With arms wide open, Baekhyun made his way out the door and headed straight for Kai. Kai walked around the front of the car and was in the midst of opening his arms for Baekhyun. Just before Baekhyun could greet Kai with a hug, Chanyeol grabbed the back of his shirt and started dragging him back towards the front.
Kai opened his mouth to say something, but the look on Baekhyun's face made it seem like he was used to having his happiness shot dead by the tall man. Instead, Kai just wordlessly followed the two. He didn't bothering speaking up on Baekhyun's behalf because of the way Baekhyun decided to shoulder bump Chanyeol into the door frame so he could go inside first. As Chanyeol's entire body was shoved off to the side, Kai watched, realizing that Baekhyun could handle himself, but that Chanyeol couldn't handle him.
Once inside the house, Kai was careful to take off his shoes, but once he stopped and looked around, he couldn't help but be in awe. "Wow...Nice house."
Baekhyun grinned at him and tilted his head. "Thanks!"
Chanyeol glanced his way as he was putting his jacket in the closet. Thanks? The guy was acting like he owned the place. The last time Chanyeol checked, the house was under his name, not Baekhyun's.
Before Chanyeol could say anything, Baekhyun went over to Kai and tugged on him by his shirt's sleeve. "Let's go to my room."
Kai hesitated. He was about to go along with Baekhyun's pull, but then he noticed two other people in the area looking at him. One of them was standing near the kitchen island and was looking at him with big eyes. The other one was blond, looking at him through the sliding door from outside.
"Um." Kai cleared his throat. "Shouldn't you introduce me first?"
Baekhyun smiled. "Sure." His smiled turned a little sarcastic when he looked at Chanyeol. "Well, that's that guy."
Kai and Chanyeol were mentally thinking that Baekhyun would say more, further introducing Chanyeol by his full name, but it wasn't so. Baekhyun quickly moved on, shattering both of the males' expectations.
"That's Kyungsoo. He's the cook. He's also that guy's you know what," Baekhyun said, adding a suggestive wink to Kai, causing Chanyeol to dart his eyes at him in a suspicious, yet confused manner. "The kid outside?" he continued, waving a hand at Sehun. "That's Sehun." Leaning into Kai's ear, he whispered, "He waters flowers like no other..."
Pulling away, Baekhyun began to pull Kai along towards the hallway. "Everyone say good bye to Kai for a while," he said in a cooing voice. "We're going to talk in private for a minute."
Kai glanced around, watching Kyungsoo raise his brows in amusement and watching Chanyeol burrowing his eyebrows, frowning with his jaw clenched tight. He had only been there a few minutes and he could already piece together what everyday life in that house must've been like.
As the two walked away from the main area of the house, Chanyeol was about to follow but Kyungsoo waved his hand and shook his head. "Let him go. You need to lay off him, Chanyeol," Kyungsoo calmly said. "He'll be back anyways."
"They could be cavorting—"
"—or catching up with each other."
Chanyeol groaned, shaking his head. "I'm going," he mumbled.
"What are you planning on doing, Chanyeol?"
"I'm gonna go stand outside that fucker's door," Chanyeol answered back, moving for Baekhyun's room.
"Like that's not weird."
Kai set his bag on the floor before taking a seat in the only chair in Baekhyun's room. Baekhyun followed him with his eyes as he sat on his bed.
"I'm sorry. I don't have anything else comfortable in this room. It's pretty clear that he wants me to live in the stone age." Baekhyun motioned his head to the window. "I can't even open that window. I'm not 'allowed to,'" Baekhyun complained, mocking Chanyeol's deep voice.
Kai quirked his lips. "Should you talk about him like that? He is your—uh, boss."
Baekhyun snorted and shrugged. "He doesn't mind."
"Are you sure about that..."
"Yeah," Baekhyun said, nodding. "He loves it when I don't treat him with respect."
"Uh huh." Kai fiddled with his fingers. "Okay, well listen. Did you talk to him about me? The job?"
"I haven't gotten around to it." Baekhyun hummed. "I'm sure he'll take you in."
"What if he doesn't?"
"He will. One way or another."
Kai gave Baekhyun a look. "Baek, after meeting the guy, I don't think—"
"Shut up and let me handle it," Baekhyun assured. He got up from his bed, walked over, and snatched Kai's backpack up. "What'd you pack in here?"
"Nothing—Baek, stop rummaging through it!" Kai cried as he jumped off his seat.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, kept walking backwards, trying to buy time for himself to continue pulling and pushing things inside Kai's bag. "Shirt, shirt, shirt—oh, some underwear." Baekhyun rubbed his fingers on the fabric as he pulled it out, dropping the bag. "These feel new—are they new? What's the brand?"
Kai groaned as he stalked over, trying to take the underwear from Baekhyun. "Yes, they're new. Brand? I don't know—Baek, come on."
Back against the door, Baekhyun stretched the elastic. "What do you think the constant is for the elastic?"
"Baek," Kai groaned.
"Does it fit all your junk?" Baekhyun asked, seriously. "Did you know that Luke Brooks—he's in some band in Melbourne, Australia, which, by the way, has nice weather—anyways, he wore a speedo at a concert one time and one of his balls slipped out." Baekhyun shrugged. "I just don't want your balls slipping out, Kai."
"They're not going to if I'm wearing something over it," Kai argued. He took a step, holding his hand out. "Now give it back. You're stretching the bands."
"I'm just admiring the elastic capacity of these underpa—"
Baekhyun cried in surprise when the door that he was leaning against was suddenly pushed open, pushing him on the wall next to it. Annoyed, Baekhyun pushed back against the door, hating himself for not bothering to lock it. He only stopped when a hand pulled him from behind the wooden structure.
"Hi," Baekhyun piped, giving the tall, frowning giant a ray of sunshine.
"We need to talk," Chanyeol curtly said. He turned his head over to Kai. "Take your bag and go wait out in the living room." Dragging Baekhyun by the shirt, Chanyeol pulled them out to the hallway, heading to his room.
Practically kicking Baekhyun into the room, Chanyeol watched the guy stumble a bit as he closed and locked the door behind him. As Baekhyun was rubbing his neck, Chanyeol threw a sharp glare his way. "What's this about a job?"
"Hm?"
"You promised him a job here," Chanyeol clarified.
"Wow, you were eavesdropping," Baekhyun said with an amused brow. "Rude."
Chanyeol flicked Baekhyun's lips, causing him to flinch. "What's rude is giving false promises and leading people on."
Cocking his head, Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a light punch on his chest—purposely where his nipple would be. "Is this about you, big guy?"
Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun's hand away. "Stop trying to distract me."
"You're distracting yourself," Baekhyun said, grinning.
Chanyeol rolled his eyes. "Stop it," he growled. "So you told him he'd have a job here."
"He got fired from his last job," Baekhyun argued. "I'm just trying to be a friend."
Chanyeol groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Baek, you can't just tell your friends they have a job here if they ever get fired!"
Baekhyun batted his eyes twice. "Oh, I don't know, Chanyeol. You did say that Kai was my only friend. What 'friends' are you talking about?"
Thinning his lips, Chanyeol gave Baekhyun a disapproving look. "You better go out there and tell that guy the truth."
Baekhyun's sarcastic bravado started to come down. "Chanyeol."
"Don't 'Chanyeol' me," Chanyeol said. "Go out there and tell him."
"Please?" Baekhyun tried. "You hired Sehun to water flowers. He does a good job at it, but seriously, Chanyeol. He gets paid the same amount I do just to get up in the morning and spend ten minutes watering things." Baekhyun raised a brow. "Kai said he'll do anything."
"Baekhyun, I'm not hiring him!" Chanyeol cried. "Here's the situation. You're a misfit. You're a misfit and now, you're bringing another misfit in this house. But here's the thing. I don't want any fucking misfits in this house! You're enough to deal with every moment of the day!"
"Chanyeol—"
"—You're not getting a bike. You're not getting a phone. You're not going to get me to hire your damn boyfriend!" Chanyeol felt utterly frustrated. He didn't know who he was feeling like at the moment, but right then he felt like a father to a dramatic and annoying teenage girl. "And I'll kindly remind you that you don't have any phone rights, you can't masturbate, you can't have other people in your room, and finally, you can't open your window, which I know you do anyways since you forget to close it back sometimes, idiot."
"He used to work for a catering company!" Baekhyun argued. "He can cook—assuming that he wasn't lying to me—"
"Kyungsoo's the cook—"
"Then hire Kai to stand by and blow on your food!" Baekhyun paused. "Wait, let him fan your food. Food absorbs in scent and air so maybe if Kai was chewing mint gum, your food would end up tasting minty and I don't think that you'd—"
Chanyeol covered his mouth. "You need to stop spitting out facts."
Pulling the hand off his mouth, Baekhyun smiled. "I'm only trying to increase your intelligence about the world. Since you stay cooped up in your work room every day, I worry that the only thing you ever think about are bolts, screws, and hydraulics."
Chanyeol was caught off guard by the tone of Baekhyun's voice, but forced himself back on track. "Thanks, but no thanks." With his hand on the door knob, Chanyeol pointed a finger at Baekhyun. "Tell your friend that there's nothing here for him."
"Okay, fine. He doesn't have to have a job. Can he just stay here?"
"There's no room available."
"Bull—" Baekhyun covered his mouth, stopping himself from cursing. Cursing would only decrease his chances of winning the argument. "Chanyeol, I clean your bathrooms. I know that there's three bedrooms in this house with bathrooms that aren't used. They aren't occupied." When Chanyeol kept standing there, giving him a blank look, Baekhyun threw his hands up. "Fine, you don't wanna give a room? He can stay in mine! Like a dog. He can sleep on my lap and lick my face like a dog, too. It'll be like having a pet."
"Baek—"
Baekhyun gasped. "Kai can be like a pet! I mean, he does eat, poop, and sleep, which is what pets do. He also—"
"Oh my god," Chanyeol groaned, slapping his forehead. "You are not getting a fucking human pet—damn that poor guy if you ever make him pretend like he's a fucking dog!"
"Oh, what's this? I can't even own a pet," Baekhyun said, putting his hands on his hips. "Excuse you. Did you know that Kai's apartment complex at least allowed small critters and animals?"
"Yeah?" Chanyeol threw back sarcastically. "You keeping Kai as a 'pet' would be considered slavery."
"Like you denying me of all my rights isn't along that borderline?"
"Buying you a cellphone or getting you a bike isn't a god given right, Baekhyun," Chanyeol cried. "Damn it, it's all about privilege!" He huffed. Then he noticed something in Baekhyun's hand. "What the fuck is that?"
Baekhyun raised a confused brow and looked down. "Oh..." Baekhyun shrugged. "It's just Kai's underwear... It's super elastic and I bet it fits nicely, too. I don't know if the brand's generic, but it's—"
Waving a hand, Chanyeol dissipated Baekhyun's words. "Nevermind. I don't care why you have the guy's underwear in your hands, which you shouldn't even have so you better give it back to him when you march out of this room to tell him the truth."
Knowing that he was losing the war, Baekhyun went up against Chanyeol, standing straight in front of him, meeting him in a stare down. "Chanyeol."
"Baekhyun."
Baekhyun thinned his lips. "He can work."
"And you can go out there and tell him to find work somewhere else."
Baekhyun frowned. "Chanyeol. Really."
"Baekhyun. Really."
Last resorts had to be used. Dropping Kai's super elastic underwear on the floor, Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol by the collar of his shirt. Standing on the tip of his toes, Baekhyun craned his head up while pulling Chanyeol down. Then he started to lick and nip at the bottom of Chanyeol's lips.
Chanyeol was surprised by the current action. At first, he was going to immediately push back, but he then thought that he should just let Baekhyun do whatever he was trying to do, because in the end, he knew that he wasn't giving into the guy.
And it was with this mindset that Chanyeol opened his mouth, taking dominance from Baekhyun, though he occasionally let the guy have control of the situation back again just to make him think that he had the upper hand.
When Baekhyun felt like he had teased Chanyeol into submission, he untangled his tongue, giving Chanyeol one last exaggerated smack on the lips before Baekhyun set his feet back on the ground and let go of Chanyeol's shirt.
Pretending to wipe dust off of Chanyeol's shoulders, Baekhyun looked up at him. "So am I getting a yes?"
Chanyeol smiled as he put a hand on Baekhyun's back while reaching for the door knob. "That was nice and all," he started, twisting the door open. "But the answer's still no," he finished just as he pulled the door open and herded them out of the room.
Chanyeol was a little taken aback by the fact that Baekhyun was walking right beside him as they made their way back to the main living area in silence. In his mind, he thought that Baekhyun was embarrassed for what he had done.
It wasn't until they were near the kitchen that Baekhyun did something. He turned to Chanyeol and punched his employer right on the side. It hurt so bad that Chanyeol thought he had broken a rib and Kyungsoo had to calmly grab a paper towel to wipe the few droplets of tears on his face as Kai and Sehun watched in amusement at the entire scene.