Left out.

It was possibly the worst feeling in the world for the giant, who was used to being in the loop.

The basketball team consisted of ten members, so each person usually had a buddy.

But now, with Jongin's sight set on Kyungsoo, Chanyeol was left alone.

Sure, he had admirers. Plenty, in fact. Girls and boys alike flocked to him in school, and his follower count on Instagram continued to rise at a steady pace.

But there was something about those interactions seeming cold.

There was no warmth, no spark. Chanyeol found that he wasn't as satisfied as before.

But because he had a reputation to keep, the giant continued to act like seeing those things made him ecstatic. It would be too much to try to explain.

***

Baekhyun shakes his head at his painting. He was currently in his room, working on his latest project. He turns his head to his phone.

The brunet had decided to try out the livestream feature. He had propped the device up on his nightstand, fixing the height issue with a few small cardboard boxes.

"What do you guys think?" The brunet absentmindedly asks, even though he knew the responses wouldn't be very helpful.

He scratches his head. "Maybe I should take a break." He takes his phone off of his nightstand and plops down on his bed, mindful to keep his face on the screen. "Ask me some questions. We'll do a impromptu Q and A. I really don't know what else to do."

The comments section floods in with questions, since the brunet was still pretty vague about himself.

"How long have I been drawing?" Baekhyun chuckles. "For as long as I can remember."

"How's my handwriting?" The brunet shakes his head. "Horrible. I mean, it's legible, but it's still pretty bad. It's more of a scrawl than anything else."

'How old are you?'

"I'm seventeen." Baekhyun pokes his own cheek. "Do I look my age?"

Baekhyun laughs cheerfully at the comments, all of them disagreeing. "I get that a lot."

'Can you drive?'

"No, I can't drive."

He laughs at a few jokes in comments.

'Can you do tutorials?'

"Ah, maybe." The brunet had been thinking about doing so for a while, but never seemed to be able to.

'Do tutorials on YouTube!'

"Oh man, I don't think I'd be very good at editing clips of videos." Baekhyun scratches his nape nervously.

A while later, the brunet decides to return to his work. He sets his phone back up and continues to paint.

He decides to stop live-streaming after he finished the calico print of Chanyeol's glasses. "Well, I guess I'll stop here. I'm sure all of you were getting a little bored anyways." He smiles at the camera and give a little wave. "Bye!"

Baekhyun shuts his phone off and returns to his painting. I guess the hair can wait. Drawing and painting hair was arguably Baekhyun's favorite part about drawing people. It was a bit more relaxing, and not as demanding. Baekhyun could have fun with the strands, unlike the rigid concentration he had while drawing eyes. Drawing eyes is just a pain in the backside.

The brunet sets down his paintbrush and does a once over on himself. No paint. Good.

Baekhyun stares out the window at the setting sun. I want to paint a sunset one of these days. He picks up his phone and types it into his notes.

The brunet glances at some of his Instagram notifications, his heart warming at the praising comments and kind words.

In that split second, the short boy was fully content. I couldn't ask for more in this lifetime.

***

Chanyeol was getting aggravated. Come on! He adjusts the curtains for what seemed the hundredth time. Why is the lightning so bad today?

He shakes his head, giving up. I'll come back to this later. The giant walked downstairs to eat with a sour mood.

Mom and dad aren't back either. Probably another business trip that they 'forgot' to tell me about.

***

"I had a great time today." Jongin squeezes Kyungsoo's shoulder gently. After getting coffee, the pair had taken a stroll down the street, doing a little window shopping and getting to know one another. Kyungsoo has insisted on buying the younger a hat, and now Jongin was sporting a simple black baseball cap that had the words 'keep the faith' stitched on with white thread.

"Me too. You look good in the hat." Kyungsoo holds up two thumbs up. "Here." Without warning, the owl-eyed boy whips out his phone and quickly snaps a picture of Jongin.

In the picture, the sun-kissed boy's eyebrows were raised in surprise, but the goofy grin that had been on his face for the entire afternoon was still there.

"Oh come on! At least tell me when you're going to take a picture."

"I wanted a natural looking one."

"Then here." Jongin takes Kyungsoo's phone, poses, and clicks on the shutter. "Better. What do you want a picture for?"

"Your contact."

"Okay." Jongin taps on Kyungsoo's phone a few times as the shorter's face goes pink.

"Don't-"

"Kyungsoo, why is my contact labeled as Nini?"

"I- I'm-" Kyungsoo takes a few steps back.

"Hey, don't run." Jongin walks over and wraps his arm around Kyungsoo. "I like the nickname."

Jongin slips Kyungsoo's phone back into the owl-eyed boy's jacket pocket. "I like you as well," he murmurs, not really aware of what he was saying.

"What?"

"Hm?"

"What did you just say?" Kyungsoo has a beaming smile on his face.

"I- I-" Jongin suddenly found himself tongue tied. He looks down, embarrassed.

"It's okay, you don't have to repeat yourself. I heard you the first time." Kyungsoo leans against Jongin's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "I like you too," he breathes.

Jongin runs a hand through Kyungsoo's short hair. "Really?"

"Why would I lie?"

"I don't know. This is just hard to take in."

"Then I'll let you court me." Kyungsoo smiles to himself.

"For how long?"

"Until you can give me a proper answer."

"Sounds fair."

"But don't take too long Nini!"

Jongin brushes a kiss on the crown of Kyungsoo's head. "Of course. The nickname is adorable, by the way."

Kyungsoo flushes a pale pink and tightens his hold on Jongin. "Shush."

***

"Yah! Sehunnie!" Luhan calls from his living room. "Want to watch a movie?"

The blonde pokes his head out of the kitchen. "Sure. Which one?"

"I don't really care, you choose."

Sehun sifts through the pile of DVDs that Luhan had in the cabinet under the TV. "This one? I've never seen it."

Luhan puts his hands on his cheeks. "Of course. Out of all the ones that you could have chosen, you choose the one that I was in as an extra," he grumbles.

"What was that?" Sehun pops the DVD into the slot and joins his boyfriend on his couch.

"Nothing." Luhan leans on Sehun's shoulder as the younger grabs the light blanket that was draped on the couch and covers their bodies with it.

"You comfy?" Sehun puts an arm around the older and pecks his forehead.

"Mm-hmm." Luhan snuggles into his boyfriend, loving the scent that he gave off.

Sehun turns his attention to the movie, absentmindedly drawing circles on Luhan's thigh.

Halfway through, Luhan peels his eyes from the screen and prays to the gods that Sehun wouldn't freak out. Please. Please. Please. Plea-

"Bambi? That actor looks like you. Like, he really looks like you." Sehun brushes their noses together. "But he's not as pretty as you." Sehun pauses the DVD and inspects the screen. "Wait a second..."

"Sehunnie, that is me." Luhan plays with his boyfriend's hair. "It's an older movie, we did it a few years back. That's probably why I look a little different. And they made me wear fake glasses."

"No one told me that you were an actor."

"No one ever asked."

Sehun kisses Luhan passionately. "My Bambi's so talented."

Luhan accidentally un-pauses the movie as he reaches for Sehun's hair, but neither really cared. The two of them exchange kisses and sweet words, completely ignoring the TV.

I love us.

***

"Jongdae! Slow down!" Minseok cries out as the easygoing boy barrels into him, the two ending up as a heap of limbs. The basketball rolls out of bounds. The two were in the neighborhood gym, alone. Minseok had suggested the meet up, wanting to work on Jongdae's tactics. "You've got to stop. You get the most fouls on our entire team!"

"Oops?"

"Aish." Minseok tries to get up, not paying attention and accidentally brushing his lips against the younger's. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sor- mmph!"

He's cut off as Jongdae kisses him gently, supporting his head with his hands. "Jongdae! What are you doing!?" Minseok pushes the younger off him, sitting up. "What was that!?"

"I..." Jongdae trails off.

"Well?" Minseok wipes his lips with his sleeve. "Answer me."

- § -

Do you guys like this style, where I go and do little scenes with each set of characters? Or do you prefer the regular format?

As clarification, these scenes all happened at the same time. So as Baekhyun was painting, Chanyeol was struggling, KaiSoo was having a good time, HunHan was having a movie night, and XiuChen was practicing. :)

What do you think will happen to XiuChen? Will Minseok reject Jongdae?

And KaiSoo is sailing! :D

HunHan in this story is now my fluff supply. :)

I know not much is happening between ChanBaek right now, but I wanted to spend time developing the other characters first.

Oh, and there's a drabble in 'Inside My Mind' that relates to this book. Go check it out if you haven't already. :D

Until Friday!

Much love! <3

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