is perfect; he has to remember to thank Minseok and tell him how amazingly talented he is. His hair is all pastel colors, pink fading into purple that fades into blue. Sohyun even left a small blonde spot under his bangs at the front. He looks like a frosted cupcake. Looking at his hair now he can’t believe he was ever worried about dying it.

Now he’s extremely annoyed that Baekhyun thinks he looks weird. He glares, watching Baekhyun blow a bubble with his gum as he leans casually against the glass display case. “I don’t look weird,” he protests.

Baekhyun looks up from his phone slowly, blows another bubble. “Sure you do. You look like cotton candy,” he says with a crooked smile, patting at the top of his head with his hand.

“Bet you’d really love to eat him now,” Minseok says; Chanyeol can hear his chuckle and the sound of Jongdae, most likely, giving Minseok a high five.

Baekhyun’s attention is back on his phone; he’s got his forearms resting on the glass as he types away. He doesn’t look up, but he mumbles offhandedly, “Eat him out, maybe.”

There’s a gasp, and Baekhyun’s phone slips from his hands, landing on the counter with a loud noise. He still doesn’t look up, but his cheeks burn red and his mouth is hanging open.

“Meant to say that in your head, huh?” Jongdae says, trying his best to keep his chuckling to a minimum. Sohyun and Minseok both ‘ooh’ in sync.

“I’m gonna fire you,” Baekhyun snaps, finally looking up just so he can give a death glare to Jongdae. His eyes meet Chanyeol’s by accident and he’s unable to look away, the baker’s eyes are wide, his eyebrows raised, and he just looks so fucking cute when he’s confused.

“Did you just say…did he…” Chanyeol turns his head, wanting to ask Sohyun if he’d heard Baekhyun right, but there’s no one else there; they abandoned him. He gulps; he’s alone with Baekhyun. “Uh…”

“Don’t,” Baekhyun says, raising a hand in the air, “Just…don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“I said don’t!”

There’s a long, awkward silence between them. Chanyeol watches Baekhyun look everywhere but at him, and he just wants to know what the hell is going on? Does Baekhyun like him? Is this a joke? Is Baekhyun drunk and just saying stupid, meaningless things? Chanyeol is so close to an anxiety attack it’s not even funny. The curious expression on his face is beginning to border hurt when Baekhyun finally says something.

“Shit!” Baekhyun sighs and rolls his eyes. “God, you look really fucking good.” He cringes at himself and whines; it makes Chanyeol smile to see Baekhyun acting this way. “I walked in and saw you and I wasn’t expecting you to look like…” he motions to Chanyeol with one hand, “That. Like, because… wow.”

Chanyeol doesn’t move; he probably couldn’t even if he tried. He’s in shock. He thinks about how embarrassing it would be if he just passed out and Baekhyun had to call an ambulance for him. Is this real life? It has to be a dream.

“Do…are…did you…” Chanyeol literally can’t form a sentence. He sounds like an actual idiot right now. He takes a deep breath and clears his throat, preparing himself to ask Baekhyun the thousands of questions spinning around in his head. “I…” The English language escapes him.

Luckily for him, Baekhyun isn’t having as much trouble.

All of Chanyeol’s questions are answered by three quick strides across the room, by a hand that touches his check just beside his piercing and slides around to tug at his hair. He gets answers in Baekhyun’s lips pressing into his, parting around and sucking on his bottom lip. He gasps; he feels like he’s floating and he swears he’s not going to cry over how perfectly soft Baekhyun’s lips are, or the way Baekhyun’s other hand latches onto his waist. He drowns out the sound of the radio playing softly in the background so that he can fully appreciate the slide of Baekhyun’s tongue against his and the soft little grunt that comes with it. He can feel the second Baekhyun raises himself up on his tiptoes to push into the kiss.

Much too soon, Baekhyun pulls back, but the look he gives up at Chanyeol is well worth it. He’s never seen a smile quite like this on Baekhyun’s face, at least, not aimed at him anyway; it makes his heart pound.

Baekhyun bites into his bottom lip and his eyes narrow as his smile widens. “Fuck, I’ve wanted to do that for a stupid amount of time.”

Chanyeol’s brain stops and rewinds, plays back the last year.

“You liked me this entire time?”

Baekhyun looks down, gets this cute, shy smile that Chanyeol doesn’t think he could have ever imagined on him. “Well, not the entire time.” He looks back up to Chanyeol. “I legit hated you for a while.”

There’s a moment of silence between them, spent just looking at each other; Baekhyun’s eyes keep wandering from Chanyeol’s hair down to his tattoo.

“You’re seriously too hot.” He drags the tip of his index finger carefully around the little cupcake, still red and sore, tattooed into Chanyeol’s forearm.

“When did you stop hating me?” Chanyeol needs to know, and fast, because the feeling of Baekhyun’s finger gently grazing his skin is distracting.

Baekhyun tugs Chanyeol down by the shirt, keeping their lips just inches apart. “When I realized how much I liked pissing you off with the thermostat.” He brings their lips together again and it’s much better than the first kiss. “The driving factor was how fucking fine you looked when you were mad.” They kiss again and Baekhyun wraps himself around Chanyeol, getting aggressive with his actions. “Cookies helped too.”

“Wait!” Chanyeol leans back and glares, “You were purposely messing with the thermostat just to piss me off?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah totally.” He laughs when Chanyeol pushes out of his arms and takes a step back, trying to look angry. “I couldn’t care less about the temperature. I know it wasn’t really a good plan, but it worked, didn’t it?” Baekhyun asks, voice low as he steps forward and grabs Chanyeol’s hip. “Didn’t it?”

Chanyeol flusters, but tries his best to hide it from Baekhyun by pursing his lips and looking away. “Maybe. I don’t know.” He shrugs. A hand slides up under Chanyeol’s shirt; he can feel fingers walking up his torso, kneading the flesh over his ribs.

“Liar,” Baekhyun whispers against Chanyeol’s lips, and then they’re kissing again.

Chanyeol could write a novel on kissing Baekhyun.

After the few kisses in the tattoo shop, things escalate quickly. They eventually end up in Baekhyun’s apartment, after a short pit stop on the stairs when Chanyeol trips going up backwards and Baekhyun straddles him to lick into his mouth.

On the couch Baekhyun is lively, and handsy, and seems to enjoy giggling into Chanyeol’s mouth. He’s seated in Chanyeol’s lap once again, knees planted into the couch on either side of Chanyeol’s thighs. Baekhyun seems ready to start stripping clothes off, and Chanyeol is still trying to comprehend the feeling of Baekhyun’s lips against his own.

Chanyeol is overwhelmed by the hands groping at him, intimidated by how sure of himself Baekhyun appears. He doesn’t know if he should slow down or speed up, or what Baekhyun even likes. So, he panics; he pulls out of the kiss with a loud, wet smacking sound. He takes time to catch his breath as he looks into Baekhyun’s eyes, watches his lips curl into a playful smirk.

“This is—” Baekhyun begins mouthing at Chanyeol’s neck, stopping him mid-sentence. Chanyeol exhales a slow, heavy breath, and his eyes close. “A bit fast,” he finally finishes, and he grabs at Baekhyun’s shoulders to push him back. “I think…we should go on a date first?” He doesn’t mean it to come off as a question, but even he’s not sure why he stopped Baekhyun from sucking on his neck.

“You really want me to stop so we can go on a date before we have sex?” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and Chanyeol knows it’s the one he uses when he’s judging someone.

“W-we’re having sex?”

Baekhyun scoffs and stands, leaving Chanyeol’s lap cold and empty. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually get hard on someone’s lap if I’m not planning on fucking them.”

Chanyeol puffs his cheeks out, trying not to be awkward, but he knows he is. He was still trying to process the fact that Baekhyun was expecting sex, and now he also has to deal with knowing Baekhyun is hard right now. His eyes travel downward and he curses himself for looking, because now he won’t be able to think of anything other than the bulge in Baekhyun’s jeans.

“We…we can totally have sex. If that’s what you want.” He reaches out to grab Baekhyun’s wrist and pulls him closer, grabs his hips and situates him on his lap again.

Baekhyun’s arms loop around Chanyeol’s neck; he uses that leverage to pull himself forward, pressing their chests together. He smirks. “Is that what you want?”

The room is eerily silent. Baekhyun is so close Chanyeol can’t see anything in his line of sight but him. In his hands Baekhyun’s hips feel solid, his thighs soft; his eyes have a mischievous glint, but are also filled with curiosity as he waits for Chanyeol to speak. Baekhyun rocks his hips just enough to have Chanyeol gasping, enough to show him he’s getting impatient.

“What do you want?” Baekhyun whispers, lips pressed against Chanyeol’s ear.

Chanyeol’s throat feels tight when he swallows; the tone of Baekhyun’s voice causes him to let out a sudden, stuttered exhale. “You,” Chanyeol whispers back, “I want you.”

When Chanyeol wakes up he thinks he’s dreaming. He can’t figure out why Sohyun and Minseok and Jongdae would be standing at the foot of Baekhyun’s bed staring at him. He takes in a deep breath that turns into a yawn mid-way through, and stretches his arms up above his head.

“Are you guys really here, or am I dreaming?”

“We’re really here,” Minseok says with a smile that worries Chanyeol.

“And, you’re really naked,” Jongdae adds, pointing a finger at the bed.

Chanyeol looks down at himself and wants to die. He absolutely is naked, not even socks on his feet; he feels the slightest bit better when he looks left and sees Baekhyun just as naked, but even more exposed, arms and legs all spread out. The piercing he’d found out Baekhyun has when he slipped his pants off last night gleams in the light, and Chanyeol almost laughs.

“He always sleeps like a starfish,” Minseok says, “But it’s kinda disturbing without clothes on.”

“I’m sorry, they made me come in with them,” Sohyun blurts, peeking at Chanyeol through her fingers spread over her eyes. “I told them not to in the first place, but they don’t listen.”

No one speaks as Chanyeol grabs the sheet balled up between himself and Baekhyun. He covers up and sits forward, gives a look over to Baekhyun as he contemplates whether or not to cover him as well. He decides against it; Baekhyun looks really, really good naked.

Baekhyun’s skin is covered in tattoos, more so than Chanyeol thought. The tattoos on his chest and stomach wrap around to cover his back. Colorful flowers wrap around his left leg like a vine; it’s beautiful. Chanyeol gasped last night when Baekhyun first slid his jeans down. On his right leg, after closer inspection, Chanyeol found a detailed map of New York City high on Baekhyun’s inner thigh that fades into a map of Chicago streets. Baekhyun told him, between kisses to Chanyeol’s stomach, that he’s from New York so he has to represent. He’s got the name of his tattoo shop, CBX, tattooed somewhere in the mix, and on his right calf is an ultra-realistic Milky Way galaxy; home, Baekhyun said, and then proceeded to deep throat him.

He’s totally jealous of Baekhyun’s tattoos. And that dick piercing, holy shit he so didn’t expect that.

When Chanyeol is ready to tell everyone to get out a hand slaps over his open mouth. Baekhyun groans and turns his head to look at Chanyeol with a smile; he either doesn’t know or just doesn’t care that there is a room full of people looking at him naked and spread out. But then, his smile turns into a glare and he snaps his head toward the door. “Get the fuck out.”

“But Baek we just—”

“Now,” Baekhyun cuts Jongdae off, “Get out!”

Sohyun is already gone before Minseok and Jongdae leave, snickering to themselves because ‘It’s about time you guys stopped arguing and started fucking’.

Baekhyun rips the sheets away from Chanyeol with almost no resistance, but he does get a rather long whine and a childish pout. He situates himself between Chanyeol’s spread legs and dips his head down, licking up along his happy trail and then circling his belly button. The warm breath on his skin makes Chanyeol groan, and he tries to push Baekhyun away.

“You should let Dae pierce your belly button,” Baekhyun comments quickly before dipping his tongue in, “You’d look so good with it done.”

“Y-yeah?” Chanyeol tries his best to keep his cool; having Baekhyun all over him is still surreal, even if he did have the best sex of his life last night. “You think so?”

“Mmh,” Baekhyun hums, lips closed and pressed against Chanyeol’s stomach. “I know so.” He drags his lips, slowly, across Chanyeol’s skin, back to his belly button, and bites right where a piercing would go. Chanyeol gasps and pushes himself against Baekhyun’s face, whines at the dull pain.

Baekhyun chuckles at Chanyeol’s reaction before sitting up and climbing over his leg to sit beside him. “So, what are the chances of getting you to make me something for breakfast?” He teases a fingertip over Chanyeol’s bare thigh and hums, appreciating how smooth his skin is. “I’m thinking more of those scones.”

Chanyeol gets up and gets dressed without answering. He slips a shirt over his head, steps into his underwear and jeans, and finally, turns to Baekhyun, still sitting naked on his bed. “You’re using me for sex and free baked goods, aren’t you?”

Baekhyun tilts his head and leans back on his elbows. “Would it really be so bad?” He rubs his palm against his stomach, seductively remind Chanyeol that he’s hungry. “Make me scones every morning and I’ll suck your dick so good you’ll cry.”

Chanyeol is silent for a long time, staring at Baekhyun, contemplating. His eyes narrow, “Get rid of your mullet and I’ll think about it.”

Baekhyun scoffs, “Don’t bad mouth my hair, how dare you?” He hops off the bed and stops in front of Chanyeol with a hand on his chest. He looks Chanyeol up and down and hums, and then turns to press his bare ass into Chanyeol’s crotch. “I keep the mullet; you make me scones and I’ll let you fuck me next time.”

This offer puts Chanyeol into motion immediately. He doesn’t even put his shoes on just whips the door open and dashes out.

“And no blueberries!” Baekhyun shouts as Chanyeol is hurrying down the stairs, “I don’t want none of that passive aggressive shit!” He still doesn’t know what the hell that means, but he enjoys the way Chanyeol laughs.

Chanyeol doesn’t know how he got to this point, trading scones for sex, but he’s not complaining. He’ll bake just about anything if it means seeing that cute, cheesy, totally out of character smile on Baekhyun’s face. He’s a little disappointed in his bargaining skills, but he’ll just have to learn to love the mullet.