Let's Get Carried Away

2

He gets a call from Jongdae two days later. The loudness of his ringtone startles him a bit, and he yawns as he takes his phone out from where it's trapped in his pocket. It's only eight, but he was already falling asleep in front of the TV.

"Can you believe he kept this from us?" is the first thing Jongdae says.

"Hello to you too," Baekhyun says, reclining back on the couch and reaching for the remote control to mute the TV. "I'm fine, thank you. And you can't really blame him considering he's all the way in America," he notes. Junmyeon left years ago, after all. He doesn't own any of them anything.

"He didn't even announce the engagement on Facebook" Jongdae says, voice just a little bit whiny. It makes Baekhyun laugh. "I feel slightly betrayed. Anyway, I didn't call you just to complain about Junmyeon forgetting about us."

"Oh, but I bet that was an important factor," teases Baekhyun. He takes his forgotten mug of tea from the floor where he'd left it and takes a sip.

"Of course," says Jongdae, nonchalantly, and Baekhyun loves that even after all this time he can still fall in this easy playful routine with Jongdae "But more importantly, I'm calling because Junmyeon's in town, and he wants to meet up this Friday."

Baekhyun tries not to choke on his tea, and has to cough a few times before replying. "When did he get here?"

"About a week ago. Said he needs to start with the preparations for the wedding, and he wants to see us."

"Us as in... all of us?" Baekhyun says, and then takes a careful sip from his cold tea.

"Yeah. You, me, Chanyeol, Jongin, Kyungsoo..." Jongdae pauses then, like he's expecting Baekhyun to say something, but he doesn't, so Jongdae continues. "I think even Sehun and Zitao might make it. And Minseok hyung, too."

"Oh." There isn't really a particular reason as to why, but Baekhyun hasn't seen Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and the others in a while. Mostly it's just been work keeping all of them busy, but that's not all there is to it, because he knows Jongdae sees them relatively often (Kyungsoo doesn't count, though, because Jongdae and him work at the same school, so they have to see each other every day). It's not like Baekhyun's been hiding, exactly, but he still feels guilty, somehow.

He licks his lips. "Okay, I'll–"

"You know," Jongdae cuts in before he can finish. "I can almost hear you overthinking this in that head of yours."

"I'm not overthinking anything," Baekhyun says, but he can practically see Jongdae rolling his eyes at him. "Whatever. Count me in. Are we going to meet his fiancé?"

"Nope," Jongdae says. "He's still in America, but Junmyeon mentioned he's leaving in a few weeks, so I guess we'll meet him sooner or later. And by the way," his voice gets quieter then, like it does when he's sharing a secret. "Remember what I used to say about Junmyeon hyung? I was totally right."

"No," says Baekhyun. "What was it?"

"That the reason why he never dated any girls was very obvious."

Baekhyun shakes his head, but he can't help but laugh anyway. "Okay, Jongdae. You win. See you on Saturday then?"

"Yeah. I'll text you the address. Junmyeon hyung choose the place, obviously. I've never been there, but the name sounds fancy."

"It will definitely be an upgrade from the clubs you take me to, then," says Baekhyun, and ends the call after hearing Jongdae's laugh from the other side of the line.

He yawns again, stretching his arms over his head until his spine cracks, and then collapses back into the couch. If he's honest, the idea of seeing all his college friends again makes him a little nervous, but it's also exciting.

Without the sound of the TV playing in the background or Jongdae's annoyingly loud voice in his ear, his apartment feels awfully quiet. He doesn't give himself time to think much about it, and just gets up and decides to go to bed early. He has a long day ahead of him tomorrow at work, and he'd rather go to sleep with happy thoughts going through his mind.