Archive of Our Own

Some days, working at the ad agency was a thankless job. Today was such a day. Jongdae trudged into the kitchen for an afternoon snack after finally escaping from a downright painful conversation with the project manager for the digital campaign he was working on.

"You look rough."

Jongdae glanced up from his extremely healthy snack of hot Cheetos, thumb and index finger already bright orange. He whined the moment he spotted Junmyeon and rushed up to him, ignoring how Junmyeon tried to squirm away from his Cheeto-dusted hand. "Hyung, why aren't you the project manager on my account?"

Junmyeon twisted out of Jongdae's grasp. "Changmin cornered you again?"

"How many times do I have to tell him that I did try my best to stop the client from requesting more changes last minute? I'm not out here purposely trying to make people's lives miserable."

"You know he's just stressed because he's being pressured to deliver all these projects by end of quarter."

But everyone was being pressured to deliver too many projects by end of quarter. Jongdae usually wouldn't mind — he understood that this was just how things went, that there were certain goals for the year they needed to track again. In fact, if this had been any other weekend, Jongdae would have welcomed the opportunity to work some overtime hours since there was no reason to turn away extra cash.

Except this was the one weekend where Jongdae had made plans he really, really needed to keep.

"Baekhyun's been dying to go to this avant garde exhibition at some art gallery for weeks and this weekend is the only time it'll be on display in Seoul. I promised I'd go with him because no one else we know has the patience for pretentious abstract thinkpieces, but Changmin wouldn't listen."

"That sucks," Junmyeon offered unhelpfully.

Jongdae dropped his empty Cheetos bag into the trash and sighed. "I mean, he won't be mad or anything," he said, pushing his hair back and holding it there, groaning in irritation. "It's just — these projects have been on our ass for weeks, you know? I haven't been a great boyfriend lately in terms of being around."

Junmyeon patted Jongdae's arm. "Persevere just for a couple more weeks. Tell them you'll work the weekend, but only if they give you extra time off next month."

That wasn't such a terrible idea. Jongdae looked at his phone. He had ten minutes to catch Changmin before the next meeting. "Thanks, hyung. I'll try that."

Even if the trade-off worked out, Jongdae still dreaded how many sexual favors Baekhyun was going to get out of him for having to renege on their plans. Please just no handcuffs, he hoped.

+

Jongdae stepped gingerly into the kitchen, eyes barely open. His hair was surely a mess, but he hadn't bothered to check yet. He navigated by muscle memory to the coffee pot.

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were lounging on the bench of their breakfast nook, a blanket shared across their laps. Chanyeol immediately laughed when he saw Jongdae, though Kyungsoo had the decency to hide his amusement behind a sip of coffee.

"Sorry, did you and Baekhyun have sex, or did you get sucked into a tornado?" Chanyeol asked.

"Shut up," Jongdae croaked, dropping into the seat across from them. He pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. Like he predicted, Baekhyun wasn't all that upset when Jongdae confessed he had to work another weekend, but in return, Jongdae allowed Baekhyun to manhandle him late into the night. At the time, he didn't regret being bent to the limits of his flexibility because sleeping with Baekhyun was always so good, but now he definitely felt like he got shoved through a wringer, all sorts of muscles aching he didn't even know he had. "You two have to fuck him for the next month. That's at least how long I need to recover."

"You'll be back in a week tops," came Baekhyun's too bright, too cheery, and mostly too goddamn smug voice from behind Jongdae.

"Die," Jongdae said and inhaled his coffee. He wanted to head into the office by ten, but at this rate noon would be impressive enough.

"Good morning to you too, baby," Baekhyun said, sliding into the seat next to Jongdae. He leaned his face in close and played with the back of Jongdae's hair until Jongdae begrudgingly turned toward him for a kiss. It was impossible to even be fake angry at Baekhyun.

Chanyeol got up and made some toast for Jongdae, smearing a gratuitous amount of the orange marmalade butter Kyungsoo had made a couple days ago over it. Jongdae munched on his light breakfast while lazily playing footsie with Kyungsoo under the table, his head now having gravitated to Baekhyun's shoulder.

Most people, if they knew, would probably think it weird and unnatural for Jongdae to have three boyfriends. But moments like these, everything quiet and calm between them, fitting together like perfect puzzle pieces, were Jongdae's favorite and he really couldn't imagine it being any other way.

+

When Jongdae's overtime paycheck came in, he texted Kyungsoo that he was picking up galbi for dinner. He and Kyungsoo were the only ones trusted to work the grill after Chanyeol almost caught his shirt on fire a few months ago.

It wasn't that rare for them to eat expensively, since splitting living costs between four people meant quite a bit of spending money leftover. Jongdae wasn't earning minimum wage by any means, but still was paid the least out of all of them with his job as a copywriter. Baekhyun was a hotshot creative director at another agency, Kyungsoo wrote a series of fairly well-known children's books, and Chanyeol was an editor with a knack for finding bestselling novels. Despite Jongdae's protests, he got defeated three to one when they decided on this high-rise apartment right between Apgujeong and Cheongdam and all of them refused to let Jongdae pay rent. But at the end of the day, even if his boyfriends were stubborn, rich jerks sometimes, if he wanted to treat them to expensive cuts of beef using his own hard-earned money, they weren't allowed to stop him. He'd pick this hill to die on, if he had to.

Jongdae had just slid on a pair of slippers with tabby faces across the top (an annoying joke gift from Baekhyun "because you look like a kitty when you smile", but Jongdae wore them all the time anyway) when Kyungsoo popped around the corner, dressed in one of his many sets of grey sweats.

Kyungsoo took the grocery bag from Jongdae at the same time he leaned in to brush their lips together. "How was work?" he askedsaid, padding into the kitchen to place the meat in the fridge until Baekhyun and Chanyeol got home.

"Amazing now that I don't have project managers breathing down my neck about deadlines," Jongdae said, hugging Kyungsoo from behind. Kyungsoo was always the warmest and softest of all of them. Chanyeol was good for body heat too, but only when they took ski trips to Japan and spent their evenings in front of a fireplace, the snow outside falling nonstop. Otherwise, he was a furnace and left Jongdae uncomfortably sweaty when he just wanted to relax. Kyungsoo, though, was just the right amount of cozy. The kind that made Jongdae want to nuzzle his face against Kyungsoo's back and sigh softly in utter content. Which he did now and Kyungsoo indulged him for a few minutes, rubbing Jongdae's arms absently.

"How was your day?" Jongdae said, tucking his chin over Kyungsoo's shoulder. "When are you supposed to get your drafts to Minseok?"

"Not until end of next week. I only have a few pages left to storyboard."

Minseok was Kyungsoo's editor. That title used to belong to Chanyeol, but that all ended when he started to become romantically interested in Kyungsoo and everyone knew mixing personal and professional would only end in disaster. So Chanyeol had passed Kyungsoo's projects onto Minseok and immediately asked Kyungsoo out on a date the next day.

Chanyeol still liked to talk about how cute Kyungsoo had looked at that dinner, a little nervous and constantly adjusting his glasses, at least until Kyungsoo shut him up with a kiss. It was such an unnecessarily long and inefficient way to get a kiss. Jongdae had other methods.

"So that means you have lots of time right now to come snuggle on the couch and make our boyfriends jealous when they discover how much fun we're having without them."

Kyungsoo laughed, low and rumbly, and Jongdae could feel it against his chest. "When you frame it like that."

That's how Jongdae and Kyungsoo found themselves ten minutes later, pressed together as if their couch didn't wrap around half the room and wasn’t big enough to fit ten people. Kyungsoo was on his side, pinned against the backrest, and Jongdae laid on his back with Kyungsoo's hand on his waist. Jongdae listened to Kyungsoo describe the plot of his latest draft, the adventures of two cocker spaniel puppies who befriend a great dane puppy and help him get used to his awkward, long legs.

"Definitely can't tell who you're using as inspiration for that."

"Be quiet," Kyungsoo said with a heavy amount of fondness. "I think I'll make it into a series. Puppies who raid the pantry and get stomach aches and a lesson about how you shouldn't eat too much unhealthy food."

"Never heard of such a thing."

Kyungsoo dug his knuckles into Jongdae's scalp. Instead of trying to escape, Jongdae simply curled up closer and nosed at Kyungsoo's neck.

Half an hour later, Baekhyun and Chanyeol happened to arrive home at the same time. Jongdae almost didn't notice their presence, shirt shoved up to his chest, jeans somewhere on the floor, and his underwear halfway down his legs, until Kyungsoo paused his hand and said, "Why are you just standing there staring? He's close if you want to see him come."

It was the fastest Jongdae had ever seen them move. He'd find it hilarious later. For now, he gave himself into Kyungsoo's care, squeezing the hand which slipped into his — Baekhyun's, with delicate, thin fingers and soft palm — as he tumbled over the edge.

+

"Did you ever ask for that extra vacation time?"

Jongdae looked up from his lunch of leftovers from the night before. They had ordered pizza, chicken, and jjajamyeon. The visuals weren't great, but it still tasted fine, and watching Junmyeon's face scrunch up in thinly veiled disgust when he dipped the pizza into the noodle sauce was an added bonus.

"Oh, yeah, and they actually gave me some," Jongdae said, at least swallowing before speaking. "Thanks for the suggestion, by the way. I would've never thought to negotiate for that."

Junmyeon finished off the rest of his bento box from the convenience store. Jongdae liked to nag him for getting lunch from there so often, but he'd save it for a day when he wasn't eating the unhealthiest combination of foods. "You already have a trip planned?"

"Not really, I'm waiting to see when Baekhyun can take some time off. We might just do a staycation, honestly." They already had their annual fancy trip planned anyway. This year they'd head over to the Maldives and spend a full week in a 2-bedroom villa. Baekhyun made sure to book one with a hammock right over the water. It won't fit all four of them, but Jongdae was pretty sure Baekhyun and Chanyeol would want to make them try anyway. "Didn't you have something coming up though?"

"I can't believe you remembered."

"I'm not a project manager. I can remember things without writing them down."

Junmyeon pelted a balled up napkin at Jongdae's face, but it was too light and fell into Jongdae's noodles. That almost had the same effect. "Sehun and I are spending a long weekend in Kyoto this weekend."

"I haven't seen Sehun lately," Jongdae said, finishing his pizza slice except for the crust. "We should go out to dinner again. Baekhyun asks about him sometimes."

"Maybe," said Junmyeon, getting up to toss away his trash. "Sehun and Baekhyun got along a little too well." Which Junmyeon wasn't wrong about, but Baekhyun just had that way with people. Jongdae couldn't remember a single time Baekhyun wasn't able to eventually sway someone in his favor. People liked Jongdae too, but Baekhyun always had a different sort of charm.

It's what had pulled Jongdae in too. He had been dragged to a design conference two years ago and not even a drink in, Jongdae had been accosted by Baekhyun near the hors d'oeuvres and subjected to an hour of Baekhyun tipsily complimenting his face. Which had been significantly less creepy in practice than when Jongdae actually tells the story. It must have been, because Jongdae easily followed Baekhyun out of the conference when Baekhyun suggested they ditch. They had spent the evening walking along the river looking out of place in their suits and there was already plans for a second date before they parted ways at the end of the night.

"Sehun adores you," Jongdae said, tearing a chicken wing in half. "Baekhyun just likes cute, tall things with fluffy hair." And there was already one of those at home.

"Sure, let's grab dinner when Sehun and I are back. He's been stressing out lately trying to get something done for school."

That's right. Sehun was getting his doctorate in civil engineering. "Are those students still trying to hit on him during class?"

"Yes and no," Junmyeon said, leaning against the counter. "It's a new quarter so he has a new class, but that just means a new flock of 18 year olds fawning at him."

Jongdae pointed a stripped clean bone in Junmyeon's direction. "And you're worried about Baekhyun."

"Baekhyun isn't a newly legal teenager who subsists on banana milk and chips and spends every free moment playing video games."

"I don't think you understand that's almost exactly who Baekhyun is."

Junmyeon left after a promise to check Sehun's schedule so they could set a date for dinner. Jongdae would hear from him sooner or later, because there actually was a reason why Junmyeon was such a good project manager. He really didn't ever forget anything.

Jongdae finished his lunch and opened his phone, sending off a text into their group chat: staycation next week?

sure
yeah! let me tell minseok.
i think u mean SEX-CATION

Jongdae didn't acknowledge Baekhyun's statement and went to tell his boss the days he was going to take off. But his silence also meant Baekhyun wasn't wrong. They'd figure it out.

+

"So," Jongdae said at dinner over the weekend. This time Baekhyun was the one curled up in Chanyeol's lap. Weekends were the only time Baekhyun seemed to slow down and only because the rest of them forced him to. It only took a little bit of effort, but it left Baekhyun quiet and lazy, almost docile, like a sleepy puppy who'd drift off if someone just reached over and scratched his tummy.

Okay, Jongdae supposed he could see where Kyungsoo's new series was coming from.

"I don't actually want to be cooped up at home for four days," Jongdae continued. "It's been a while since we've done our date rotations."

The rotations were just them going on dates with each other, spending time one on one instead of always as a group. Jongdae looped his arm around Kyungsoo's. "Didn't you say there's some fancy pants movie you wanted to see last week?"

"You don't have to go with just because I want to see it."

"Yeah, I do," Jongdae said, matter of fact. "That's the whole point of dating and liking someone."

Kyungsoo smiled softly and squeezes Jongdae's hand. "All right. I'll find out where it's playing."

"And you," Jongdae said, pointing a breadstick in Chanyeol's direction. "Junmyeon was telling me about a new restaurant that opened in Sinchon that he said I'd probably like."

"Why do you do what Kyungsoo wants, but I have to do what you want?" Chanyeol said, pouting.

Jongdae shrugged. "If you don't want to go have steak, that's fine."

"Hold on, don't put words in my mouth."

Jongdae's smile was smug. "I'll call and make a reservation then."

Baekhyun appeared from where he had his face smushed into the crook of Chanyeol's shoulder. "Kyungsoo and Chanyeol can take you out. We're staying in."

"You're still on sexile," Jongdae said and violently tore his breadstick in half.

"You were only sore for like, two days!"

The arguing meant nothing. They all knew staying in bed was exactly what Jongdae would end up doing with Baekhyun. Whether they'd be having sex for most of it was a separate question. Usually, Baekhyun was so busy that he'd come home, have dinner, maybe watch an episode of something with Kyungsoo or play a game with Chanyeol, then fall into bed exhausted. So, yeah, the most appealing thing to Jongdae was to just sleep in with Baekhyun curled up against him and stay in bed talking and kissing each other with their awful coffee breath.

"Don't worry," Chanyeol said, hand slipping under Baekhyun's shirt to rub at his stomach. "Jongdae won't actually ignore you."

Baekhyun made a content noise and closed his eyes. Jongdae helped Kyungsoo clear the table, then maneuvered them all to the couch where he settled in behind Baekhyun. "Maybe I can lift your sexile for a day, since you're cute."

It was impossible for all of them to miss Baekhyun's bright smile.

+

It was raining lightly when Jongdae woke up on the day he was supposed to spend with Kyungsoo, which was great since they added plans to have a late lunch at the small cafe down the street before heading to the theater. Kyungsoo always suited this lightly overcast weather.

Kyungsoo and he ended up sharing a bed last night after Baekhyun spent an hour after dinner teasing Chanyeol until the guy was a giant tightly wound ball of sexual frustration and both he and Kyungsoo yelled at them to go away and fuck already. It was actually a bit annoying in the way only Baekhyun and Chanyeol could manage, distracting others from watching a show by fondling your neighbor through his pants, but their sour mood dissipated when they washed up for bed and gave each other lazy blowjobs before falling asleep, even with Chanyeol grunting and groaning on the other side of the wall.

Kyungsoo was still dozing next to him, red imprints of the sheets on his cheek which Jongdae rubbed at gently like he could erase them. They stayed, but Kyungsoo's eyes fluttered a few times and his arm wound tighter around Jongdae's waist.

"Sleep well?" Jongdae said, messing up Kyungsoo's hair more until it resembled the aftermath of a cyclone. Kyungsoo leaned into it.

"I did after Chanyeol stopped sounding like he was starring in a bad porno." Kyungsoo looked behind him at the clock. "It's barely nine."

"I know, morning person causing trouble again," Jongdae said and pulled Kyungsoo back in. "Sleep a little more." He knew Kyungsoo had some recent late nights to get his drafts to Minseok on time.

"Sometimes I'm borderline creeped out by you watching us sleep."

"Why only borderline?"

"I know you only do it because you think we don't rest enough and you think if you don't chaperone we'd just be up all the time.

Which they would and Jongdae didn't know why Kyungsoo pretended like they weren't a house full of workaholics. He didn't realize he was being obvious about his concern though. "We don't have to leave the house until noon," he said, tugging the blankets higher. The warmth made him feel sleepy again too. "Get some more shuteye in before dumb and dumber wake up."

"You're always the smartest one after me," Kyungsoo said. Under the sheets, his hand wedged its way between them to play with Jongdae's happy trail.

They didn't make it out of bed for another two hours, but not because they fell back asleep.

+

The cafe was small and tucked away in a narrow alleyway decorated with lights. There were only six tables and once all filled, everyone was almost elbow to elbow. Only Jongdae and Kyungsoo ever came here. It was a quiet place and sure, Jongdae could easily go up against Baekhyun and Chanyeol for loudest, most annoying human being, but when he was with Kyungsoo he actually knew how to dial it back and keep it that way. The other two couldn't be trusted and so weren't allowed to know about this place.

Which was fine. It was nice for this be his and Kyungsoo's thing.

And honestly, it was easy for Jongdae to stay quiet when he was with Kyungsoo. He preferred to listen to Kyungsoo talk in his low, smooth tones about anything and everything. Today, over two perfectly prepared orders of eggs benedict, it was about what Kyungsoo wanted to do after he finished his current set of projects. For a few months now, he'd been considering temporarily breaking away from children's books and perhaps writing a novel.

"If you have an idea, you should definitely do it," Jongdae said, stealing one of Kyungsoo's home fries. His order had come with a salad. "It's going to be great no matter what you write."

Kyungsoo gave him a small smile. "We're dating, I think you have to say that to me."

"Excuse me." Jongdae sat back, feigning slight offense. "You know I'm honest with all my opinions."

Shrugging, Kyungsoo slid more potatoes onto Jongdae's plate. "I do know. You don't hold back when you chew Baekhyun out for not using coasters around the house."

"Coasters exist for a reason and I put them right there on the table!"

Kyungsoo laughed and trapped Jongdae's foot between his under the table. "I'll help yell at him next time."

They swapped and Jongdae spoke about the projects he was assigned to at work, how he had to find a way to make dryer sheets and vitamin supplements seem exciting. "Honestly, it was better when I had to write about bras."

"Was that last summer?"

"Wow, you remember?"

"You kept using the words 'support' and 'coverage' at home."

Jongdae sometimes wasn't the best at separating work and personal life. "And the ad campaign increased that company's revenue by 20% and I got a cool bonus which I used to buy you those fucking expensive but amazing pens you always use, so I think we can all say it was worth it."

Kyungsoo finished his eggs benedict and rested both arms on the tabletop. The look on his face was openly fond and he stared at Jongdae for a few drawn out seconds, until Jongdae couldn't stand it and paused mid-chew to tell him to stop.

"What are you even thinking about?" Jongdae whined.

"Just glad my past self said yes to Chanyeol's ridiculous proposal."

It was awful when Kyungsoo did this. When Baekhyun and Chanyeol decided to be cheesy, it was annoying and awkward and Jongdae had no problems telling them to shut up. But when Kyungsoo did it, it was always so natural and genuine and always turned Jongdae into a flustered mess. And Jongdae sucked at recovering from being a flustered mess.

"Finish your food," Jongdae said, pointing his knife at what was basically a leftover crumb on Kyungsoo's plate from the english muffins.

At the very least, Kyungsoo wasn't the type to tease Jongdae when he was already down.

+

The rain let down enough for them to walk to the theater. Jongdae loved the smell of the air right after, that faint metallic note and how everything just felt cleaner. In his extra cheerful mood, he latched his arm around Kyungsoo's and hummed under his breath, pointing across the street to a cute dog as they passed by.

"We could still go see something you like."

"Stop saying that." Jongdae pinched Kyungsoo's wrist lightly, not even enough for Kyungsoo to flinch. "I said this is what I wanted to do."

"It's your staycation."

"It's our staycation."

Kyungsoo laughed quietly and squeezed Jongdae's hand. "Okay, all right."

They weren't hungry at all, but bought a soda and popcorn to share anyway. While waiting for previews to start, they mused quietly about what Chanyeol and Baekhyun might be up to at home.

"It probably involves handcuffs," Jongdae suggested.

"Letting them read the 50 Shades of Gray wiki article was a mistake."

Jongdae pulled the armrest out of the way once the lights dimmed and cozied up to Kyungsoo, dropping his head onto Kyungsoo's shoulder. The movie wasn't Jongdae's usual style, but it kept his interest enough. During the slower parts, he absently played with Kyungsoo's hand, linking and unlinking their fingers until Kyungsoo grabbed hold of him and refused to let go.

As the credits rolled, Jongdae stretched his arms over his head. "Did you like it?" he said, looking over at Kyungsoo, who nodded.

"Thanks for seeing it with me."

"It's too bad we didn't get a chance to make out," Jongdae joked.

"Next time," Kyungsoo said with a soft smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

There was just something about today that made Kyungsoo more endearing than usual. Maybe it was just because they hadn't spent time alone like this in a while, all of them busy at work and going at 100 miles an hour and now that they've slowed down, it highlighted the small things Jongdae missed. Right now, it was Kyungsoo's understated humor, a contrast against the crude noise which usually filled up the apartment from the other three.

Jongdae groaned and stood up. "Come on, you're really cute to me right now and we need to leave before I do something which embarrasses us both."

The way Kyungsoo laughed only made Jongdae usher them out faster.

+

They arrived back at the apartment in time for dinner to be delivered. Chanyeol dug out the portable stove and a pot while Jongdae and Kyungsoo unpacked the stew to be reheated. Baekhyun portioned out rice that had been made fresh because it was always better than what came from the restaurant and it wasn't a big deal to make.

With the stew bubbling away, Jongdae spooned some into Kyungsoo's bowl before serving himself.

Across the table, Chanyeol pouted. "You go on one date with the guy and now you're playing favorites."

"Stop being jealous," Jongdae said, prodding Chanyeol's leg under the table with his foot. "You act like tomorrow isn't your turn."

"We only have a dinner date," Chanyeol mumbles around his chopsticks. "You spent all day with Kyungsoo."

"Are you actually jealous?" Jongdae laughed a little. He leaned over and placed a piece of meat on Chanyeol's spoon, then looked at Baekhyun. "Do you want some attention too?"

"Well, if you're offering," Baekhyun says, opening his mouth for Jongdae to feed him directly.

Kyungsoo's arm slipped around Jongdae's waist high enough that the other two could see. "We thought you two would spend the day going at it like rabbits," he said. "Did you actually mope around all day because we weren't here?"

"No," Chanyeol said, but it was unconvincing.

"You agreed to the dates," Kyungsoo said, gentle instead of accusatory. "I thought you were looking forward to ours this weekend."

"I am," Chanyeol was quick to say, worrying his lip some more. "Ignore me, I'm just being a brat."

"You're not," Jongdae said, walking around the table to drape his arms over Chanyeol's broad shoulders from behind as he placed a wet, smacking kiss on Chanyeol's face. "You're a big softie, is what you are."

Rubbing his cheek, Chanyeol didn't object to being called out.

"Do you want to take a raincheck on the dates and spend the rest of the weekend together, all of us?" Kyungsoo said, looking at Baekhyun too. Even if Baekhyun was staying quiet, he probably moped just as much as Chanyeol today.

"No," Chanyeol sighed, hands curled around Jongdae's wrists. "I wasn't lying when I said I'm looking forward to our plans. Just, I don't know."

Jongdae patted Chanyeol's chest. "Let's just eat, then we can cuddle off our food coma." He nudged Baekhyun's shoulder. "Switch places with me."

Baekhyun all too happily jumped up to go sit next to Kyungsoo and Jongdae took his vacated spot, sitting as close to Chanyeol as possible.

"You don't have to baby me like this," Chanyeol said, obviously a little embarrassed that he made such a big deal of things.

"I absolutely insist you baby me, though," Baekhyun said, already in the middle of holding out his spoon for Kyungsoo to balance a thin cut of beef on top.

"It's fine," Jongdae said, holding Chanyeol the way Kyungsoo did with him earlier. "We missed you guys too."

As they loaded the dishwasher after, moving slowly around each other, lethargic with their bellies full, Chanyeol caught Jongdae's arm and mumbled into his ear, "Sleep with me tonight?"

Jongdae answered with a nod and a soft kiss, curling his hand behind Chanyeol's neck to pull him down as Jongdae leaned back against the counter. They both ignored Baekhyun's catcall from a few feet away, and Jongdae only broke away to grab Kyungsoo, who was standing right there as if he knew he'd be needed, and let him have his turn comforting their giant, soft hearted boyfriend.

+

Even though they were all dating, they still slept in two separate rooms. It was annoying trying to fit four people onto the same bed. One mattress was way too small and two pushed together left too much room for Baekhyun to toss and turn. So they ended up pairing off each night. When it was him and Kyungsoo, Jongdae was the one more prone to cuddling. But Chanyeol and Baekhyun were on a professional level with their lack of personal space.

Chanyeol attached himself like a barnacle the moment Jongdae stepped out of the bathroom after his shower. An extremely heavy barnacle.

"Can you at least let me dry my hair first?"

"I'll do it," Chanyeol said, pulling Jongdae into one of the bedrooms. He led them in front of the dresser which had a mirror hanging above it. Chanyeol finished towel drying Jongdae's hair, running his fingers through it after to fluff it up. "Blow dry, too?"

Jongdae swung his arms behind Chanyeol's body and linked his fingers behind his back. "It's good enough," he said, and Chanyeol rested his chin on Jongdae's head. "You look like such a model boyfriend right now."

"Only right now?"

Jongdae rolled his eyes. "Come here," he said, grabbing Chanyeol's hand and pulled him toward the bed. He pushed Chanyeol down first, then crawled on top, pulling the duvet over them both. He grinned as he wiggled against Chanyeol, sighing as he finally settled in and Chanyeol's arms came around his waist.

"Why did you suddenly miss us today?" he said, running his fingers lazily through Chanyeol's hair.

"There's no reason," Chanyeol said, shrugging slightly. His lips brushed against Jongdae's ear. "Sometimes I just miss you guys."

"You're such a softie," Jongdae mumbled, starting to fade. He slid off to settle in against Chanyeol's side instead. He felt protective of Chanyeol just then and held on to him tightly, pressing a kiss to the skin under his lips. "It's why we love you so much."

"Now who's being soft," Chanyeol said, but he hugged back just as tight and the last thing Jongdae remembered before he fell asleep was that steady, secure warmth.

+

After a lazy morning lounging around in their pajamas which turned into a lazy afternoon watching a bunch of anime, Jongdae and Chanyeol finally washed up and slipped into more presentable clothes for their dinner date. Jongdae was styling his hair when Chanyeol slipped into view with his tailored slacks and crisp white button-up shirt. The top two buttons were left undone, of course. It stirred something in Jongdae, but he held back and avoided making eye contact as much as possible, but he knew he'd already been caught and threw his hands up when Chanyeol started rolling up his sleeves.

"Do you really have to pull out all the stops?" It was really just inconsiderate.

"Speak for yourself," Chanyeol said, crossing his arms accusingly. "You busted out the fake glasses and you know they make me weak."

Double caught.

"Let's just go," Jongdae said, before they no-showed for the reservation because they couldn't keep from jumping each other. It wouldn't be the first time.

The restaurant was trendy enough to warrant dressing up, but it wasn't stuffy. Jongdae was pleased they were given a table that was a bit secluded. He'd been on plenty of dates with the other three, but this really felt like one with the dim lighting and mellow music playing overhead.

Chanyeol was uncharacteristically quiet. He was flipping through the menu, but too fast to be seeing what any of the dishes were.

"You okay?" Jongdae said, reaching over to hold Chanyeol's menu open.

Chanyeol nodded quickly and smiled, though it came off shaky. "Yeah, sorry. I'm just. I don't know. I kind of forgot how long it's been since we've done this. Do you think dating is like riding a bike? Do you just remember how to date again?"

It was really cute, Chanyeol's nerves. Jongdae smiled back and nudged Chanyeol's foot under the table. "I don't know," he said, perching his chin on his hand. "But I'll let you in on a secret — I'm super easy."

"Not for everyone, I hope," Chanyeol said, some of his nervous energy dissipating.

"Only for like, three people," Jongdae said with a resigned sigh. "But don't tell Baekhyun."

"I'm pretty sure he already knows."

They ordered an appetizer to share and their entrees. When the waiter left, Chanyeol held his hand out on the table.

"This is quite forward of you," Jongdae said, even though he slipped his hand into Chanyeol's ginormous one without hesitation.

Chanyeol shrugged and smiled wide, brushing his thumb over the back of Jongdae's hand. He did this sometimes and it seemed only with Jongdae. He'd stay silent and just stare with a blatant lovesick expression. When Jongdae had asked Baekhyun about it a couple months after they went from two to three, Baekhyun explained that it wasn't to make Jongdae uncomfortable or to tease.

"He just gets all lovey dovey and sentimental when he's around you, more than he does with me," Baekhyun had said. "Honestly, you should just ask him yourself. It's not like he won't tell you."

At the time, that answer had been enough and Jongdae had forgotten about it since then. There had been all the excitement with Kyungsoo joining them and then just the events of their day to day lives which were almost more important.

"Why do you look at me like that?" Jongdae said, letting his gaze drop to their hands. "You don't do it with Baekhyun or Kyungsoo."

Chanyeol seemed genuinely perplexed. "What look?" he said, head cocked to the side like a confused puppy. Jongdae couldn't but think about the children's series Kyungsoo was penning.

"When you get all quiet and just stare," Jongdae said, allowing Chanyeol to turn his hand over and trace the heart line across his palm. "Not in a creepy way or anything, though it easily could be. But you just get intense."

Chanyeol shrugged. "I don't really know when I'm doing it," he said, smiling softly. He looked askance and scratched the back of his neck, almost shy, though Jongdae knew him rarely to be the type. "Guess you just have a face I like to admire."

Normally, Jongdae would roll his eyes at that kind of line. Right now though, the quiet and gentle way Chanyeol said it made Jongdae's chest constrict. He wanted so badly to march around the table and plant a kiss on Chanyeol's mouth, to spend the rest of the night with no space between them.

His history with Chanyeol started out somewhat rough. Baekhyun had met Chanyeol first when Baekhyun's agency had gotten the project to promote a book turned movie deal for one of Chanyeol's authors. By that point Jongdae and Baekhyun had been dating for almost a year and even moved in together. They nearly broke up when Baekhyun started having feelings for Chanyeol and he didn't want to keep it a secret from Jongdae. Chanyeol was the other man to Jongdae, someone who took up Baekhyun's time that before had belonged to him and it had been embarrassing that he hadn't even noticed. There were a lot of arguments between him and Baekhyun, fights where Baekhyun begged him to stay, where Jongdae couldn't believe he was being asked to consider an open relationship, to knowingly let Baekhyun go off and kiss and fuck someone else.

The lowest he'd felt was when Baekhyun had wanted Jongdae to meet Chanyeol.

Still, he had done it because he had fallen that hard for Baekhyun and even though he wanted to punch through walls when he thought about Baekhyun claiming his feelings for the both of them were different, he also knew he was never going to be the one who walked away first.

Baekhyun arranged for them to meet up at a coffee shop, somewhere public so no one — Jongdae — would make a scene. Jongdae had known exactly who Chanyeol was the moment he walked in the door because Chanyeol was everything Jongdae wished the other man wouldn't be: tall, handsome, a smile that could charm even the grumpiest old man. His handshake hadn't been too firm or pathetically limp and his voice had struck something deep in Jongdae's spine that made him warm all over no matter how hard he'd tried to stop it.

The conversation had been mostly Baekhyun and Chanyeol talking. Chanyeol spoke about the one other open relationship he'd been in and Jongdae remembered thinking how hard they were trying to make him think it wasn't a big deal that by the end he felt like they might as well have been talking to him like a child. Still, he had caught the way Baekhyun and Chanyeol looked at each other and even though he hadn't felt any less jilted, he understood why Baekhyun had been drawn in.

Just try for a bit, Baekhyun had begged him when they were alone again. For weeks, Jongdae hadn't let Baekhyun even touch him and he had been tired, mentally and emotionally, that he gave in because he missed Baekhyun. If letting Baekhyun have someone else sometimes was what he had to do to keep them intact, Jongdae's only option was to surrender.

Jongdae hadn't seen Chanyeol again for almost two months. There was no reason to, but he also knew they were being discrete for his sake. But one Friday Baekhyun had left work early with a serious fever and fell straight into bed. A few hours later, Jongdae answered the door and found Chanyeol on the other side. Baekhyun and him had a date planned and Chanyeol had gotten worried when his texts and calls went unanswered.

To this day, Jongdae still wasn't sure what possessed him to invite Chanyeol in. Maybe it had been the deep lines of worry on Chanyeol's forehead or the way Chanyeol had scrunched his shoulders up, clearly wanting to ask if he could see Baekhyun but not wanting to in case it pissed Jongdae off.

They had spent the weekend nursing Baekhyun back to health. Jongdae had made sure Baekhyun stayed hydrated and took a bath with him while Chanyeol had revealed that he wasn't a bad cook, making chicken soup and porridge. When Baekhyun had regained some of his energy by Sunday, he used it to insist he be fed by both of them.

But before that, when Baekhyun slept through most of the weekend and it was just the two of them, Jongdae had been forced to become familiar with Chanyeol beyond referring to him as the guy Baekhyun saw sometimes.

It wasn't as if Jongdae magically got along with Chanyeol suddenly and the skies opened up to let the sunshine and rainbows in. It had been supremely awkward, mostly when he had to watch Chanyeol attempt to take up as little space as possible when the guy was almost over six feet tall. But without Baekhyun and physical space to act as a buffer, they had no choice but to interact, Chanyeol a little more willingly than Jongdae.

It had been easy to hate someone he didn't know anything about. But Chanyeol had already chipped away at that when he showed off his homemade cooking. Then when there had been nothing else to do, when the apartment was dead silent and Jongdae hadn't been cruel enough to just leave the guy alone on the couch, Chanyeol spoke to him.

He had asked how Jongdae and Baekhyun met, how long they'd been together, what Jongdae's favorite thing about Baekhyun was. Jongdae gave minimal answers at first, annoyed that Chanyeol wanted information about a relationship that wasn't his, a relationship that he had finagled his way into. But when Jongdae actually bothered to look over, he had seen Chanyeol's genuine interest and after that it was just a little bit harder to hate him.

They hadn't been anything close to friends by the end of that weekend, or barely even acquaintances. But something certainly had shifted and Jongdae told Baekhyun a week later that if he wanted to invite Chanyeol over sometimes, that would be okay, as long as Baekhyun gave him a heads up so he could disappear if he wanted to.

Looking back on it, Jongdae supposed he caused his own demise that was falling for Chanyeol.

"The first time we met," Jongdae suddenly recalled. "You sort of looked at me like that, didn't you?"

Chanyeol bit his lip in thought. "Did I?" he said, but the small smile he couldn't hold back told Jongdae he was right.

Their shared appetizer was brought out, truffle fries with extra garlic aioli, and Jongdae laid the cloth napkin over his lap. "You know, I was so annoyed when I started finding you attractive. And terrified."

"What? You never told me."

Jongdae leaned forward and took the fry Chanyeol offered him. He shrugged. "It's not really something you tell someone when you're not sure if there's even any possibility," he said, resting his arms on the table. "Then we started dating and I guess I just forgot about it."

"Why were you scared?"

"I didn't know if Baekhyun would be angry. And I had all these growing feelings and I didn't know if you were just going to laugh in my face if I told you."

Chanyeol frowned. "Neither of those things happened. And I'd never laugh at you, even if I somehow hadn't felt the same."

"Part of me knew that," Jongdae said, feeding Chanyeol this time. A couple of old ladies the next table over might have stared at them, but he didn't really care. "But you can't blame me for being a little scared anyway."

"I don't think I've ever asked, but when did you first start to like me?"

Jongdae groaned. "You just want to hear about how attractive other people find you."

"No, I want to hear about how attractive you find me."

Jongdae stuffed a few more fries into his mouth as he thought about it, or pretended to. He knew exactly which moment it had been. It had been a couple months after The Weekend Where Baekhyun Got Sick and Baekhyun had to go on a last minute trip for work where he needed to leave on Saturday, but he and Chanyeol had already made reservations for brunch the next day at a restaurant with a six month waiting list.

"Take Jongdae," Baekhyun had said, glancing across the room at Jongdae with his phone wedged between his ear and shoulder as he shoved a bunch of shirts into a weekender bag. "Don't give up the reservation, that'd be a waste." He'd then practically thrust the phone into Jongdae's hands so he could scurry to and from the walk-in closet a little faster. He shouted as he flipped through his dress pants, "Chanyeol got a reservation at that trendy brunch place, you know the one with only 6 tables? Go with him!"

And that's how he had found himself the next afternoon sitting across from Chanyeol with a group of four friends to their left and the rest of the tables filled with other couples. Jongdae had felt awkward, but Chanyeol had seemed genuinely excited that Jongdae was there. The weather had been perfect, the sun high in the sky with just a few clouds passing by. Peak conditions for a date and Baekhyun was missing it.

Chanyeol had explained animatedly about all the items on the menu, which hadn't actually been that many dishes, but Chanyeol made each one sound like it'd be the best thing Jongdae would ever put in his mouth. But the awkward silence had returned when the waiter took their order, though only briefly.

It had been surprising when Chanyeol suddenly mentioned an ad campaign that Jongdae had just launched a week ago for some company trying to push flavored sparkling water. He had whined about it to Baekhyun plenty of times over the past month as the deadline drew closer, but hadn't expected that to be something Baekhyun would pass along to Chanyeol.

"It's really clever," Chanyeol had said, rolling and unrolling the edge of the napkin. Months later, Jongdae came to learn some of Chanyeol's nervous habits and had thought back to this moment. "Not cheesy or anything like that."

It had only been because Jongdae mistakenly thought work would be a safe topic that he opened up a little, talking to Chanyeol about how it had been working on the project, what the client had been like. He ended up discovering just how good Chanyeol was at maintaining a conversation, asking questions that were easy to answer but still prompted longer answers. By the time their food came out, the topic had shifted and Jongdae was asking Chanyeol about what he did and before Jongdae knew it, he had been laughing at Chanyeol's stories about all the weird pitches that came through his desk and acting the way he did around his friends. A bit like he did around Baekhyun.

At the end, they had split the check and stepped out of the restaurant stuffed and content.

"That was fun," Chanyeol had said, hands stuffed into his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his feet. "Thanks for coming along last minute."

And that had been when Jongdae realized he'd just spent over an hour with Chanyeol and he enjoyed most of it. No thoughts of how this was his boyfriend's other lover and what that meant. They had walked to the subway station together and stopped at the fork where Chanyeol needed to head in one direction to go home while Jongdae had to go the other.

"I don't know if it's weird," Chanyeol had said, the quietest Jongdae had ever heard him and visibly unsure, "but if you wanted to hang out again sometime, I wouldn't be opposed."

Jongdae hadn't known how to respond to that, but Chanyeol started walking off before he could figure out an answer anyway.

"Just think about it!" Chanyeol had said, waving as he walked backward. Jongdae remembered being worried that Chanyeol would trip not paying attention, but he didn't and when he disappeared around the corner Jongdae hadn't been sure if that conversation actually just happened.

"After you took me to brunch when Baekhyun couldn't make it," Jongdae said, wiping his greasy fingers on his napkin. "When you asked to hang out again if I wanted to. I think that was the start."

"Mine was when Baekhyun invited me over to meet you."

Jongdae blinked in surprise. "What? When I refused to even look at you?"

Chanyeol shrugged. "I don't know if it's messed up, but I remember wanting to hug you because I felt so bad that we were making you have that conversation. You never hide what you're feeling, even with strangers, and you were obviously hurt and I don't know. Even though we'd just met and I was the guy you probably thought was there to steal your boyfriend from right in front of you, I wanted to be able to make you feel better."

"It's a little messed up," Jongdae said, smiling easily. "But I suppose I am irresistible."

They spent the rest of dinner mostly reminiscing, recalling the moments when their relationship actually started to become real and no longer needed Baekhyun's presence to define it. While they did, Jongdae came to the realization that Chanyeol was a little insecure about them.

"I mean, you basically hated me at first," Chanyeol said, when Jongdae asked if his hunch was right. "So yeah, maybe I am."

"You're not afraid I'll leave one day, will you?"

Chanyeol shrugged and didn't say anything.

Jongdae sighed, shoulders sagging, and said Chanyeol's name quietly. He wanted to say more, but didn't know the right words to string together.

"Ugh, don't say my name like that," Chanyeol said, laughing a little as he rubbed his arm like it was cold. "It's just an irrational worry, I'm fine."

The waiter walked by and Jongdae flagged him down, asking for the check. They'd barely just finished eating, but Jongdae wanted to get out of there.

"You don't want dessert?" Chanyeol said. "We don't have to rush on our date."

"I'm not trying to rush us," Jongdae said, taking out his card before the waiter even arrived at their table and definitely before Chanyeol could attempt to pay. "Well, I am. A little." He waited for their check to be paid before saying anything else. "I just don't want to be here anymore. This was nice, but I'd like to go home now. With you."

Chanyeol didn't seem to recognize what mood Jongdae was in, his movements slower and more hesitant when he followed Jongdae out the restaurant. Jongdae quickly flagged down a taxi and gave the driver their address. It was just a fifteen minute drive, but there was a bit of traffic since it was a weekend evening. Jongdae took Chanyeol's hand in both of his, holding it tightly in his lap as he stared out the window. He knew Chanyeol was staring at him, could see it out the corner of his eye, but he knew if he looked over he wouldn't be able to control himself. Crawling into Chanyeol's lap might get them kicked out of the taxi.

Once they were in their building, in the elevator, Jongdae gave himself a bit more freedom. "What's going on?" Chanyeol said, a tinge of worry in his voice, but Jongdae couldn't offer an answer. He stepped closer, just short of hugging Chanyeol, still holding Chanyeol's hand in a steel grip as he pressed his face into the soft cashmere of Chanyeol's sweater.

He couldn't remember if Baekhyun and Kyungsoo would still be out as he punched in the door code, but the lights on in the kitchen and living room were his answer.

"Are you guys back already?" Baekhyun said, poking his head around the corner. Jongdae toed his shoes off with clear urgency while Chanyeol tried to keep up, kicking his right shoe back into the entryway as he got dragged into the apartment.

"Sorry, I just," Jongdae said, the words caught in his throat again. Baekhyun's brow scrunched up. "I just need some time with Chanyeol."

"Yeah, okay," Baekhyun said softly, smiling, and kissed the corner of Jongdae's mouth. "Shout if you need me or Kyungsoo to get you anything."

Jongdae nodded with a grateful smile.

"Close the door," Jongdae said once they were in the bedroom and he finally let go of Chanyeol. He stopped in the middle of the room and rubbed his face with both hands, unable to explain to himself why he had all this nervous energy.

The door shut with a soft click and Chanyeol took slow steps toward Jongdae. "Hey. Talk to me?"

All the things Jongdae was doing right now were habits he had when he was upset. He was jittery and quiet and couldn't keep his thoughts together. The thing was, he didn't know why he was so upset and why that feeling seemed to be directed toward Chanyeol, but at the same time he had such a strong urge to not let Chanyeol out of his sight.

Chanyeol touched Jongdae's arm first, then slowly, carefully brought Jongdae in for a hug. "I'm sorry," he said, and kissed the top of Jongdae's head.

"What are you sorry about?" Jongdae said, shoulders still tense even as he returned the hug.

"You didn't like what I said at the restaurant," Chanyeol said. "About worrying that you'd leave."

That was exactly it and Jongdae puffed out a laugh that Chanyeol was able to figure it out before him so easily.

"What have I ever done to make you think that?" Jongdae said, trying his best to keep the whine out of his words. "Do you think that about Baekhyun and Kyungsoo too?"

"Sometimes," Chanyeol said. Jongdae pulled back and frowned. "It's not like that. Do you not have days when you're feeling insecure?"

"Yeah, about other things. Not about being deserted by people who are in love with me."

Chanyeol sighed. "Come here," he said, leading Jongdae over to the bed. They sat on the edge, thighs touching. "Why does it upset you so much?"

"Because it means I'm not doing something right," Jongdae said, finally pinpointing the root of why he was so off-kilter. "And I don't like that I wasn't able to sense it on my own."

"That's because I didn't want you to know, not because you weren't being a good boyfriend."

"My point is, you shouldn't feel like that at all!" Jongdae said and hid his face against Chanyeol's shoulder. Truthfully, there was some guilt too over how Jongdae had treated him before they became amicable, even though he knew his reactions had been justified. "I wouldn't leave."

"I know." Chanyeol ran his fingers through Jongdae's hair. The urge to be as close as possible took Jongdae again and this time, safe in the privacy of their home, he didn't fight it. He crawled into Chanyeol's lap without a word and hesitated for only a moment before kissing Chanyeol.

It started out unsure, but gradually Jongdae's kisses became more desperate and he clung to Chanyeol's sweater, probably ruining it with how tightly he dug his fingers in. When Chanyeol had asked Jongdae to sleep with him last night, that's really all they'd done. None of that waking in the middle of the night and needing each other or even anything that morning. So now, Jongdae was nervous and antsy, filled with this near frenetic need to have Chanyeol bared to him.

For how energetic Chanyeol usually was, right now he was full of calm and absorbed everything that dissipated off Jongdae. The weight of his hands on Jongdae's thighs were grounding and his smile even and patient when Jongdae pulled away to catch his breath.

He had wanted to comfort and take care of Chanyeol, but in the end it was the other way around. But that was okay. Lying together after, their skin slightly sticky with sweat, Jongdae rested his head on Chanyeol's shoulder and listened to his slowing heartbeat and thought maybe the comfort went both ways after all.

+

The next morning, Jongdae woke early and told a groggy Chanyeol that he just needed to use the bathroom, but watched Chanyeol fall back asleep from the doorway and headed to the kitchen instead. He started making a simple breakfast for all four of them, helped by Kyungsoo twenty minutes later, and took two servings on a tray back to the bedroom.

"You do so much when you feel guilty," Chanyeol said once he was more awake, taking another bite that Jongdae fed to him.

"I know," Jongdae said, rubbing his hand along Chanyeol's arm. "Take advantage of it while it lasts."

"Okay. I love you."

There was that look again. Intense and unyielding. But Jongdae didn't say a word and stared back with an equally dopey, lovesick smile of his own until finally, Chanyeol was the one who flushed and broke their gaze. Laughing, Jongdae said the words back and finally felt at ease.

+

"I hope you stocked up on protein bars and water bottles because we are not leaving our bed for all of tomorrow." Baekhyun dropped onto the couch next to Jongdae, almost causing Jongdae's cereal to spill. "What's the world record for longest sex session between two people? It can't be more than like, three hours."

Jongdae didn't deign to reply, but a few seconds later, Chanyeol called from the kitchen, "It's over 15 hours."

Baekhyun shot finger guns at Jongdae. "We're going for 16."

"I'd rather take a 16 hour nap," Jongdae said. On his other side, Kyungsoo flipped a page in the book he was reading and let out a little puff of laughter, dropping his hand onto Jongdae's knee. His phone chimed and he saw it was a text from Junmyeon.

8:52pm You and Baekhyun went for the staycation, right?
8:53pm Yeah, we're being lazy bums on the couch at this exact moment
8:54pm Sehun said he's free next Wednesday, if you still want to have dinner.
8:55pm Definitely! Bring all the photos of you two being cute in Japan please :)
8:56pm Of course.

Jongdae set his phone back down and looked up to find Baekhyun staring at him flatly.

"Your lack of dedication in our relationship is really disappointing."

Jongdae set his bowl on the coffee table and pivoted to lie down with his head in Kyungsoo's lap and his legs across Baekhyun's. "I'll commit to an hour."

Baekhyun's eyes narrowed, then he shouted, "Chanyeol, what's the most someone's orgasmed in an hour?"

"...134!"

"Challenge accepted," Baekhyun said, slapping Jongdae's knee.

Jongdae turned his face into the soft cotton of Kyungsoo's sweatshirt and hummed when Kyungsoo started petting his hair. "I'll be impressed if you even get two out of me."

Kyungsoo's hand paused and Jongdae could just feel him and Baekhyun look at each other. He knew then that he'd made a mistake, a grave one where he turned Baekhyun's joking into a real challenge. He refused to show his face and kept his eyes shut. Eventually Kyungsoo's fingers resumed combing through his hair and Chanyeol came over to hog Baekhyun's attention instead.

Perhaps by the morning, Baekhyun would have forgotten Jongdae's words.

+

The first thing Jongdae saw when he woke was the sunlight trying to get past the blackout curtains in their room. It spilled in around the edges and the middle where they didn't bother to pull it shut the entire way. Everything was silent and Baekhyun's arm was around Jongdae's waist, but it was a dead weight, meaning Baekhyun was still asleep. Jongdae took Baekhyun's wrist gingerly and slowly moved it away. Baekhyun wasn't a heavy sleeper, but this early in the morning, Jongdae might be able to escape.

He was just about to set Baekhyun's hand down when it twisted in his grasp and suddenly Jongdae was pushed onto his back, Baekhyun's mess of bedhead and mischievous grin staring down at him.

"Good morning," Baekhyun said, and his tone was laced with so much intent. "Do you have any last words?"

Jongdae squeezed his eyes shut with a pained expression. "I hate my past self so much right now."

The touch of Baekhyun's lips against his wasn't that much of a surprise, but the slightly minty taste was. Jongdae pushed Baekhyun back a little.

"Did you already brush your teeth?"

"Well, yeah," Baekhyun said, like he didn't know why Jongdae even needed to ask. "You were sleeping like a log. Also, I do have manners when it comes to morning sexytimes."

"Could you let me do the same?" Jongdae said. He desperately needed to wash his face. There's no way Baekhyun could find him sexy right now. "I drank a lot of water before going to bed."

"Kinky," Baekhyun said, waggling his eyebrows and Jongdae rolled his eyes.

"No," he said, shoving Baekhyun off him. He shivered slightly when his feet touched the hardwood floors, the morning sun not having a chance to warm them up first, and shuffled quickly over to the en suite bathroom. He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when Baekhyun appeared behind him and slipped his arms around Jongdae's middle. Being the same height, which they were, no matter how much Baekhyun argued that he was half a centimeter taller, it was convenient for Baekhyun to hook his chin over Jongdae's shoulder.

Even though it was much too early to be awake considering this long weekend was a staycation, Baekhyun still looked fairly well rested. He worked so much normally, subsisting on 4-5 hours of sleep each night, so it was nice to see him take a step outside of being a workaholic.

Jongdae rinsed and patted his mouth dry, smiling at Baekhyun through the mirror. He had always felt that whatever was between him and Baekhyun was a different kind of special. Not better or more than what they all had together as four, just different. That year where it had just been them on their own made their bond unique.

"Not dragging me back to bed?" Jongdae said, tipping his head to the side when Baekhyun nuzzled at his neck.

"It's early still," Baekhyun mumbled, petting Jongdae's stomach. He always complained about how Jongdae seemed to have some semblance of abs without even trying, but not five minutes later be showering them in attention. "Or should I complete number one here?"

"You're just vain."

"I don't deny it," Baekhyun said, sneaking one hand into Jongdae's underwear.

The first orgasm, Baekhyun eased Jongdae into it. It was slow, but not lazy, and Jongdae enjoyed just basking in the attention, watching Baekhyun take care of him. The only noise Jongdae made was a soft sigh at the end right before he melted, boneless, into Baekhyun's arms.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, not with Jongdae feeling so weightless and sated. Baekhyun led him back to the bedroom and laid him on top of their down-filled comforter. That slow, moving through water sensation eventually disappeared and with it, Baekhyun's soft demeanor. He stared down with such heavy determination that Jongdae wished he had something to hold onto.

The second one took a little longer, but was still good, even if it left Jongdae tense and short of breath. The third one had Jongdae ready to cry uncle, unable to discern pleasure from discomfort, twisting under Baekhyun as his body tried to figure out if it wanted to get away and keep Baekhyun as close as possible.

He was begging by the end, so desperate for it to just be over, and when the tension in him finally snapped he nearly sobbed from relief. He felt empty after, completely drained of strength, and in incredible need of physical contact.

Baekhyun made quick work of cleanup and gave Jongdae exactly that after, spooning him from behind and taking care not to touch any sensitive parts of him.

"I can't believe you just did that for me," Baekhyun said, taking one of Jongdae's hands and squeezing it. "Thought for sure you'd make me stop after two."

Jongdae wasn't really sure why he didn't do that either. Never has Baekhyun, or any of them, done anything he didn't want, so if he had told Baekhyun no more, everything would've stopped immediately.

"You looked like you really wanted to see it," Jongdae said, ready for a nap even though he'd just woken an hour ago. "So I wanted to let you see it."

Baekhyun kissed under Jongdae's ear. "I love you. You're amazing."

That's really all that mattered to Jongdae. In the end, he supposed Chanyeol's irrational fear about him was the same one he shared about Baekhyun. He cherished moments like these, even if they were caused by something less than innocent; he wanted to hear those kinds of words from Baekhyun.

And as the days went by, he wanted to hear them more and more from the other two as well.

"What about you?" Jongdae said, feeling Baekhyun's arousal quite prominently behind him.

"I can wait," Baekhyun said, lips in Jongdae's hair. "Go back to sleep. Let's be dangerous and shower together later."

That hardly seemed fair, but Jongdae was too tired to really argue. He was warm and cozy and Baekhyun was humming something softly behind him. It took hardly anything at all for Jongdae to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

+

When Jongdae woke again, it felt like lunch time. The curtains were partly open and allowed the sun to spill onto the bottom half of the bed. He was alone, but could hear voices out in the main room. His stomach rumbled as he stretched and let out a long yawn, so he forced himself to roll out of bed and tug on a pair of underwear, venturing out.

"Stop touching me with your gross feet. If you want something to eat, go make it yourself."

"But Kyungsoo," Baekhyun whined. "Jongdae will be hungry too when he wakes up."

"I'm already up," Jongdae said, rounding the corner. The other three were sprawled on the couch; Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were curled up in the corner while Baekhyun was horizontal along another section, his feet in Kyungsoo's lap. Jongdae stopped in front of Baekhyun and rubbed his eyes, still not fully awake. "Why'd you leave?"

"Huh?" Baekhyun sat up and folded his legs pretzel style.

"You weren't there when I woke up," Jongdae said, wedging himself into the small gap between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. He didn't know why he didn't at least put on a shirt. He leaned into Kyungsoo and pulled Baekhyun closer to leech off their body heat. "You said you'd keep me in bed all day."

"I thought that was a joke," Baekhyun said, looking a bit alarmed that perhaps he messed up. "You didn't want it to be a joke?"

"It's our day today," Jongdae mumbled, blinking slowly at Baekhyun's face now only centimeters from his.

"You seemed tired," Baekhyun said, fixing Jongdae's hair. "I wanted you to rest enough."

Jongdae hummed and switched to rest his weight against Baekhyun instead. "I'm awake now," he said, though he closed his eyes again. "What are you making me for lunch?"

"Uhh, the usual stuff even I can't mess up?" That was usually ramen with an egg.

"Okay." Jongdae pressed his lips to Baekhyun's jaw, then nudged him away, curling back into Kyungsoo who automatically slung an arm around Jongdae's shoulders.

Baekhyun stood up and stared at them, mouth opening and closing without a sound. He pouted, but headed to the kitchen, and Jongdae grinned, snickering quietly against Kyungsoo's arm.

"Let me be in the middle," Jongdae said, still refusing to put on more clothes when there were more than enough boyfriends around to keep him cozy. He crawled over Kyungsoo's lap as they swapped places and dropped a quick kiss to Chanyeol's lips as he settled in. The sound of water filling a pot filtered out from the kitchen.

"You and Baekhyun had fun this morning?" Kyungsoo said, accepting a kiss of his own. "Chanyeol and I weren't really sure."

Jongdae squeezed his legs together just thinking about it. "Yeah, just unexpectedly intense."

"I think Baekhyun was a little bit worried he went too far," Kyungsoo said, grabbing a blanket from behind him and covering Jongdae's lap. "He said you said it was fine, but you know he's a secret worrier."

Just as Jongdae was about to say something, Baekhyun came back. He must be waiting for the water to boil. "If this is supposed to be our day, shouldn't someone else be making lunch for us?" He was so sulky sometimes. They all found it cute, but would never admit it since it would just make their lives more difficult.

Jongdae leaned over Chanyeol and took Baekhyun's hand. "It's your day," he said, admiring Baekhyun's long fingers. "Do you want to watch?"

Baekhyun's eyes widened. "Really?"

Jongdae nodded, sitting back up to look between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. "Is that okay?"

Those two shared a look over Jongdae's head and nodded too. "It's been a while," Chanyeol said.

Jongdae shrugged. "Guess I'm feeling sentimental and giving today," he said, standing up. He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and herded Baekhyun into the kitchen again. "After I eat though, I'm seriously starving."

Once out of sight, Baekhyun turned around and placed his hands on Jongdae's waist. "You don't have to do this," he said, but he smiled at Jongdae with open adoration. "It's your day with me, but that doesn't mean we should be doing everything I like."

"I know," Jongdae said, letting just a minor sigh of exasperation through. "When have I ever done something for you I didn't 100% want to do?" He kissed Baekhyun softly and was slow to pull away. "I'm in the mood today."

Baekhyun stared at him for a few more moments, then clapped his hands together, the gentle moment over. "You know what? You get two eggs in your ramen today."

Jongdae laughed and hopped onto the counter, watching Baekhyun move around him. He was in a great mood, indeed.

+

It had been about two months after they officially became a three person relationship when Baekhyun came out of the bathroom after washing up for bed with a look on his face that Jongdae knew meant he had something big on his mind. He had been too quiet, for one, and he kept staring at Jongdae but trying not to be obvious about it. Too bad he was terrible at it.

"Just spit it out," Jongdae had said, almost throwing a pillow at Baekhyun. "You look like you're about to explode from whatever it is you're obsessing over."

Baekhyun had sat down gingerly at the edge of the bed, like he was a guest, like it hadn't been his bed too for over six months. "How are things with you and Chanyeol?" he had said, biting his thumb. "You guys have been hanging out a lot together, right? How's that going?"

Jongdae had shot Baekhyun an odd look. "What's with the sudden interrogation?" He moved to lie down and grabbed his phone, checking his work email to make sure there hadn't been any work emergencies, not that he would do anything about them anyway. He just liked to witness the panicked cries of help as prep for a good night's sleep. "It's been good. You sound way more nervous about it, honestly. Are you getting second thoughts?"

"What? No!" Baekhyun had shook his head, then smiled. It had looked mostly real. "I'm really happy that this happened. It's the best outcome I could've wished for."

"Then why are you being so weird right now?"

Baekhyun had gone quiet again, his eyes darting to everywhere in the room except for where Jongdae was. "Have you guys like. Done stuff yet?"

Jongdae had made another face, this time one which was unimpressed. "I feel like I'm talking to a middle schooler. Are you trying to ask if we've had sex?" He propped up onto his elbows. "I know that we're all dating each other at this point, but what are you saying? Yeah, we have. We talked about how this would work weeks ago and you said we were free to do whatever we wanted, at whatever pace we wanted. You can't take that back now."

Groaning, Baekhyun had dragged his hands over his face, then suddenly pounced, but all he ended up doing was snuggling into Jongdae's chest. "I'm not taking back what I said. I'm just trying to figure out how to ask you something without you thinking I'm a giant pervert."

"But you are a giant pervert."

"I'm not jealous," Baekhyun had said, a big pout on his face when he lifted his head. "I'm just impatient."

The dots had suddenly all connected and Jongdae let out a fake, dramatic gasp. "You want a threesome," he had said, pointing at Baekhyun accusingly. "This is about you being a horny little fucker, isn't it?"

"Don't frame it like that! I can't believe you use that same mouth to pitch concepts to diaper brands."

"Just because I talk about on the go maximum absorbency during my day job doesn't mean I can't be direct about your less than pure thoughts now."

Baekhyun had sat up and sighed, hiding behind his hands again. "I don't want a threesome," he had said, gesturing awkwardly. "I mean, I do, a threesome sounds great, actually. But what I wanted was to ask about a... variation of a threesome." He had glanced at Jongdae, gauging the reaction as he said the next words. "More of a twosome plus a single audience?"

He wanted to watch. Jongdae hadn't known how to respond at first and blurted out the first thing he could think of. "Why?"

"I've just been thinking about it lately," Baekhyun had said, then was quick to add, "Not that I've been fantasizing about you guys this whole time or anything! It's just been the past few days. After Chanyeol came by the other day and he hugged you."

"You saw that?"

"I didn't mean to. You guys just didn't see me coming. But it had been nice and really made me felt like the puzzle pieces had all fallen into place. And then after that it kind of, spiraled into the less than pure thoughts."

Jongdae had rolled onto his side and considered Baekhyun again. He had made the whole proposition seem a bit romantic, something that only Baekhyun could achieve. "Would you want us to pretend you weren't there or it's not that kind of fantasy?"

Baekhyun had considered it. "No, nothing like that. I don't know if it's even a fantasy. I just like the idea of watching someone else take care of you."

So the next time Chanyeol had come by, they sat down with him and Baekhyun explained it again and Chanyeol asked some of the same questions Jongdae had. Chanyeol had been more concerned about Jongdae's comfort than anything else, which had been sweet. It had been the fact that they could talk about this at all in a mature way that made Jongdae ultimately agree to try and see what would happen.

The first time had been a bit awkward and had taken Jongdae a while to stop focusing on Baekhyun's presence. But Chanyeol had been great at distracting him and in the end, it had actually been nice. He'd felt safe and cared for and the way Baekhyun had looked at him after, so visibly happy, cemented the possibility of doing this again.

But it didn't happen often. There'd been a few more times with Chanyeol, and then a couple more after they started seeing Kyungsoo. Most of the time, Baekhyun was the most eager of all of them to participate and that's how Jongdae liked it anyway. But every now and then, Jongdae would see that considering look in Baekhyun's eyes and he'd find himself offering without a second thought.

+

The bed in the master was a king and could fit four people if they coordinated carefully, but it was a tight fit, especially when Chanyeol was one of the bodies. When Baekhyun walked into the room, Jongdae was already well on his way to being naked, t-shirt hanging off his right elbow, stuck there when Jongdae had prioritized kissing Kyungsoo instead. Eventually, someone helped removed it and that same person started undoing his jeans. When he took a moment to catch his breath, he looked down to see Chanyeol's hands.

Baekhyun didn't really have a designated spot when they did this. Sometimes he stood off to the side, sometimes he sat at the edge of the bed, and sometimes he laid right next to Jongdae and stroked his hair while Chanyeol or Kyungsoo took him apart. Today, Baekhyun did just that. He was on one side of Jongdae and Kyungsoo on the other. Chanyeol was down between Jongdae's legs and it was overwhelming for a moment to have all that attention fixated on him.

Opposite of his usual self, Baekhyun was often quiet during these times. He had no interest in telling them what to do and just seemed content to let things unfold naturally. Jongdae took Baekhyun's hand though, threading their fingers together as he leaned into another kiss with Kyungsoo. His breath caught in his throat when Chanyeol took Jongdae's legs and placed them over his own hips in one smooth motion and the next moment his hands were on Jongdae's length, stroking slow and tight, just enough for that tingling warmth to start spreading through Jongdae's body all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.

They liked to tease each other sometimes, but not during these moments. Kyungsoo moved away to grab the lube and handed it to Chanyeol and Jongdae watched, one hand palming Kyungsoo through his pants, as Chanyeol's fingers disappeared between them only to feel them again, cold and slippery, against his hole. Baekhyun was the one who loved having Chanyeol's fingers in him, could spend hours allowing Chanyeol to coax a few orgasms out of him on the rare days he let himself have that kind of time. Jongdae liked it too, but he liked Chanyeol's dick more and so prep with him was always more of a formality, to make sure it wasn't too uncomfortable when Chanyeol eventually pushed into him and stretched him open, filling him up until Jongdae sighed in satisfaction.

Jongdae smiled up when Chanyeol's hips pressed against him and he pulled Chanyeol in for a kiss, his breath hitching quietly when they started to move, slow at first, but with the long, deep thrusts that Jongdae loved. This was when Baekhyun stared most intently, watching the way Jongdae's body accepted Chanyeol and every single tiny reaction that was drawn from him.

Today, Kyungsoo watched too, though his hand explored Jongdae's body absently, his palm rubbing circles over Jongdae's stomach before traveling up to his chest to play with his nipples, flicking and tugging at them and sending little jolts of pleasure back down Jongdae's body.

Jongdae always thought of the way Chanyeol fucked someone as intuitive. No matter which of the three he was with, he was somehow always in tune with what the other person needed. Before Jongdae even opened his mouth, Chanyeol pushed one of his legs up and leaned over, dropping his hips against Jongdae's heavily, the sound of skin against skin almost louder than their heavy breathing.

Jongdae held one hand out, a clear enough signal for Chanyeol to dip lower so they could kiss, gentle but still with an undercurrent of urgency and desperation. He still had his eyes closed when they broke apart and when he opened them, it was to the sight of Chanyeol kissing Kyungsoo now, and that made his dick jump more than anything else. So maybe they all had a thing for watching, or maybe it was just watching each other and how well they all fit together.

"Harder," Kyungsoo said, hooking his arm under Jongdae's knee and pulling it back. Chanyeol moaned and immediately did as he was told and Jongdae held Baekhyun's hand tighter, his breathing now uneven and whiny, overwhelmed by the sudden change and how much more intense it felt. Kyungsoo left lazy, wet kisses along Jongdae's jaw, each one just making Jongdae wanting for another.

Chanyeol's nails digging into Jongdae's thigh was a sign that he was close. That and how shaky Jongdae's name sounded on Chanyeol's lips. When he came, all of them watched, and Jongdae squeezed around Chanyeol to make it as good as possible, smiling when Chanyeol whimpered and collapsed onto Jongdae, hips pumping weakly. It took him a bit to recover and Jongdae petted Chanyeol's hair in the meantime, until Chanyeol softened and slipped out of him.

Immediately, Kyungsoo nudged Jongdae onto his side and spooned up behind. His pants were still on, but pushed down to his thighs and Jongdae kept to himself how hot that was, amazed at how Kyungsoo managed to be the most attractive in the most unassuming, subtle ways. Chanyeol ended up behind Baekhyun and the four of them mirrored each other, though Jongdae was the only one getting fucked open again, biting his lip as Kyungsoo pushed into him smoothly. When it was all of them together, he always liked to go after someone else had already come inside, loved that bit of wet and messy.

It wasn't a position that allowed Kyungsoo to go fast, which was fine. His legs held Jongdae's open as they rocked together, but his arms were tight around Jongdae's chest and it felt like floating, wrapped up like this and not being able to move. It was hard for Jongdae to keep his eyes open, but he tried his best, smiling softly at Baekhyun when he reached over to help brush Jongdae's hair away from his eyes.

If someone had told Jongdae years ago that one day he'd find himself like this, being fucked by his boyfriend while his other two watched on, he would've laughed and walked away, writing off the interaction as ridiculous. But nothing felt more right. He was so relaxed and just let himself drift, a few quiet noises leaving him whenever Kyungsoo found the right angle.

After already being fucked once, Jongdae was getting close this time even though Kyungsoo still wasn't going very hard or fast. The stretch was still good though and Kyungsoo had this magical stamina that Jongdae was currently so grateful for.

"Think he's close," Chanyeol said. His mouth was hidden in Baekhyun's hair and his hand rested low on Baekhyun's stomach, just above the painful looking erection tenting Baekhyun's sweats.

"I can feel it," Kyungsoo said, never once faltering from the steady pace he's set. He kissed the side of Jongdae's neck. "You want help?"

Jongdae shook his head. He could do it, he could come just from Kyungsoo fucking him slow and perfect. Most of all, he wanted to and had a feeling it's what Baekhyun wanted to see too. Kyungsoo kissed the back of Jongdae's neck, right at the top of his spine, and started pressing in deeper, his hand hooked around the top of Jongdae's thigh as he held still for a split second inside Jongdae. It was both torture and heaven and Jongdae panted like he was doing a lot more work than just lying there and letting Kyungsoo take him apart.

Jongdae's orgasm started slow, teetering for a while on the edge, that point where he could still make Kyungsoo stop if he wanted and give them a chance to calm down, but he didn't. He let it build and build and released a quiet, relieved half-sob when he came, all the intense feelings drawn out by Kyungsoo grinding into him and pushing him to that place where it was almost too much.

When Jongdae came back to himself, Baekhyun was on him immediately, kissing him desperately, and he clutched at Baekhyun's arms, uncoordinated as he returned the kiss but no less eager. Kyungsoo was thrusting into him again, but it didn't last long and Jongdae felt him come inside with a quiet groan, pulling Jongdae back onto his dick and holding him there.

Baekhyun's lips were spit slick when they pulled apart and Jongdae figured his were much the same. He reached down and rubbed Baekhyun through his sweatpants a couple times, then pushed the waistband down so he could just take Baekhyun in his hand directly. The noise Baekhyun let out was almost pitiful, his desperation so visible.

"Let me watch you too," Jongdae said, glancing over Baekhyun's shoulder. He knew Chanyeol was hard again.

Baekhyun answered with a whine, his hips thrusting into Jongdae's hand which now held Baekhyun in a loose grip, barely giving him any friction. Chanyeol sat up and pulled Baekhyun's pants off, throwing them onto the floor as he leaned over to grab the lube from behind Kyungsoo. With Baekhyun already so worked up, Chanyeol prepped him even faster than he did Jongdae and Baekhyun's face scrunched up as Chanyeol pushed into him carefully, hooking Baekhyun's top leg over his arm and straddling the other. After a couple shallow thrusts, Chanyeol went for it, his free hand gripping Baekhyun's waist to keep him in place.

If Jongdae weren't so fucked out, he'd probably get turned on again. But his body was spent so he just enjoyed watching Chanyeol expertly bring Baekhyun to the edge only to still inside him and wait until Baekhyun had calmed some, then did it all over again. By the time Chanyeol was close again, Baekhyun was begging, his hands gripping the sheets so tight his knuckles were white.

It surprised Jongdae when Chanyeol stopped again, sure that they were going to finish. But Chanyeol pulled out despite Baekhyun's anxious protests, shushing him gently, and reached over to squeeze Jongdae's hip. "Turn over," he said, and Jongdae didn't question him, rolling onto his stomach with his arms pillowed under his head. He had a feeling what Chanyeol was about to do and his stomach jumped in anticipation.

"Come here," Chanyeol said, now pulling Baekhyun up, maneuvering him until Baekhyun was hovering over Jongdae's body. Jongdae watched over his shoulder as Chanyeol took Baekhyun in his hand and helped him enter Jongdae. It was easy with the left behind lube and come, Baekhyun sinking in smoothly, and Jongdae exhaled softly, completely relaxed and content by the warm weight above him.

"Fuck," Baekhyun whimpered, dropping his head between Jongdae's shoulders. "No, I can't. Too much."

"You're fine," Chanyeol said, and Jongdae could easily tell when he started fucking Baekhyun again, even though it was slower, Jongdae's body rocking gently with them. "You need fill up Jongdae too."

Baekhyun was trembling against Jongdae and he was so hard, Jongdae wished he had enough energy for another round. Instead, Jongdae stayed motionless except to stroke Baekhyun's arm braced above his shoulder.

"Come in him, Baekhyun," Chanyeol said, taking a moment to shift his weight and suddenly Baekhyun's breathing changed completely and Jongdae knew Chanyeol had found Baekhyun's prostate. "Stop fighting it."

Baekhyun shook his head. "Please, I can't do this."

Kyungsoo reached over and cupped the back of Baekhyun's neck. "You're okay," he said softly and Jongdae smiled at how well Kyungsoo knew to take care of Baekhyun even though outside of the bedroom, Baekhyun's personality was sometimes too much for him to handle. "You can come. It's for your Jongdae."

Baekhyun let out a broken moan and searched urgently for Jongdae's hands, holding onto them tightly as he finally came, hips jerking. Jongdae could feel the faint burst of warmth and sighed happily as he squeezed Baekhyun's hand back. A few seconds later, Chanyeol groaned and by sound alone Jongdae could tell he came.

It took a few seconds for Chanyeol and Baekhyun's breathing to calm a little and that's when Jongdae could hear the quiet, stifled sniffles from behind him.

"Baekhyun?" Jongdae said softly. "Are you okay?"

Baekhyun nodded against Jongdae's shoulder, but Jongdae felt wetness that couldn't be anything but tears. Jongdae was a little alarmed, but he couldn't move with Baekhyun still on top of him. But Kyungsoo didn't look worried, wiping Baekhyun's face.

The mattress shifted when Chanyeol crawled off and went to the en suite bathroom. Baekhyun didn't make any move to get up until Chanyeol returned with warm towels. He sat up and seemed embarrassed about his reaction, barely acknowledging Chanyeol cleaning him off. Jongdae wanted to hold him, but he needed to deal with the mess of allowing three boyfriends to come inside him. His waist ached a little as he pushed himself up, already feeling something running down the inside of his thigh.

"Why did you guys come so much?" Jongdae whined, starting to carefully crawl off the bed, but Baekhyun stopped him. His eyes were watery again and Jongdae didn't care about any messes, immediately moving back and taking Baekhyun's hand. "Hey, what's going on? Fuck, did we cross a line we shouldn't have?"

Baekhyun shook his head furiously and sniffled loudly. "Shit, I'm sorry," he said, leading Jongdae off the bed. "I'll help you clean up." His voice was quiet and vulnerable and Jongdae followed without a word, leaving Kyungsoo and Chanyeol to snuggle up on a part of the bed where there weren't any stains.

In the bathroom, Jongdae didn't close the door completely, leaving a small gap. Baekhyun ran a shower and stepped in first, holding his hand out for Jongdae.

They were quiet still for the first few minutes. Baekhyun had Jongdae stand against the wall and held the shower head over Jongdae's back, gently cleaning him out. It wasn't sexual, just small motions of Baekhyun caring for him. Feeling clean enough, Jongdae turned around and hung the shower head back on the wall and pivoted them around to have Baekhyun stand under the spray.

"What got you so overwhelmed?" he said, massaging the base of Baekhyun's skull gently with his thumb. This was the same thing he did to calm Baekhyun whenever he'd return from late nights at the office, stressed over an impending project delivery.

Baekhyun touched his forehead to Jongdae's and shrugged. "I don't know what happened. Watching you with them, then Chanyeol edging me like that," he said, barely audible over the water against the tiles. "Kyungsoo calling you mine."

After all these years together, Jongdae had a pretty good sense of what made Baekhyun act the way he did, much better than Baekhyun knew himself. Baekhyun probably didn't even realize, working as hard as he did during the week and sometimes weekends, how much he missed everyone until this long weekend made him slow down. Having him spend time one on one probably made things worse since it'd just make him itch for the four of them together.

But Jongdae didn't tell Baekhyun any of that. He turned off the shower and dried them both off, wrapping Baekhyun in one of their large, fluffy, white towels before sending him back out. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo just finished spreading out fresh bed sheets and came over to crush Baekhyun in a group hug.

"The oldest is always the one who needs babying," Kyungsoo said, smiling open and bright when Baekhyun pouted in response. "Don't disappear into your work so much that you cry when we sleep together because you missed us that badly." Jongdae wasn't surprised that Kyungsoo had developed a knack for reading Baekhyun too, in a much shorter span of time.

They switched places. Jongdae and Baekhyun changed into soft pajamas while Chanyeol and Kyungsoo went to wash up. Half an hour later, they've squeezed back into the same bed, arranged with Chanyeol and Baekhyun in the middle since Chanyeol was the next most susceptible to miscalculating how much affection he needed.

"The biggest ones also need a lot of babying," Jongdae said, watching Baekhyun and Chanyeol curl up against each other, legs tangled, like two puppies seeking body heat. Chanyeol didn't even react, too pleased by Kyungsoo spooning him and Jongdae reaching over Baekhyun's body to squeeze his hip.

Tomorrow, Jongdae knew he and Kyungsoo would sit down and schedule more weekends like these, maybe once every other month. Something more frequent so that none of them would get jealous or overwhelmed by the lack of time together. For now though, Jongdae pressed up behind Baekhyun, but held Chanyeol's hand while Kyungsoo held Baekhyun's, and mumbled a sleepy "I love you" to all of them at once, happy to be exactly where he was with exactly who he wanted to be with.

+

Returning to work was rough. Jongdae was a morning person, but his steps were heavy as he crossed the threshold of his agency's front doors. They had spent yesterday lounging in bed until the late morning, some of it naked again, then Kyungsoo and Chanyeol made brunch, and they lazed about some more, and Jongdae already missed it all. That was going to be the tough thing going forward when they make more time for each other was the inevitable withdrawal immediately after. He wondered how Baekhyun and Chanyeol were feeling at work, and Kyungsoo alone again in their home.

"Welcome back," Junmyeon said, clapping Jongdae on the back when he walked up to his desk. Oddly enough, Jongdae did miss some of his coworkers, Junmyeon being one of them. "How was your weekend? With Baekhyun."

"Hey." Jongdae spun around in his chair and gave his best smile. "It was really great. We didn't want it to end though."

"What did you two do? Did you leave the house?"

"Barely," Jongdae said, laughing a bit sheepishly. "He works so much usually, I guess we didn't even want to go out for food. We ended up ordering in for everything."

"Oh, well, I'm glad you two had a nice time." Junmyeon stood there for a few more seconds, tapping his fingers on the edge of Jongdae's desk. As if he had something more to say. Just as Jongdae was about to ask, though, Junmyeon gave a terse smile and left abruptly.

If Junmyeon was still acting weird at lunch, he'd ask about it then. For now, he resumed clearing out his work email that had piled up while he was out.

+

"We're still on for dinner this Friday?"

Junmyeon nodded as he ate his very responsible looking grilled salmon and vegetables. Jongdae felt no guilt about digging into the fried chicken he picked up from the cafeteria. "Sehun is looking forward to it. Me too, of course."

Jongdae gave a thumbs up. His phone vibrated with a slew of messages in the group chat he had with the other three. It was Chanyeol returning a bunch of selfies after Baekhyun had spammed the group this morning. In them, he made all sorts of silly faces, but in the last one he was blowing a kiss. Jongdae sent back a sticker of a puppy with heart eyes.

"Is that Baekhyun?"

Jongdae set his phone face down on the table. "Hm? Ah, yeah. He's been extra attention seeking today from the separation anxiety." It wasn't a complete lie, Baekhyun did bombard the chat this morning for that reason. "What about you and Sehun? I bet you're hardly thrilled about being back at work either."

Junmyeon prodded at his lunch and shrugged a shoulder. "There are worse jobs to return to," he said, smiling diplomatically. He did the same thing as this morning, hesitating like there's more on his mind.

"Is there something you want to ask me?" Jongdae said, then looked down at himself. "Did I button my shirt wrong?"

"What? No." Junmyeon sighed. "It's nothing. I've just been distracted lately."

"Okay, but you can always stop by my desk to chat," Jongdae said, sucking the grease off his fingers. "I'll take any opportunity to procrastinate on this new project."

"What's the product?"

"Vacuums. All the taglines I've been coming up with are terrible and sound too much like sexual innuendos. When life gets dirty, we suck it up."

Junmyeon laughed. "I'm sure something will come to you soon."

Jongdae stretched his arms over his head and sagged in his chair. Returning to work was a drag, but it was nice to feel productive again. Plus, coming back was the only way to start looking forward to the next vacation.

+

The restaurant Junmyeon told them to show up at was extremely trendy, with a not small crowd outside waiting to get in. Junmyeon always gave off this sense of being a boring, suburban dad, but over the years Jongdae had come to learn that he had fancy taste sometimes.

Baekhyun grabbed Jongdae's hand as they squeezed by all the people and entered the restaurant. Junmyeon and Sehun were already there and Baekhyun waved excitedly when he spotted them. They slid into the booth and the server came by immediately to ask about drinks. After that, they spent the first fifteen minutes just catching up before finally ordering food.

"What did you guys do in Kyoto?" Baekhyun said, back to holding Jongdae's hand under the table. "Did you like it? Jongdae and I haven't been to Japan yet."

Sehun took out his phone and immediately started talking about the places they went to and the food they ate. Jongdae looked at some of the photos too, complimenting Sehun's knack for composition, but mostly it was Baekhyun asking all the questions.

When their food arrived, his phone lit up and a glance told Jongdae it was a photo from Chanyeol. He and Kyungsoo stayed home and Jongdae had a feeling he had strong armed Kyungsoo into taking a bunch of couple-y pictures. It actually kind of sucked that Jongdae couldn't open it right now.

As they waited for coffee and dessert, Baekhyun excused himself to the washroom and Jongdae used the momentary lull in conversation to finally check his messages. Just as he predicted, he had a whole slew of photos from Chanyeol who had somehow gotten Kyungsoo to practically do some honeymoon shoot since half the photos were of them sharing kisses. Jongdae quickly scrolled through them, then laughed when he got to the bottom and saw a new message from Baekhyun who must've also checked his phone just now from the restroom.

8:12pm this is so fucking unfair why are you two so goddamn cute
just wait for me and jongdae to get our revenge

Jongdae sent through some less frustrated hearts and kissy face stickers and told them they'll be back in two hours tops. When he looked up, Junmyeon and Sehun were watching him with visible concern.

"What?" he said, bemused. "Did I grow a patch of gray hair?"

Junmyeon and Sehun shared a glance, then Junmyeon sighed and leaned forward a little, like what he was about to tell Jongdae was a big secret. "You and Baekhyun, you guys are okay?"

"Yeah," Jongdae said, even more confused. "We're great."

"We saw you with someone else," Sehun said. He had never been the type to sugarcoat anything. "Last weekend, at the Italian fusion place in Sinchon. He was tall and you guys held hands and looked like you were going to make out if you hadn't been in public."

That was the place he took Chanyeol to. Had Junmyeon and Sehun been there too? He supposed he hadn't cared much about checking that no one else there knew him.

"Are you sure it was me?" Jongdae said, putting on his best act of ignorance. "What day was it?"

"Friday. You two sat in the corner toward the back. You were wearing glasses and had your hair slicked back all fancy. But mostly your laughing gave it away. We knew it was you before we even saw you."

Jongdae sighed. There really wasn't much he could do to convince them otherwise. He was caught. Baekhyun returned then and slipped back into the seat next to Jongdae, looking at the three of them.

"What's going on?" Baekhyun said, laughing awkwardly. "Did I interrupt something?"

Honestly, Junmyeon and Sehun had been good friends to them for a couple years now and Jongdae didn't like that he'd been keeping a huge part of his personal life from them. It wasn't like he was ashamed. It was just easier navigating social spaces when people thought you had one boyfriend. The "normal" amount of boyfriends a person was supposed to have.

Jongdae turned to Baekhyun. "They saw me and Chanyeol when we were out last weekend."

A knowing look dawned on Baekhyun's face. "I see."

"You know?" Sehun said to Baekhyun.

"About Chanyeol?" Baekhyun said, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with him."

Before Sehun could ask anything more, their server returned with dessert and coffee. Jongdae was happy to busy himself for a moment, stirring sugar into his drink.

"I don't get it, do you guys have some open relationship thing going on?"

"Sehun."

"What? We're all friends. It wasn't accusatory."

Jongdae waved Junmyeon's concern off. "It's fine," he said, and glanced at Baekhyun to gauge how he felt right now. But Baekhyun just shrugged and gestured for Jongdae to keep talking. "It's not exactly an open relationship. It's more that our relationship isn't just me and Baekhyun."

"I don't know what that means," Sehun said, taking a bite of the cake he's sharing with Junmyeon, his confusion clearly not dampening his appetite.

"Baekhyun and I are dating two other people. Together." Next to Jongdae, Baekhyun unhelpfully made jazz hands. "Chanyeol is one of them. The other one's name is Kyungsoo."

There was a stretch of silence, then Sehun sat back and crossed his arms. "Wow," he said, and he kind of looked impressed? But Jongdae couldn't really say for sure.

"What?"

"Jongdae doesn't have one boyfriend," Sehun said, breaking it down for Junmyeon. "He has three."

"Baekhyun started dating Chanyeol first, a little bit before I started at our agency," Jongdae told Junmyeon. "It was kind of shaky for a bit, but then Chanyeol and I started liking each other too. Kyungsoo was someone Chanyeol introduced us to about a year ago. He moved in with us a few months ago."

"You have three boyfriends," Junmyeon said, like he still wanted to make sure.

Jongdae and Baekhyun both nodded. "Foursome dates are kind of complicated to coordinate," Baekhyun said, sipping at his coffee. "Plus it's nice spending time one on one. Jongdae and Chanyeol looked like they were on a date because they were on a date. But I knew about it."

Junmyeon went back to not saying anything. It was a lot to process, so Jongdae couldn't fault him. Sehun seemed to already be fully on board and more amused at Junmyeon's reaction than anything.

"He's been stressing over this for a week," Sehun said, pointing his fork in Junmyeon's direction. "Super worried you were cheating on Baekhyun."

Jongdae just smiled and shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly when Baekhyun's head dropped onto his shoulder. "Unfortunately, I really like this loser beside me for some reason I can't explain."

"Aww, baby," Baekhyun said, making unnecessarily loud kissy noises.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner," Jongdae said, looking apologetically at Junmyeon mostly. "It's kind of hard to bring up in conversation, hey, I actually have two more boyfriends."

Junmyeon's expression softened. "It's definitely not what I expected," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "But I guess I'm glad my friend isn't committing adultery."

"So we should start making dinner reservations for six from now on?" Sehun said, licking his fork clean. "It'll be nice to hang out with someone my height for once."

Both Jongdae and Baekhyun made incredibly offended noises, Baekhyun even going so far as to slap Sehun's hand away when he went for another bite of dessert.

"You guys should come over though," Jongdae said a bit later, sitting back and slipping into a bit of a food coma. "We've mentioned you two to them a few times and I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you."

"I think we'd like that too," Junmyeon said, smiling and Jongdae relaxed a little, glad that the big reveal passed with little drama.

Underneath the table, Baekhyun's hand found Jongdae's and squeezed as if to say he felt the same.

They finally left the restaurant half an hour later, bellies full. Jongdae got into the passenger seat of their car and shared a look with Baekhyun before they both burst out laughing in relief.

"So that's at least two people who are okay with us being in a four person relationship," Jongdae said as they pulled onto the main road. Baekhyun reached over and placed his hand on Jongdae's thigh. "There's hope yet for telling all our parents."

Baekhyun barked out a laugh and stopped at a light. "Let's wait until we get through a few more friends before bringing in family."

Jongdae smiled, but it faded a bit. His family knew about Baekhyun and Baekhyun's parents knew about him. They were all happy for them, but the few times Jongdae felt uncomfortable with only Baekhyun was when he showed up to family dinners just the two of them when he wished he could have brought all of them and have his family see how happy they made him. He'd have to eventually, it was inevitable, and his gut told him that there might be some confusion at first, but it'd all work out in the end. He just hoped that time came quickly.

"Do you wish you could tell them soon?" Jongdae said, watching people outside walk past. In the reflection of the window, he could see Baekhyun look over at him, a bit of concern forming in the wrinkle of his brow.

"Yeah," Baekhyun said, squeezing Jongdae's knee lightly. The light turned green and he turned his attention back to the road. "But it'll happen and my parents will love Chanyeol and Kyungsoo just as much as they love you. I'm actually kind of worried that they'll love the three of you so much that they won't even remember I'm their son anymore."

Jongdae rolled his eyes and smacked Baekhyun's shoulder. "Shut up."

"Don't worry," Baekhyun said, catching Jongdae's hand and kissing the back of it. "It'll all be fine."

Jongdae believed him.

+

When they walked in the door, Jongdae and Baekhyun heard Chanyeol's booming laughter from one of the bedrooms, but then it suddenly got cut short and Jongdae shook his head in amusement, knowing exactly what could get him to do that.

"Should we join them?" Baekhyun said, stretching his arms overhead as he made his way inside the apartment, though stopped after a few steps to wait for Jongdae. He took Jongdae's hand as they shuffled down the hall and headed to the master bedroom.

Inside, Kyungsoo was flopped over Chanyeol's chest, laughing so hard that he wasn't even making any noise, shoulders shaking. He noticed Baekhyun and Jongdae and tried to catch his breath, wiping at his eyes, but it was no good. Instead, Chanyeol lifted his head and waved at them.

"You're back," Chanyeol said, momentarily distracted when Kyungsoo's face pressed against his neck. "How was dinner?"

"Good," Jongdae said, crawling onto the bed. He cuddled up against Chanyeol's other side and combed his fingers through Kyungsoo's hair. "Why is Kyungsoo dying?"

"I was imitating Minseok when he gets mad at the printer at work."

"It's exactly the same," Kyungsoo said, letting out a long sigh when his breathing finally went back to normal. "Uncanny." Chanyeol looked proud.

Baekhyun came up behind Kyungsoo and hugged him from behind. "Hey, guess what."

"Hm?" Kyungsoo said, twisting in Baekhyun's hold to lie on his back and curl his arm around Baekhyun's shoulders.

"We told Junmyeon and Sehun about you guys."

Chanyeol's head shot up. "Seriously? Really? Why?"

"They saw you and me at the restaurant the other day," Jongdae said, twirling Chanyeol's hair between his fingers, making it stick up in odd angles. "Junmyeon was apparently very worried that I was cheating on Baekhyun."

"But Jongdae would never do that to me, he finds me too sexy and charming," Baekhyun said, only for the rest of them to roll their eyes. "Hey! Don't pretend like you don't all feel the same."

No one confirmed Baekhyun's statement, but they didn't deny it either. Kyungsoo did, however, pull Baekhyun more into a headlock position. Jongdae watched them with amusement and got comfortable as Chanyeol adjusted their position slightly, rubbing his nose in Chanyeol's shoulder to pick up hints of his cologne. While Baekhyun went off on a tame rant about how Kyungsoo was so rough with him, Jongdae told Chanyeol about inviting Junmyeon and Sehun over and maybe he and Kyungsoo could cook something.

"Of course," Chanyeol said, smiling wide. "Just tell me when."

"I'm going to make some tea," Kyungsoo said, sitting up and stretching his arms overhead. Behind him, Baekhyun tried to fix his hair and his neck was pink from where Kyungsoo's sleeves had chafed. "Does anyone else want any?"

Jongdae raised his hand and Kyungsoo leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. "It'll be ready in five, but I'm not bringing it to you. Come get it yourself."

Once Kyungsoo left the room, Jongdae sighed and said, "He's so romantic."

He and Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a more detailed rundown of their dinner reveal until Kyungsoo called for Jongdae. Letting out a strained groan, Jongdae crawled off the bed. "You two staying here?"

"We'll probably be out in a bit," Chanyeol said, letting Baekhyun have his turn to cuddle.

Jongdae let them be and ventured to the kitchen where Kyungsoo was leaning against the counter, teapot steeping in front of him while he scrolled through something on his phone. He let his weight fall against Kyungsoo's back, his lips happening to press against Kyungsoo's neck.

"Hi, third boyfriend," Jongdae mumbled, straightening when Kyungsoo did. Kyungsoo poured the tea into two mugs and slid one over to within Jongdae's reach. "How did Chanyeol even convince you to date him and two other people anyway?"

Kyungsoo laughed softly and turned around, blowing softly on his tea before taking a careful sip. He still grimaced slightly at the temperature. "Are you trying to say our overgrown child of a boyfriend doesn't have the best methods of persuasion?" He slipped free and went out to the living room, setting his mug down on the coffee table — with a coaster, Jongdae noted with satisfaction. Kyungsoo sat down and patted the spot next to him, then leaned over to grab a throw that had been draped over the armrest which he spread across their laps after Jongdae settled in.

"I barely kept it together when Baekhyun told me he wanted to date Chanyeol," Jongdae said, extending his legs over Kyungsoo's lap. "Chanyeol never said anything about you taking things badly."

"I didn't, really." Kyungsoo said, scratching his chin in thought, then smiled. "Chanyeol was a bit of a wreck when he brought up the subject. Remember, first he had to tell me he didn't want to be my editor anymore, then he had to explain why he didn't want to be my editor anymore."

Jongdae thought back and realized Chanyeol had carried that nervousness before he even approached Kyungsoo, when he had to confess to Baekhyun and Jongdae first that there was another person he had become interested in. In truth, both he and Baekhyun had already seen it coming. Chanyeol had always been terrible at hiding his emotions and by the time Chanyeol actually sat them down and admitted his attraction to Kyungsoo, they had already seen all the signs and weren't even surprised. It had made the confession a little easier, Jongdae supposed. For weeks, he had listened to Chanyeol go on and on about Kyungsoo and seen the way his face light up when he did. There hadn't been any insecurity or dread because right after each time Chanyeol all but admitted to falling for Kyungsoo, he'd turn around and drown Baekhyun and Jongdae in affection. So when Chanyeol told them what he wanted, it had been easy for Jongdae to give his blessings, because he'd seen the irrefutable evidence already that Chanyeol's heart was just that big to accommodate all of them.

"He was nervous telling me and Baekhyun too," Jongdae said, tapping his fingers lightly against his mug. "But we never heard anything about his conversation with you going badly."

Kyungsoo shrugged. "Maybe if he hadn't been so nervous, I would've completely rejected him for asking something so outrageous. But I'd known him for months at that point and he'd started to mean something to me too and I guess that made me hear him out." He huffed a quiet laugh and rubbed Jongdae's knee underneath the blanket. "You and Baekhyun were a surprise, though. I think I experienced more internal conflict after we started getting close too."

"What do you mean?"

"Agreeing to date Chanyeol when I knew he had two other boyfriends was already stepping way outside my comfort zone, but that was after a lot of serious conversations and consideration," Kyungsoo said, staring down at his lap when he talked. "After I met you and Baekhyun and found that I liked being around you two and eventually thought about things like kissing you, that really made me panic. It always felt like it came out of nowhere and I couldn't tell if it was genuine attraction or it was some sort of weird side effect because Chanyeol was dating you guys too."

Jongdae scooched the tiniest bit closer until he was practically in Kyungsoo's lap, circling his arms around Kyungsoo's waist as he tipped his head onto the other's shoulder. "Did you feel pressured? I always wondered."

"A bit, I suppose," Kyungsoo said, his hand naturally coming up to massage Jongdae's scalp. "Even though Chanyeol said his relationship with you two was a separate thing that had nothing to do with me, it was hard to see Chanyeol without the presence of you guys. By the time he asked me out, I'd already heard a bunch of stories about you. Granted, they weren't in the context of you being Chanyeol's boyfriend, but once I found out it was impossible to ignore."

"So why'd you end up saying yes? You haven't really explained..."

Kyungsoo smiled and looked off toward the bedrooms. "I don't know. Because it was Chanyeol."

"Yeah," Jongdae said after a while, with a gentle sigh. "I know what you mean."

As if Chanyeol knew he was being talked about, a minute later he appeared with Baekhyun on his back. Chanyeol dumped Baekhyun onto the couch next to Jongdae and grimaced as he bent backwards, holding his waist.

"Stop acting like I broke you," Baekhyun said, prodding Chanyeol's hip with his foot. Chanyeol didn't do anything but whine and switch from rubbing his waist to rubbing his hip bone. He turned to Jongdae. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Why Kyungsoo said yes to dating Chanyeol."

"That's obvious," Baekhyun said, pretending to flip his hair back. "It's because Chanyeol came with you and me as a bonus."

Jongdae felt Kyungsoo roll his eyes in the way his head angled away slightly. "That's an incredible amount of self-confidence," Kyungsoo said, taking his hand away from Jongdae's hair to push Baekhyun off.

Undeterred, Baekhyun simply got up and went over to the empty spot on Kyungsoo's other side and sandwiched Kyungsoo between him and Jongdae. "Kyungsoo. You love me and Jongdae just as much though."

Among all of them, Kyungsoo was the most private with his feelings. It wasn't that he was closed off, but he just preferred to show how he felt through actions more than words. It was apparent in the way he knew what tea Jongdae liked best or what soup to make when Chanyeol got sick or when to force Baekhyun to take a break when he worked late while the others all went to bed. So watching him squirm a bit now in response to Baekhyun's statement was amusing. Jongdae made eye contact with Baekhyun and poked Kyungsoo's stomach lightly.

"You don't love us?" Jongdae said, putting on his best pout. His was the most lethal of all, if only because Baekhyun and Chanyeol were too gratuitous with theirs that it no longer had any effect.

Kyungsoo groaned. "Stop," he said, cupping his hand over Jongdae's mouth. "You know I do."

"Then say it," Baekhyun whined, kneeling so he can drape his entire upper body against Kyungsoo.

After heaving a big sigh, Kyungsoo looked Baekhyun dead on and said, completely serious, "I love you."

Jongdae could see the immediate effect it had on Baekhyun, the way his expression faltered from mischievous to unguarded. Baekhyun cleared his throat and looked away, rubbing the back of his neck and scratching behind his ear, both habits of nervousness.

"What," Kyungsoo said, sitting back. "You made all that fuss about me saying it and now you're going to get all flustered?"

"Well. I."

Kyungsoo gripped the back of Baekhyun's neck and made them lock gazes again. "I'm in love with you, Byun Baekhyun."

Baekhyun hiccuped and stood up abruptly, wiping his hands on his pant legs. "I'm gonna get some water," he blurted out and walked away stiffly to the kitchen, shoulders jerking when he hiccuped again.

Chanyeol was dying with laughter and collapsed next to Jongdae, his upper half falling across Jongdae's lap.

"Don't laugh at him," Jongdae said, poking Chanyeol's side, though careful not to get hit by a sharp elbow when Chanyeol's body spasmed as a result. "You'd be just as flustered."

"Not like that," Chanyeol said, rolling onto his back.

Jongdae threw him a skeptical look, then said, "Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo, now clearly enjoying himself, took Chanyeol's hand in his and pressed it to his cheek. "Chanyeol," he said softly, his other hand cupping Chanyeol's face. Honestly, if Kyungsoo ever got sick of being a writer, Jongdae might try to convince him to audition for a few commercials, maybe eventually work his way up to dramas. He definitely had the face and voice for it. "Sweetheart."

Chanyeol's eyes went wide and he bolted up. "You know what, I'm feeling super parched too," he practically shouted, scrambling off the couch to disappear to the kitchen too.

"Is it your turn?" Kyungsoo said to Jongdae, picking up his tea and sipping it calmly. They both laughed when they heard Chanyeol wheeze from the kitchen, "He called me sweetheart!"

Jongdae shook his head. "You flustered me enough on our date," he said, pecking Kyungsoo on the lips. "Plus, I know how you feel."

"Well, that's boring," Kyungsoo said, nudging Jongdae's legs off his lap so he could stand. "I'm going to go terrorize them some more."

The loss of Kyungsoo's warmth was a bit upsetting, but Kyungsoo adjusted the blanket and wrapped it snug around Jongdae's frame. Kyungsoo passed Jongdae's tea to him, then kissed his forehead. Despite what he'd just said, Jongdae felt his cheeks warm and he brought the edge of the blanket up to cover his mouth.

"Freaking adorable," Kyungsoo muttered, shuffling off to confront the other two.

The quiet of their apartment soon descended into minor madness. There started all sorts of yelling from the kitchen, mostly from Baekhyun and Chanyeol demanding that Kyungsoo "stay back."

Jongdae laid back and enjoyed the relative calm in his corner of their home. He took his phone out and opened a new message to Junmyeon, informing him that everyone was excited to have him and Sehun stop by soon. A tiny part of him was worried that perhaps between dinner and now, Junmyeon changed his mind on how he felt about Jongdae's relationship, but not ten seconds later, Junmyeon's reply of "great, I think we're free next weekend" came through and Jongdae didn't know what there was to even be concerned about.

It was starting to get late and Jongdae had been up earlier than usual so he could head into the office and take advantage of the quiet to get a bunch of work done. That was all catching up to him now, wrapped up warm and snug on their plush couch. He finished most of his tea, then gave in and laid down, curled up in the corner. Even the ruckus from the other room wasn't enough to keep him from drifting.

He blinked once, twice. Then nothing.

+

When Jongdae woke, it was dark out and the apartment was still. He wasn't in the living room anymore and the blanket was gone too, but he was just as warm and toasty. It was from body heat, he realized, there being a distinct chest in front of him and another person curled up behind him. The broad shoulders gave away Chanyeol and he could tell the hand resting against his stomach belonged to Baekhyun.

Jongdae was sort of hugging Chanyeol and he reached out carefully to confirm Kyungsoo was right on the other side.

All three of them were dead asleep, their breathing even and deep. Jongdae had lost track of how many times in the past two weeks they've ended up sharing a single bed in a clear break from their usual habits. He didn't really mind and wasn't sure he could argue against this being the most comforting way to sleep, even if it was a bit crowded.

He stayed awake for a couple more minutes, brushing his fingers through Chanyeol's hair slowly. Despite being gentle, Chanyeol still stirred and his eyes fluttered open sleepily. Jongdae smiled a little and pressed their slightly chapped lips together.

"Go back to sleep," Jongdae whispered, practically just mouthing the words.

Chanyeol gave a single, dopey nod and took a deep breath, drawing Jongdae in tighter. It caused a ripple effect as Baekhyun whined behind him and rubbed his face against the back of Jongdae's neck. On the other side, Kyungsoo rolled over and threw his arm around both Chanyeol and Jongdae.

It was a mess of limbs and Jongdae could barely breathe properly, but even so, he was incredibly content. Happy.

Home.