'Cause I want to be free (And I want to be yours)
Author: ANONYMOUS
Recipient: light_chaser08
Title: ‘Cause I want to be free (And I want to be yours)
Word Counts: ~ 9.1k
Side Pairing(s): mentions of Sehun/Lu Han
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): slight profanity, pining!Baek lol
Disclaimer:The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: This is the story of how two unlikely boys meet and fall in love.
Author's Note: First of all, this is dedicated to my lovely recipient! Your prompts were all so nice u_u I really hope you like this eventho I probably strayed from the prompt I chose and it didn’t come out exactly like how I wanted it to but I hope you still enjoy this. I had fun. I’m sorry if this doesn’t meet your expectations and for the ending that was kind of rushed as well sobs uu Second, to T., thank you so much for holding my hand and for listening to me and my dumb ideas and for cheering me on during those times when I wanted to just give up because of all the shit and stress that’s going on in my life. I love you bb girl ♥ Lastly, to the mods, I cannot thank you guys enough, seriously. Thank you for being so patient and understanding with me. Cheers. ;_;
After spending most of his summer vacation wasting time and lazing around 24/7 at home, Baekhyun finally had the chance to go out and use the last two weeks of his summer doing something outside. Though at first, he was hesitant since he was actually contented just by staying at home and doing whatever but with lots of convincing (with a promise of free lunch and dinner) and a bit of threat here and there (“One of these days our house will swallow you whole and you won’t even notice so now I suggest you move your ass and let’s go out!” “But - “ “Or else, Byun.”), he finally agreed.
His brother was able to snag some complimentary tickets for some indie band that Baekhyun doesn’t recognize and gave them to him since his brother can’t attend because of his work schedule. His brother assures him that they’re really great, and he knows his brother will like them.
Baekhyun almost forgets about it, three days later but was reminded of it as soon as Sehun called him later that night, asking him if he wants to hang out tomorrow and get pizza and Baekhyun tells him okay and, “Hey, Sehun, my brother gave me a pair of concert tickets and since I have no one else in mind to bring other than you, you’re coming with.”
Sehun snorts. “Alright, sure.”
“The concert’s on Saturday, by the way.”
“Who’s playing?”
Baekhyun glances back down on the tickets in hands, eyes skimming over quickly before responding. “I don’t know them, uhm, The 1975?”
Sehun says something over the phone but Baekhyun doesn’t catch it. He does hear him hitting something, like maybe his knee on the desk before Sehun curses loudly under his breath, whimpering slightly over the pain. Baekhyun laughs and asks him if he was alright. Sehun ignores him and proceeds to tell him everything he knows about the band, which isn’t much to be honest, telling him they were sort of a new band and that there songs are good and you can’t understand what the vocalist is singing about most of the time because of his heavy accent. (“Also, their vocalist is seriously attractive.” Sehun follows up.) Baekhyun takes it upon himself to Google while he was on the phone with the latter, scanning through their Wikipedia page and humming in response to Sehun’s rambling over the phone.
They end their phone call a few minutes later with a promise to text each other the day after to decide on which pizza place they were getting lunch at.
&&
Standing by the foot of the bed with a hand on his hip and the other pinching his bottom lip between his pointing finger and thumb, Baekhyun is busy contemplating what he’s going to wear for tonight’s concert while looking over at the various pieces of clothing spread out on his mattress. He has three hours to get ready for the concert but here he is, worrying (over what? He has no idea.) on what outfit to pick.
On the other side of his room, Sehun is sitting by the study table, wearing a navy blue muscle tee with some dark skinny jeans that hugs around his slim legs just right and a pair of white worn out, newly bleached converse shoes, watching and half thinking about what outfit works and half thinking of what food to get before going to the venue. Some chicken would be good, Sehun thinks as he stands up and goes to stand next to Baekhyun. The taller male’s eyes immediately fall on a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, grabbing it before placing it on Baekhyun’s arm. “Wear this one; your ass looks fantastic in these pants.”
Baekhyun smirks as Sehun smacks his ass when he passes by and flops on top of the bed. Sehun scoots a bit to avoid lying on any piece of clothing near him because he doesn’t want his best friend to kill him and he still wants to live, thank you. “Also, just wear your favourite graphic tee to go along with them.”
“You think so?” Baekhyun reaches under the small pile to pull out his favourite white graphic tee. Baekhyun catches Sehun briefly nodding as he turns around to inspect his chosen outfit and when he deems it okay, he quickly pulls them on with a pair of black vans to go with. He marches straight to the bathroom to fix himself, brushing his hair to side with a small amount of wax so some of his fringe lifts off touch his forehead. He applies some eyeliner with ease and dabs lip balm on his slightly chapped lips.
He inspects his appearance in the mirror one last time while brushing off inexistent dust of his pants and shirt. Baekhyun doesn’t usually put effort in his appearance when he goes out but for some reason, he has a buzzing feeling that tonight’s going to be a good one. He’s looking forward to have a great time since summer’s almost over and it doesn’t hurt to make himself look extra decent tonight because…just because.
So with a last glance to the mirror, he come out of the bathroom, finding his best friend on the same position he left him, half asleep. “Sehun, I’m ready. Let’s go.” Sehun makes a noise, muttering “Let’s get food first before we go to the venue, Baek”, as he stands up and stretches a bit. Baekhyun pats his pockets to check if his things and the tickets before grabbing his cardigan off the chair. He trudges downstairs, shouts a quick “Bye, Mom! I’ll be sleeping over at Sehun’s tonight. See you tomorrow and love you!” before leaving the house with Sehun in tow.
&&
Holding his best friend tightly by the hips as Baekhyun uses his best friend as a human shield of some-sort while he guides them, they push through the crowd, trying to get closer to the stage. Baekhyun stops once he sees that Sehun is near the barricade, giving Sehun’s hips a squeeze for him to do the same.
Just when Baekhyun is to stand beside his best friend, a figure comes squeezing past him and goes over to the spot next to Sehun. Baekhyun doesn’t hide the annoyed sound that comes out from his mouth because how dare this person, clicking his tongue with a shake of his head. Things like this happen in concerts all the time, especially if you’re going to come and see your favourite band, but this is just rude. This guy could’ve said excuse me or something. Seriously. Manners, please.
After complaining inside his head and muttering a few disgruntled noises here and there, Baekhyun looks up and was met by twin towers in his line vision. Great, the person who rudely took his spot is as huge as his best friend. Okay, maybe the guy was an inch or two taller than Sehun. Refusing to let this ruin his night, Baekhyun calms himself before stepping between Sehun and the rude tall person. “Excuse me, giants, coming through, thanks.”
Sehun snorts, taking a step to the left, bless him really, as Baekhyun gets settled. The speaker boom as a person announces in a monotone voice that the concert will start in a few minutes which caused the people to start shouting in excitement all around them.
Baekhyun hasn’t look to his right left to look at the rude giant as he chats up with Sehun about random things and the rude giant hasn’t apologize yet since he probably didn’t realize that he just pushed Baekhyun aside two minutes ago. After a few moments pass by, that’s when Baekhyun starts to feel something brush the back of his hand. He ignores it at first since it’s probably by accident, with the lack of space in between, but when it happens twice, thrice; Baekhyun chances a look to his left to see if this guy is doing this on purpose or not.
Baekhyun’s breath gets caught in his throat as he feels the guy freeze momentarily beside him once he got Baekhyun’s attention. The tall man is looking at him with apology (and a bit of amusement?) in his eyes though his face remained straight. Baekhyun finds himself eyeing him from top to bottom, eyes skimming from his dark fringe that falls just before his eyes, to the slope of his nose, his soft lips, to his cute ears that stick out, down to his pale neck and collarbones. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, showing off his exposed arms, a protruding line on his arm that suggested he liked to lift, paired with tight pants that cling to an endless pair of legs. God, he was bloody attractive. After giving him a not-so-subtle look over that the giant doesn’t miss, what with the way the corner of his lips twitch into a smirk before the look on his face passes, Baekhyun clears his throat, willing his growing blush away, before giving him a look as if to say, ‘what do you want?’ . Baekhyun doesn’t miss the quick sweep of the giant’s eyes on him and instantly Baekhyun feels warm from the neck up, before the giant opens his mouth.
“Sorry, I just,” The guy starts, and holy shit, Baekhyun did not expect this guy with a baby-ish face to have such a low voice. Baekhyun does not like the way his voice hits him, his heart beating fast in chest in response. Nope. “Were you the guy from earlier -? As much as I want to have a better view of the band and see them, I shouldn’t have, uh, pushed you aside. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. It was rude of me.”
“Oh, uhm,” Baekhyun says after a beat. He was not expecting that. “It’s fine. I understand why you’d do that, I mean, yeah - sort of.” He ends lamely. Baekhyun hopes he made sense.
Honestly, Baekhyun has almost forgotten about the incident earlier since he knew that these kinds of things happen in concerts all the time and this was nothing compared to what he had experienced in the past, they were worse. Baekhyun has let this thing slide the moment he was able to stand beside Sehun.
“Okay. Are you alright though?” The guy has his eyebrows furrowed as he leans slightly to the side to look at Baekhyun. The way he looks at him has Baekhyun’s heart threatening to jump out of his chest. God, he needs to. Be calm.
“Yeah, I am. Thanks for asking.”
“Okay, good.” The guy leans back, shifting from one foot to put his weight on the other. Baekhyun watches as the guy looks away, focusing his attention on something else as their short conversation ends. Baekhyun debates whether he should ask the guy for his name or something but before he was able to open his mouth to speak, he feels someone pinch his side and he yelps in response. He looks to his other side to find Sehun smirking, this little shit. “What.” Baekhyun whispers loudly.
“The concert’s about to start.” Sehun says, smirk still present on his face, looking at Baekhyun and the giant stranger back and forth with a knowing look on his face with his eyes, and Baekhyun wants to punch him. And as if on cue, the lights in the venue dim and the whole place immediately bursts into screams and the bodies around them start moving in anticipation and excitement.
Baekhyun glances back at the attractive giant stranger, sending him a small smile to which the latter mirrors. Baekhyun mouths a ‘sorry’ even if doesn’t have to, apologizing for their ruined moment because of Sehun. He doesn’t know if the guy gets it but he chuckles and tells him, “Have fun.”
“You too.” Baekhyun responds, and he hopes the guy heard it because as soon as he said it, the crowd gets louder as the vocalist of the band, Matty, appears on stage. The first song comes on as the drummer starts the beat of the song and Baekhyun immediately loses himself into music and to the sound of Matty’s voice as it echoes loud and clear all throughout the whole venue.
&&
The concert passes by in a blur, with the crowd wild and responsive, and Baekhyun finds himself enjoying, just like what his brother said he would. Aside from the fact that Matty is hot as fuck, like Sehun said himself and Baekhyun agrees 100%, with his voice slaying the crowd, Baekhyun relishes in the moments in between. As the crowd continue to bustle around, halfway through the song, Talk!, a couple of girls pushed passed between Baekhyun and the attractive giant. Baekhyun, annoyed and threatening to shout, stays quiet, opting to roll his eyes and focus back on the stage. He turns to the side and catches the giant stranger looking pissed as well and as he looks back at Baekhyun, he shrugs after shaking his head. Baekhyun gives him an ‘I know right’ look before focusing back on the stage.
Needless to say, the barrier between them did not stop them from exchanging quiet interactions with one another, which could also counted as flirting - if the way they look at each other during certain parts of each song launched as if they’re sending secret quiet messages to each other are anything to go by. In these moments, it feels like they’re the only ones in the whole venue, the people around them tuned out except for the Matty’s voice crooning in the background. The constant flutter in his chest and the buzz running through his veins is making him a bit dizzy but he’s not complaining. Baekhyun doesn’t know what this is or what is going on, honestly, but he likes it. He likes it a lot.
I, I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you
And on this night and in this light
I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you
Maybe you'll change your mind
&&
As soon as the concert ended, Baekhyun and Sehun found themselves gushing over how amazing the band was tonight. Baekhyun was so caught up with his and Sehun’s conversation, that he failed to notice a figure passing by him, a hand coming up to brush against the back of Baekhyun’s hand that instantly sent a wave of sparks underneath his skin. Unfortunately, before Baekhyun was able to respond and maybe, call him out and finally ask for his name but when he turned around, Giant Stranger was already gone, lost in the sea of people leaving the venue.
&&
It had been a week since his encounter with the Giant Stranger.
It’s been constantly on his mind; sometimes it would come to him in random times, a passing thought, most of the time, it would stick to his mind like gum and he would find himself thinking about that encounter over and over until he was sure he would get over it or forget about it the next day but that doesn’t happen.
He tries to forget about it by telling himself that Giant Stranger has probably moved on in his life and has already forgotten about him and he should do the same. (Sehun teases him about his summer fling, singing Summertime Sadness on the top of his lungs that earned him multiple punches on the shoulder and a pillow hitting his head. “Shut up, Sehun!” Sehun only cackles in response, the little shit.)
Before Baekhyun knows it, he’s back to school for the start of a new term. Hopefully, school will be able to take his mind off a certain giant and distract him until he’s just a memory in the back of his head.
&&
Settling down on his seat, located at the first row with his seat located near the windows, Baekhyun sighs and fixes his glasses. A few of his old classmates from last year pass by him to ask how his summer was and he responds by telling them it was great although he spent most of time at home lazing around like a sloth that earned him a laugh before he asks them how theirs was. They talk for a few minutes before they leave Baekhyun, settling on the other side of the room.
He briefly looks around his room; the room is filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces because of the yearly reshuffling. Luckily, this year, he’s in the same class as his best friend as he slams the door open and once his eyes landed on Baekhyun, a huge smile breaks on his usually stoic face and he lunges after him, hugging him tight like they didn’t just see each other like literally two days ago. “We’re in the same class again, Baek! I missed you!”
“Yeah, well I don’t because I’m sick of your face. Get off me, you goof!”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh but I do, sorry not sorry.” Sehun pouts exaggeratedly in response. Baekhyun rolls his eyes at him before sitting down again, his best friend right after, choosing the seat next to him.
Once their teacher enters the room, everyone goes into their seats and greets the teacher all at the same time before sitting down. Mr Yoon has just started checking the class’ attendance, when the door at the back suddenly slides open and a figure comes in, walking slowly toward his seat. Baekhyun briefly turns his head to see who it is, catching a sight of wild red hair and huge ears, before facing forward.
“I’m glad to see that,” Mr Yoon momentarily looks at his wristwatch before looking at the student that just arrived. “You’re here early for a change, Park.”
The teacher receives no response and resumes checking the attendance. Once he’s done, he calls for everyone’s attention by tapping his pen on the table.
“Okay, everyone, listen up. Today, I have some good news for all of you.” The students started talking simultaneously and Mr Yoon calls for their attention once again. “As I was saying, I’m pleased to introduce to everyone our new student in class. Please come in, Lu-ssi.”
As soon as the teacher finished talking, the sliding door opens and a brunette student comes in with bright eyes on a small face. He stops beside the teacher, slightly fidgeting and playing with his sleeves, not knowing what to do with hands. Mr Yoon gives the student a smile and gestures for the student to introduce himself. The student stops fidgeting, dropping his hands to his side to stand straight and face his new class.
“Hello everyone, my name is Lu Han. I just moved here from Beijing, China. It’s nice to meet all of you. Please treat me well!”
He ends his short introduction with a ninety-degree bow. Lu Han blinks multiple times, a habit of his, before smiling broadly that caused majority of the class to fuss and squeal at how adorable he is. Baekhyun gives the student a small smile when their eyes meet as Lu Han scans the class fleetingly. He hears Sehun, gasp lightly and when he turns to look at him, Baekhyun can see him covering his mouth with his hand subtly, trying to control his reaction like he’s trying not to get affected by the new student’s smile. Sehun’s red ears say otherwise. Baekhyun chuckles lightly and faces forward again when their teacher calls out for the class’ attention.
“You may now take your seat on the vacant seat at the back, Lu-ssi.” Mr Yoon says, while taking out some papers from his messenger bag. Lu Han bows at him before going to his seat next to the redhead at the back, sleeping quietly, with his head down and earphones plugged in.
&&
The first week of classes pass by in a haze of papers and syllabuses passed around by their teachers for their subjects to be taken this year, of students going through the adjustment period because most of the students are still in vacation mode, and getting to know new faces in class.
Baekhyun is not one to go into big groups of friends; Sure, he likes talking to his fellow classmates, bonding over the shared interests and hobbies but that’s all there is to it. He turns down the offers he gets to hang out with them after classes. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t like the attention he gets from people. He has always wanted to lay low, just blend into the sea of students, live a busy and quiet student life without standing out too much. But deep down, he knows that the reason why he’s like this is because he’s afraid of being judged, of people going behind his back and stabbing him, of people who will just use him and put him aside after they’re done with him.
He has learned that the hard way in the last year of middle school, vaguely remembering the time where he accidentally overheard his supposed ‘friends’ talking about their plan on getting answers during their history exam and that someone like him, no matter how annoying he is, as they said, was worth something.
After that, he’s been wary of the people around him, and lived by the words his mother told him to choose his friends wisely and stick by people who will choose to stay and earn his trust. Two years later, he met his best friend, Sehun. He was a quiet and lanky kid kept to himself; he was painfully shy and was always alone. They kind of, just, happened and it was all because of Baekhyun accidentally spilled his milk all over him after approaching him one day to seat beside him.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry! It wasn’t on purpose, I swear!” Baekhyun sniffs, frown forming on his face.
There was a moment before Baekhyun thought he ruined his chance to make friends with someone who he thinks is on the same page as him, in a way, before Sehun told him “It’s okay.” Before continuing it with an “It’s not worth crying over.” Baekhyun who was frantically trying to dab his shirt with a paper towel, gets the lame pun a beat later, and they have a good laugh before they introduced each other.
&&
It’s a week after before they were given their first school project.
Their History teacher, Ms. Kwon, tells them to pair up for this project. Ms. Kwon told them that they were required to do a report and a research paper and failure to do this project will affect their grades greatly.
Baekhyun instantly reaches out for Sheen’s hand automatically and Sehun squeezes his hand in response as the rest of the class find their own partners. Ms Kwon stopped in front of Baekhyun’s seat. “Yes, Ms Kwon?”
“Baekhyun, dear, I have a favour to ask of you.” Ms Kwon says, and Baekhyun nods his head in response for her to continue.
“Is it okay if you become Park Chanyeol’s partner? I heard he’s quite the troublemaker, that kid. He hasn’t been attending all of his classes after the first day and the other teachers are already worried that if he keeps doing this, he’s going to miss out on a lot of things and I want you to keep an eye and make sure he does his work.”
“But why me, Ms Kwon? Why can’t the class president do it? Jongdae?”
Ms Kwon just gives him a look. “But I entrusting this task to you.”
“Okay, Ms Kwon, I’ll do my best.” Baekhyun knows better than to argue with his teacher so he doesn’t push it.
“And I trust you that you will. Don’t worry, he may be a troublemaker but he’s actually a really smart kid. Too bad he’s just…wasting his time on other less important things.”
“Okay. Is he here right now?”
“Well, you’re in luck because he’s present today. He’s at the back, next to Hyeri.”
Baekhyun glances back and catches sight of a familiar red head, he’s spotted twice or three times last week. He’s not sure why he doesn’t notice him because his hair sticks out like a sore thumb but Baekhyun rarely turns back during classes and every time he stands up to leave after classes, the seat at the back is already empty so maybe that’s why.
Baekhyun sighs and turns to Sehun, who looks saddened by the sudden turn of things. “Sorry, Sehunnie.”
Sehun nods in understanding. They can’t do anything about it because Ms Kwon is the type of teacher that when she decides on something, there’s nothing you could do to stop her or make her change her mind.
Baekhyun reluctantly stands up and walks over to the hunched figure, with his earphones plugged in once again. Baekhyun sighs. He might as well get this over with so they can immediately start on the project.
He prods the sleeping boy on the arm a few times to wake him up. He gets his first response by the boy groaning and turning his head away from him. Baekhyun starts shaking him by the arm as he calls out, “Hey, wake up. We’re still in class you know. Wake up!”
He shakes him a few more times, already growing a bit exasperated because seriously, who even goes to school just to sleep that is just -
His train of thought gets cut off when a hand darts out to grab his wrist. He freezes as the boy on the desk groans, slowly lifting his head while he rubs the sleep out of his eyes. He blinks his heavy eyelids a few more times before looking at the boy in front of him and - Oh.
This can’t be. No way. What the hell. This can’t be - oh my god. Is fate playing games with me?
Baekhyun’s eyes visibly widen behind his specs as a million thoughts pass by his head before going blank as the boy looks at him, irritated. This boy - he - this can’t be real. This can’t be Giant Stranger. This is -
But it is him, there is no doubt. He looks different, almost unrecognizable; His dark hair was replaced by a fiery shade of red, his fringe shorter with the sides of his head shaved. He notices a few piercings on both of his ears and a tattoo peeking out from underneath the long sleeves of his school uniform. His appearance made a drastic change from the last time he saw him (Though now Baekhyun was doubting if he ever saw everything correctly that night or if there were things about he failed to notice during that night.). But despite the change, he still looks attractive. Beautiful. Gorgeous even. There’s no doubting that.
He can’t forget those eyes and how they looked at him that night, a look that was hard to explain and Baekhyun’s feels butterflies in stomach once he remembers that night again. Oh God. But he just has to confirm if it’s true because Baekhyun can’t seem to handle this right now.
“A-are you Park Chanyeol?”
The boy - Chanyeol - tilts his head in acknowledgment. Once he got to look at Baekhyun properly, recognition flashes in his eyes as he gives Baekhyun another look over that caused Baekhyun’s heart to skip a beat. Chanyeol sits up straighter, his expression morphing into a look of surprise and disbelief. “You - you’re the guy from the concert that night -“
Oh my god, he remembers me. Oh my god this cannot seriously be real. Baekhyun’s heart is going into frenzy and his insides are turning up like the butterflies just multiplied five times. Baekhyun feels like he’s going to faint.
“Yeah, uhm, hi.” Baekhyun replies, trying to sound nonchalant and unaffected. He’s cool. He’s got this under control. “I’m Byun Baekhyun. I’ll be your partner for our History project. It’s nice to meet you, Chanyeol.” His voice almost breaks at the end (His body is betraying him.) when he mentions Chanyeol’s name. Chanyeol. (He likes the way his name rolls out of his tongue.)
“Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol echoes. Jesus Christ. “Finally, a name to match the face that’s been haunting me in my dreams ever since that night.”
This…this guy can’t be serious right now, is he?
“I’m Park Chanyeol. It’s nice to finally meet you too, partner.”
&&
Baekhyun ends up telling Sehun all about it after classes as they walk home together. Sehun couldn’t believe it either, telling Baekhyun in a joking way that this is like one of those scenes from those Korean dramas. Baekhyun scoffs and tells him to just go and flirt with the new Chinese student transferee and that’s when Baekhyun finds out, as Sehun turns into a blushing mess that he and Lu Han ended up being partners after Baekhyun left his seat.
Baekhyun teases him about it, cooing over how cute they’d look if they got together. They proceed to tell each other more about their crushes, going all silly and giggly in the middle of the streets that earned them a few judgmental stares but they don’t care.
They part ways later with matching goofy smiles on their faces.
Fate really is full of surprises.
&&
Turns out, Park Chanyeol has quite the reputation of being the class’ delinquent who always stood in his own corner, choosing to stay away from social groups and opting to go on about his own business as he tunes out everyone. He was always by himself and people usually don’t see him around since he disappears most of the time to god knows where.
Chanyeol still doesn’t attend some of his classes, which irks Baekhyun, because he’s wasting his education away by cutting. When Chanyeol does attend, he spends his time not paying attention. Since this is the first time they’ve been put into the same class, Baekhyun took it upon himself to ask Chanyeol’s former classmates if they had any idea what was going on with Chanyeol and why he’s like this. Most of them say that they have no idea since nobody every dares to approach him because of what he is, afraid of the kind of reaction they’ll get out of him since it’ll be like invading someone’s privacy.
There’s also the fact that Chanyeol still manages to pass quizzes and exams with high marks which most of Chanyeol’s former classmates (and Baekhyun, after hearing about it) find astonishing. How Chanyeol do it, he has no idea, really. Baekhyun has a feeling that Chanyeol’s a prodigy or something.
He was not expecting the object of his affection to be this…different. He was different from what he thought he would be but that doesn’t stop the curiosity and these whatever-it-is he feels when it comes to the object of his affection.
&&
They talk to each other for the first time ever since their fated meeting during lunch.
A proper talk that is.
Because for the past few days, their interactions consisted of fleeting touches, of catching each other staring and looking away only to look again moments later, of smiles secretly being exchanging, and greeting each other when they see each other by the hallways. All the recent happenings that made Baekhyun go nuts in every way possible. It gave Baekhyun this sort-of déjà vu feeling in his stomach; he feels like it’s not enough, like he’s on the edge waiting for something to happen but then there’s nothing.
So after talking to himself a million times in his head to just man up and a few talks with Sehun telling to just go and talk to him already because all the pining is making him go crazy, Baekhyun took it upon himself to approach the giant during lunch. Setting his lunch down and taking a seat across him, Baekhyun cleared his throat to get the other’s attention. Chanyeol tore his eyes away from his phone and looked up. As soon as he saw Baekhyun, his eyes visibly lit up, crinkling slightly.
“Hi.” Baekhyun starts, nerves already kicking in.
“Hello.” Chanyeol responds, turning his full attention on Baekhyun after locking his phone and placing it on the table.
“So, uh, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. How ‘bout you?”
“I’m great, thanks for asking.” Baekhyun tears a piece from his sandwich before popping it into his mouth.
“That’s good.” Chanyeol nods, just watching Baekhyun eat. Baekhyun flushes from the attention but continues eating anyway. “So, Baek,” Baekhyun almost chokes at the nickname. “What are you doing here?”
The tone of his voice wasn’t unwelcoming, more of a curious one with a hint of a teasing one added to it. “Do you mind?”
“I don’t mind, actually.” Chanyeol moves his hand to cradle his jaw as he continues to watch Baekhyun. “People don’t usually go to my table so I’m not used to it.”
“Well, here I am. I just wanted to, uhm, talk to you? About our project and other stuff. Also, to maybe, get to know you better?” Baekhyun’s almost whispers the last part, voice coming out shy and he almost wants to slap himself because what is he doing seriously.
Chanyeol, who he noticed, was clearly not expecting that so he looks kind of stunned by Baekhyun’s response before his lips break out into a small grin. “Sure. I’d like that.” Baekhyun beams back at the response.
As Baekhyun finishes his lunch, he cleans the table and pulls out the notebook he brought with him so they could start discussing about what they plan to do.
After the initial awkward stage of small talk and the conversation that only revolved around their projects, Baekhyun finds out talking to Chanyeol wasn’t hard like he kind of expected it to be. They hit it off like they’ve known each other forever, switching from one topic to another as they talk about anything under the sun, to sharing dumb jokes and puns in-between (most of which come from Baekhyun himself. This is what he gets from hanging out with Sehun too much.). As lunch period ends with a loud ring of the school bell, a signal for them to start getting their stuff for the next period, Baekhyun tells Chanyeol, with a finger to his face and a glare for him to attend the next class. Chanyeol rolls his eyes at him and tells him “I do whatever I want, Baek.”
Baekhyun gives him a stern look, telling him to attend his classes or else he’ll fail. Chanyeol just ruffles Baekhyun’s hair. “Don’t worry too much, Baek. I’ll see you later.”
&&
Chanyeol doesn’t attend the first class after lunch period but he does attend the next ones after.
Well, at least he didn’t cut in-between even if he spends the last subject sleeping. Baekhyun prides it in himself, a tiny bit, that maybe, just maybe, he may have changed Chanyeol’s mind. Or became the reason why he’s attending his classes but he’s not going go ahead of himself because this is only the start.
&&
They don’t stop talking after that day.
Over the course of two weeks, Baekhyun finds himself within the same radar as Chanyeol. So far, Baekhyun has learned that Chanyeol has an older sister and that his parents are divorced. He lives in an apartment away from his Mother, who moved to their province in the south after the divorce and he has a dog named King. He also learns, briefly, about the reason behind his actions and the way he looks, Chanyeol tells him it just kind of happened after his parents’ divorce and when his sister moved out and left him for college. Chanyeol tries hard not to show any weakness but Baekhyun can see it in his eyes and he can’t help but reach across and hold his hand tightly and telling him silently with a look that says ‘I’m sorry this happened to you, I’m here, and You’re not alone’. Chanyeol shakes his head lightly, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand back and telling him, “It’s okay.”
They find out that they have a lot in common than they thought, bonding over their love for music and indie bands. (Chanyeol promises to lend Baekhyun his copy of The 1975’s first album and his favourite album of Radiohead.)
They sit together during lunch, because it’s become a thing now, a habit, perhaps that Baekhyun just casually drops by his lunch table and Chanyeol doesn’t tell him to go away either so then there’s that. Later on, Baekhyun arrives with Sehun in tow and the latter also became a part of the lunch table. Again, Chanyeol looks like he doesn’t mind since he was the first one to greet Sehun once he’s sat down with a wave.
At first Sehun was quiet since he was honestly quite intimidated by Chanyeol but later finds himself opening up little by little, finding himself joining Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s conversation. Baekhyun is glad Sehun isn’t bothered or uncomfortable when it comes to Chanyeol despite his initial impression. He’d be disheartened if he knew that his best friend didn’t like Chanyeol or isn’t going getting along with him.
(Later on, when they were going home, Sehun speaks up for the first time ever since they left school. “I like him, Baek. He’s was intimidating at first but he’s okay once you get to know him. I approve.” Baekhyun laughs in response, grabbing his best friend close and giving him a tight hug. “Thanks, Hun.”)
People started to notice them; Baekhyun can’t blame them since they were bound to notice, finding their little clique a bit odd. They were probably expecting them not to get along with each other since their group was a group of ‘opposing forces’ if there was a term for it. Like they weren’t all on the same wavelength or something.
Baekhyun just ignores them; their opinions don’t matter anyway.
&&
Chanyeol invites Baekhyun to come over at his apartment.
They were going to finalize their project and hang out afterwards. Baekhyun accepts, not minding it at first but once he finds himself walking down an unfamiliar street to where Chanyeol’s apartment, his thoughts, going in-sync with his rapid beating heart and crazy nerves, start going on a rampage. Thoughts like, ‘This is the first time I’ll be going to another person’s house beside Sehun’s?’, ‘Oh my god do I look okay?’, and ‘I’m going to spend time outside of school with Chanyeol. For the first time. Alone.’
Alone. With Chanyeol.
Baekhyun feels his face heat up as he cradles his face in his hands, patting his cheeks repeatedly while mutters, “Get a hold of yourself, Byun Baek.” repeatedly to himself. He doesn’t want to think about what might happen later on but he does end up thinking about something else entirely. It’s subject he has yet to fully understand. Two days ago, he had a talk with Sehun about this, about all these crazy thoughts, the things that he feels whenever Chanyeol just pretty much appears anywhere within the same place, and how he can’t stop thinking about him during the moments wherein they were not together, and all Sehun could say in the end was: “You like him, hyung.” And it hits Baekhyun like train. His best friend was right. He really does. He doesn’t think it’d become like this and it’s crazy.
But the thing is, he doesn’t know if these feelings are reciprocated. He doesn’t know if he’s reading into things too much, if the way Chanyeol is looking at him is just an illusion, and that all the teasing and the gentle touches Chanyeol does is just his way of being ‘friendly’ and that it’s nothing to him. He doesn’t know if he’s reading Chanyeol and his actions right since this is all new to him. He does have strong feeling that the connection between them is strong like there’s no denying that. But. Still.
He’s had his crushes in the past, both guys and girls, but they were just short-term ones, the type of crushes he doesn’t want to pursue or just goes away easily. With Chanyeol, it’s like he can’t help but drown in an endless pit of feelings, like he’s fine but at the same time he’s not breathing at all and all he wants to do is just grab the boy and hold him and kiss him. Chanyeol just has this presence that Baekhyun can’t help but get drawn to.
He sighs. Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do, honestly. He’ll just have to go hold these damn feelings in for as long he can and just see. After all, he has plenty of time to figure things out and plan how he’s going to tell Chanyeol (If he has the courage to, maybe).
Baekhyun arrives in front of the apartment. The building looks average but has a good air to it despite it being pretty old. He stops to check his phone and sees that he has a new message from Chanyeol telling him to go to room 707 and to tell the landlord downstairs his name so he can get in. He gets ridiculously giddy every time he receives something from Chanyeol through text ever since they exchanged phone numbers.
Baekhyun passes by the said land lord once he steps inside the building, a friendly old lady who greeted him chirpily. Baekhyun returns the greeting, telling her his name and that he was here for Chanyeol. The old lady gives him a smile and then: “Oh, so you’re the boy that Chanyeol was talking about.” What. “What a lovely boy you are. Tell me, Baekhyun, are you his boyfriend?”
“What - excuse me, uhm. No, Ma’am, I’m not.” Not yet. Or ever. Baekhyun thinks, sadly.
“Is that so? I thought… Chanyeol, he just…” The old lady trails off and before she was able to speak again, Baekhyun beats her to it.
“I need to go, Ma’am. It was nice to meet you. I’ll be going now.” Baekhyun gives her a bow before going to the direction of the elevator. He vaguely hears the old lady say ‘ah, the complications of young love.’ before the elevator slides close.
&&
The door to Chanyeol’s apartment swings open a few moments after Baekhyun knocked twice. Chanyeol is wearing an old faded band t-shirt with sweats, barefoot, while rubbing his sleepy eyes as he greets Baekhyun. His hair is down and unkempt that Baekhyun finds strangely endearing, he doesn’t have his piercings on, and his arm tattoos are out, Baekhyun notices when Chanyeol lifted his right arm to greet him. (Baekhyun would have to ask him about them later.) He looks so good that Baekhyun just wants to cry and bury his face in his chest and breathe in his scent.
“Hey, Baek. Come in.” Chanyeol steps aside to let him in and Baekhyun steps inside and immediately removes his shoes to put them aside.
Chanyeol gives him a brief tour of the place, pointing to where his room is that’s across the bathroom, leading him inside the living room that’s right next to the kitchen. The place was neat, a good balance of black, white, blue, and brown all over the place, and had a home-y and warm overall feeling into it. It suits Chanyeol.
Chanyeol makes him sit on the black sofa in the middle of the living room in front of a television that’s playing re-runs of a Korean drama that Baekhyun is familiar with but can’t pinpoint what the name is.
“Do you want anything?” Chanyeol asks him once Baekhyun is settled down, pulling his notebooks and pen out of his bag. Baekhyun sets down his things on the coffee table in front of him.
“Just a glass of water, please.”
“Coming right up.” Chanyeol leaves to the kitchen and once his back is turned, Baekhyun gives himself a chance to breathe out and calm himself.
Chanyeol comes back with a glass of water in his hand and a few bags of chips on his other hand. He joins Baekhyun on his place on the floor with his back leaning on the sofa.
Immediately, they start discussing about their project, talking about the concept and the terms, pointing out the important things they should be focusing on the report and on the paper. Baekhyun finds himself just watching Chanyeol as they talk, just looking at him and how he uses his gestures to prove a point or to explain, listening to the deep baritone of his voice that sends small chills down his spine, still not used to the stark contrast of his voice to his face, and finding himself drawn to his lips - his tongue coming out to lick his plump bottom lip. Baekhyun must look really idiotic right now, ogling at his crush blatantly and he has to stop, he really does, but he just can’t seem to stop staring at Chanyeol and his -
“Baek? Are you okay?” Chanyeol’s questions snap him out his trance. A blush immediately spreads on Baekhyun’s face, guilty of being caught staring and possibly drooling over his crush as Chanyeol smirks at him knowingly. Baekhyun catches a glint in his eyes that he chose to ignore.
“I-I’m fine.”
“You sure?” Chanyeol shifts closer without Baekhyun noticing, too busy trying to scold himself mentally all the while trying to keep the blush off his face.
“If you say so.” Their knees brush as Chanyeol moves in his place to stretch out his legs underneath the coffee table, copying Baekhyun’s position. Baekhyun feels the familiar buzz beneath his skin whenever Chanyeol touches or brushes against him and it sends a warm feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t move away. “So, as I was saying, I think we should…”
&&
They spend an hour and a half over the project, finalizing everything they need to do until they were done.
They spent the time after that just talking, telling stories of any kind to each other. Baekhyun decides it’s time he ask about Chanyeol’s tattoos.
“Chanyeol, can I ask something about your tattoos?”
“Go ahead.”
“What do they mean? What’s the story behind them if you don’t mind me asking?” Baekhyun points to his arms and Chanyeol showcases him the three tattoos he has on his forearms. Chanyeol looks over them before looking at Baekhyun and shrugging.
“Like I told you before, they just happened.” Chanyeol points at the first two lines on his right forearm, leaning forward so Baekhyun can see better. Baekhyun moves closer, and because he couldn’t resist it, he lifts a hand and starts tracing a line from where the tattoo starts to the end of it. “Suavitre suaviter in modo, fortiter in re. ” Chanyeol reads and Baekhyun realizes these words were in Latin. “Which means, ‘gently in manner, firm in action.’ ”
Baekhyun nods, his eyes following the movement of Chanyeol’s lips as he spoke. “The second one underneath this one is solum omnium lumen which means the sun shines everywhere.” Baekhyun traces his finger on the lines lightly, feeling Chanyeol shiver slightly under his touch. Baekhyun smiles to himself when he noticed. Chanyeol shows him his other forearm. “This is the last one, my latest one, si me amas, serva me, and that means if you love me, keep me. ”
The way the tattoos were carved into his skin, the gentle strokes and the curves of each words, were beautiful. For some reason, they match Chanyeol as well. Like Chanyeol’s arms were made to have pretty tattoos scattered on on it. Baekhyun can’t stop looking at them, scanning them in awe. “I got them during those times when… I just didn’t feel like myself. When I was so lost and depressed because of the situation with my parents. In a way, these were kind of a reminder to me of what I am, of who I am.”
“I see, “ Baekhyun replies, eyes fixated on the words as he continues to drag his finger on them. Chanyeol’s explanations were always so short and straight to the point, leaving details behind. Baekhyun understands. Maybe he can hear the full story of these tattoos on another day. He doesn’t want to push it if it makes Chanyeol uncomfortable. They have all the time in the world anyway.
Baekhyun was about to change the topic and suggest they should get some food but stopped when he looked up to find Chanyeol gazing at him with a look on his eyes that has Baekhyun’s heart leaping in his throat. It’s that kind of look, the familiar look he had in his eyes like the ones he had during that night in the concert venue mixed with something else - uncertainty? Fear? Want?
Desire swirls inside Baekhyun stomach, his nerves buzzing as the urge to just lean in and pull Chanyeol close grows. Baekhyun does nothing though and just swallows, tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip, trying to calm his nerves and stop himself before he does something stupid but then he notices Chanyeol follow the movement with his eyes, staring at his lips before looking back at him again. Baekhyun’s breath hitches. Unconsciously, they both slowly lean towards one another closer and closer like there’s a magnetic pull that they can’t bring to a halt and -
“Baekhyun, I - “
There was a pause; wherein the world just stops moving for a while as they look into each other’s eyes, their faces less than a breath away, both hesitant to make the first move. Baekhyun hopes Chanyeol can read him right now. He wants him to go for it, to continue what he was about to say or just - really - just lean and fucking go for it. He hopes he’ll get to see it in his eyes, how Baekhyun feels about him. When Chanyeol doesn’t show any signs of continuing any further, almost backing away, alarms go off on Baekhyun’s head as he thinks, ‘Ah, fuck it’, and just grabs Chanyeol by the nape and pulls him in, pouring all his unspoken feelings and affection for the boy into the kiss.
Baekhyun’s mind goes blank as he slowly moves his lips against Chanyeol’s and almost breathes a sigh of relief when Chanyeol instantly kisses back, pulling Baekhyun closer by the waist until he’s half on top of him. Their lips move quietly against each other as Baekhyun wraps his arms around Chanyeol’s neck to pull him even closer. Chanyeol gradually starts to lick along his bottom lip to which Baekhyun responds with a sigh, opening his mouth to welcome Chanyeol’s tongue. Heat simmers down Baekhyun’s tummy as he feels sparks go on haywire underneath his skin as he’s being held in Chanyeol’s arms. Baekhyun wants to pull him closer and closer until there’s no more space between them but they jerk apart, once they both needed air to bring back into their lungs.
Chanyeol’s eyes gaze lock on to his lips, cherry lips breathing heavily, and Baekhyun licks his lips subconsciously, faintly tasting Chanyeol on his lips. Chanyeol groans, itching to have Baekhyun close again and smother him with more kisses. Baekhyun wants to, he really does, but instead he places a hand on Chanyeol’s chest to stop him when the latter starts to lean in again.
“Chanyeol, what - this is - “
“I’ve been wanting to do that ever since the night I saw you.” Chanyeol whispers like it’s a secret. Baekhyun shivers in response, not taking how bad Chanyeol is affecting him.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol nods, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Baekhyun’s neck, planting soft kiss there.
“You have no idea how much I - I wanted to see you again after but I didn’t know how. I was starting to lose hope once I finally admitted to myself that I won’t be seeing you again but then it seems like the universe has other plans for us because later on, we found each other again. And now here you are in my arms.” Chanyeol tightens his hold on Baekhyun. Right where you belong.
“M-me too,” Baekhyun responds, getting slowly overwhelmed by the amount of feelings he has for this boy and from Chanyeol’s words. “I’m glad we found our way back to each other, Chanyeol.”
“It’s crazy how we’ve only met like less than a month ago and I feel like I’ve known you all my life. Like we have this sort of connection, as cliché as that sounds.” Chanyeol sighs. He pauses after a beat before gently pulling away from Baekhyun. He looks worried, brows fussed together as he bites his lip. “This is…this isn’t too much, isn’t it? I don’t want to scare you off because of all the dumb that’s coming out of my mouth right now.”
Baekhyun playfully rolls his eyes and pulls him close again until they’re nose to nose. “No, it’s not and again, no, it’s not dumb. I actually feel the same way, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol gives him the biggest smile ever, complete with an adorable dimple on his cheek that knocks the breath out of Baekhyun. “I’m glad.” He laughs at the growing blush on Baekhyun’s face as he grabs his face gently with both hands before leaning in to kiss him again.
&&
Chanyeol sends Baekhyun off with a few kisses in the middle of the street and they part ways with such goofy smiles on their faces that anyone who would pass by might think there’s something wrong with them or they’re just crazy.
Baekhyun is about two blocks down and is about to cross the road when his phone buzzes. He instantly pulls it out once he’s crossed and opens it to find a new message from Chanyeol.
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Take care on your way home, Baek. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night! Dream of me!! :)
Baekhyun bites his lip, trying to stop the growing smile on his face by biting his lips. He’s about to reply when his phone buzzes again.
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Also, are you free on Friday?
A huge smile spreads on his lips as he quickly replies.
Fr: Byun Baek
To: Chanyeol
I will! Thank you <3 See you tomorrow, giant. Good night! C:
And yes, I am. Why?
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Text me when you get home, okay?
Do you want to catch a movie after classes? :) And maybe, dinner at my place after?
Baekhyun lets out a small squeal, cheeks aching from how hard he’s smiling right now.
Fr: Byun Baek
To: Chanyeol
Okay!
Yes. It’s a date <3
Recipient: light_chaser08
Title: ‘Cause I want to be free (And I want to be yours)
Word Counts: ~ 9.1k
Side Pairing(s): mentions of Sehun/Lu Han
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): slight profanity, pining!Baek lol
Disclaimer:The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: This is the story of how two unlikely boys meet and fall in love.
Author's Note: First of all, this is dedicated to my lovely recipient! Your prompts were all so nice u_u I really hope you like this eventho I probably strayed from the prompt I chose and it didn’t come out exactly like how I wanted it to but I hope you still enjoy this. I had fun. I’m sorry if this doesn’t meet your expectations and for the ending that was kind of rushed as well sobs uu Second, to T., thank you so much for holding my hand and for listening to me and my dumb ideas and for cheering me on during those times when I wanted to just give up because of all the shit and stress that’s going on in my life. I love you bb girl ♥ Lastly, to the mods, I cannot thank you guys enough, seriously. Thank you for being so patient and understanding with me. Cheers. ;_;
After spending most of his summer vacation wasting time and lazing around 24/7 at home, Baekhyun finally had the chance to go out and use the last two weeks of his summer doing something outside. Though at first, he was hesitant since he was actually contented just by staying at home and doing whatever but with lots of convincing (with a promise of free lunch and dinner) and a bit of threat here and there (“One of these days our house will swallow you whole and you won’t even notice so now I suggest you move your ass and let’s go out!” “But - “ “Or else, Byun.”), he finally agreed.
His brother was able to snag some complimentary tickets for some indie band that Baekhyun doesn’t recognize and gave them to him since his brother can’t attend because of his work schedule. His brother assures him that they’re really great, and he knows his brother will like them.
Baekhyun almost forgets about it, three days later but was reminded of it as soon as Sehun called him later that night, asking him if he wants to hang out tomorrow and get pizza and Baekhyun tells him okay and, “Hey, Sehun, my brother gave me a pair of concert tickets and since I have no one else in mind to bring other than you, you’re coming with.”
Sehun snorts. “Alright, sure.”
“The concert’s on Saturday, by the way.”
“Who’s playing?”
Baekhyun glances back down on the tickets in hands, eyes skimming over quickly before responding. “I don’t know them, uhm, The 1975?”
Sehun says something over the phone but Baekhyun doesn’t catch it. He does hear him hitting something, like maybe his knee on the desk before Sehun curses loudly under his breath, whimpering slightly over the pain. Baekhyun laughs and asks him if he was alright. Sehun ignores him and proceeds to tell him everything he knows about the band, which isn’t much to be honest, telling him they were sort of a new band and that there songs are good and you can’t understand what the vocalist is singing about most of the time because of his heavy accent. (“Also, their vocalist is seriously attractive.” Sehun follows up.) Baekhyun takes it upon himself to Google while he was on the phone with the latter, scanning through their Wikipedia page and humming in response to Sehun’s rambling over the phone.
They end their phone call a few minutes later with a promise to text each other the day after to decide on which pizza place they were getting lunch at.
&&
Standing by the foot of the bed with a hand on his hip and the other pinching his bottom lip between his pointing finger and thumb, Baekhyun is busy contemplating what he’s going to wear for tonight’s concert while looking over at the various pieces of clothing spread out on his mattress. He has three hours to get ready for the concert but here he is, worrying (over what? He has no idea.) on what outfit to pick.
On the other side of his room, Sehun is sitting by the study table, wearing a navy blue muscle tee with some dark skinny jeans that hugs around his slim legs just right and a pair of white worn out, newly bleached converse shoes, watching and half thinking about what outfit works and half thinking of what food to get before going to the venue. Some chicken would be good, Sehun thinks as he stands up and goes to stand next to Baekhyun. The taller male’s eyes immediately fall on a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, grabbing it before placing it on Baekhyun’s arm. “Wear this one; your ass looks fantastic in these pants.”
Baekhyun smirks as Sehun smacks his ass when he passes by and flops on top of the bed. Sehun scoots a bit to avoid lying on any piece of clothing near him because he doesn’t want his best friend to kill him and he still wants to live, thank you. “Also, just wear your favourite graphic tee to go along with them.”
“You think so?” Baekhyun reaches under the small pile to pull out his favourite white graphic tee. Baekhyun catches Sehun briefly nodding as he turns around to inspect his chosen outfit and when he deems it okay, he quickly pulls them on with a pair of black vans to go with. He marches straight to the bathroom to fix himself, brushing his hair to side with a small amount of wax so some of his fringe lifts off touch his forehead. He applies some eyeliner with ease and dabs lip balm on his slightly chapped lips.
He inspects his appearance in the mirror one last time while brushing off inexistent dust of his pants and shirt. Baekhyun doesn’t usually put effort in his appearance when he goes out but for some reason, he has a buzzing feeling that tonight’s going to be a good one. He’s looking forward to have a great time since summer’s almost over and it doesn’t hurt to make himself look extra decent tonight because…just because.
So with a last glance to the mirror, he come out of the bathroom, finding his best friend on the same position he left him, half asleep. “Sehun, I’m ready. Let’s go.” Sehun makes a noise, muttering “Let’s get food first before we go to the venue, Baek”, as he stands up and stretches a bit. Baekhyun pats his pockets to check if his things and the tickets before grabbing his cardigan off the chair. He trudges downstairs, shouts a quick “Bye, Mom! I’ll be sleeping over at Sehun’s tonight. See you tomorrow and love you!” before leaving the house with Sehun in tow.
&&
Holding his best friend tightly by the hips as Baekhyun uses his best friend as a human shield of some-sort while he guides them, they push through the crowd, trying to get closer to the stage. Baekhyun stops once he sees that Sehun is near the barricade, giving Sehun’s hips a squeeze for him to do the same.
Just when Baekhyun is to stand beside his best friend, a figure comes squeezing past him and goes over to the spot next to Sehun. Baekhyun doesn’t hide the annoyed sound that comes out from his mouth because how dare this person, clicking his tongue with a shake of his head. Things like this happen in concerts all the time, especially if you’re going to come and see your favourite band, but this is just rude. This guy could’ve said excuse me or something. Seriously. Manners, please.
After complaining inside his head and muttering a few disgruntled noises here and there, Baekhyun looks up and was met by twin towers in his line vision. Great, the person who rudely took his spot is as huge as his best friend. Okay, maybe the guy was an inch or two taller than Sehun. Refusing to let this ruin his night, Baekhyun calms himself before stepping between Sehun and the rude tall person. “Excuse me, giants, coming through, thanks.”
Sehun snorts, taking a step to the left, bless him really, as Baekhyun gets settled. The speaker boom as a person announces in a monotone voice that the concert will start in a few minutes which caused the people to start shouting in excitement all around them.
Baekhyun hasn’t look to his right left to look at the rude giant as he chats up with Sehun about random things and the rude giant hasn’t apologize yet since he probably didn’t realize that he just pushed Baekhyun aside two minutes ago. After a few moments pass by, that’s when Baekhyun starts to feel something brush the back of his hand. He ignores it at first since it’s probably by accident, with the lack of space in between, but when it happens twice, thrice; Baekhyun chances a look to his left to see if this guy is doing this on purpose or not.
Baekhyun’s breath gets caught in his throat as he feels the guy freeze momentarily beside him once he got Baekhyun’s attention. The tall man is looking at him with apology (and a bit of amusement?) in his eyes though his face remained straight. Baekhyun finds himself eyeing him from top to bottom, eyes skimming from his dark fringe that falls just before his eyes, to the slope of his nose, his soft lips, to his cute ears that stick out, down to his pale neck and collarbones. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, showing off his exposed arms, a protruding line on his arm that suggested he liked to lift, paired with tight pants that cling to an endless pair of legs. God, he was bloody attractive. After giving him a not-so-subtle look over that the giant doesn’t miss, what with the way the corner of his lips twitch into a smirk before the look on his face passes, Baekhyun clears his throat, willing his growing blush away, before giving him a look as if to say, ‘what do you want?’ . Baekhyun doesn’t miss the quick sweep of the giant’s eyes on him and instantly Baekhyun feels warm from the neck up, before the giant opens his mouth.
“Sorry, I just,” The guy starts, and holy shit, Baekhyun did not expect this guy with a baby-ish face to have such a low voice. Baekhyun does not like the way his voice hits him, his heart beating fast in chest in response. Nope. “Were you the guy from earlier -? As much as I want to have a better view of the band and see them, I shouldn’t have, uh, pushed you aside. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. It was rude of me.”
“Oh, uhm,” Baekhyun says after a beat. He was not expecting that. “It’s fine. I understand why you’d do that, I mean, yeah - sort of.” He ends lamely. Baekhyun hopes he made sense.
Honestly, Baekhyun has almost forgotten about the incident earlier since he knew that these kinds of things happen in concerts all the time and this was nothing compared to what he had experienced in the past, they were worse. Baekhyun has let this thing slide the moment he was able to stand beside Sehun.
“Okay. Are you alright though?” The guy has his eyebrows furrowed as he leans slightly to the side to look at Baekhyun. The way he looks at him has Baekhyun’s heart threatening to jump out of his chest. God, he needs to. Be calm.
“Yeah, I am. Thanks for asking.”
“Okay, good.” The guy leans back, shifting from one foot to put his weight on the other. Baekhyun watches as the guy looks away, focusing his attention on something else as their short conversation ends. Baekhyun debates whether he should ask the guy for his name or something but before he was able to open his mouth to speak, he feels someone pinch his side and he yelps in response. He looks to his other side to find Sehun smirking, this little shit. “What.” Baekhyun whispers loudly.
“The concert’s about to start.” Sehun says, smirk still present on his face, looking at Baekhyun and the giant stranger back and forth with a knowing look on his face with his eyes, and Baekhyun wants to punch him. And as if on cue, the lights in the venue dim and the whole place immediately bursts into screams and the bodies around them start moving in anticipation and excitement.
Baekhyun glances back at the attractive giant stranger, sending him a small smile to which the latter mirrors. Baekhyun mouths a ‘sorry’ even if doesn’t have to, apologizing for their ruined moment because of Sehun. He doesn’t know if the guy gets it but he chuckles and tells him, “Have fun.”
“You too.” Baekhyun responds, and he hopes the guy heard it because as soon as he said it, the crowd gets louder as the vocalist of the band, Matty, appears on stage. The first song comes on as the drummer starts the beat of the song and Baekhyun immediately loses himself into music and to the sound of Matty’s voice as it echoes loud and clear all throughout the whole venue.
&&
The concert passes by in a blur, with the crowd wild and responsive, and Baekhyun finds himself enjoying, just like what his brother said he would. Aside from the fact that Matty is hot as fuck, like Sehun said himself and Baekhyun agrees 100%, with his voice slaying the crowd, Baekhyun relishes in the moments in between. As the crowd continue to bustle around, halfway through the song, Talk!, a couple of girls pushed passed between Baekhyun and the attractive giant. Baekhyun, annoyed and threatening to shout, stays quiet, opting to roll his eyes and focus back on the stage. He turns to the side and catches the giant stranger looking pissed as well and as he looks back at Baekhyun, he shrugs after shaking his head. Baekhyun gives him an ‘I know right’ look before focusing back on the stage.
Needless to say, the barrier between them did not stop them from exchanging quiet interactions with one another, which could also counted as flirting - if the way they look at each other during certain parts of each song launched as if they’re sending secret quiet messages to each other are anything to go by. In these moments, it feels like they’re the only ones in the whole venue, the people around them tuned out except for the Matty’s voice crooning in the background. The constant flutter in his chest and the buzz running through his veins is making him a bit dizzy but he’s not complaining. Baekhyun doesn’t know what this is or what is going on, honestly, but he likes it. He likes it a lot.
I, I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you
And on this night and in this light
I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you
Maybe you'll change your mind
&&
As soon as the concert ended, Baekhyun and Sehun found themselves gushing over how amazing the band was tonight. Baekhyun was so caught up with his and Sehun’s conversation, that he failed to notice a figure passing by him, a hand coming up to brush against the back of Baekhyun’s hand that instantly sent a wave of sparks underneath his skin. Unfortunately, before Baekhyun was able to respond and maybe, call him out and finally ask for his name but when he turned around, Giant Stranger was already gone, lost in the sea of people leaving the venue.
&&
It had been a week since his encounter with the Giant Stranger.
It’s been constantly on his mind; sometimes it would come to him in random times, a passing thought, most of the time, it would stick to his mind like gum and he would find himself thinking about that encounter over and over until he was sure he would get over it or forget about it the next day but that doesn’t happen.
He tries to forget about it by telling himself that Giant Stranger has probably moved on in his life and has already forgotten about him and he should do the same. (Sehun teases him about his summer fling, singing Summertime Sadness on the top of his lungs that earned him multiple punches on the shoulder and a pillow hitting his head. “Shut up, Sehun!” Sehun only cackles in response, the little shit.)
Before Baekhyun knows it, he’s back to school for the start of a new term. Hopefully, school will be able to take his mind off a certain giant and distract him until he’s just a memory in the back of his head.
&&
Settling down on his seat, located at the first row with his seat located near the windows, Baekhyun sighs and fixes his glasses. A few of his old classmates from last year pass by him to ask how his summer was and he responds by telling them it was great although he spent most of time at home lazing around like a sloth that earned him a laugh before he asks them how theirs was. They talk for a few minutes before they leave Baekhyun, settling on the other side of the room.
He briefly looks around his room; the room is filled with both familiar and unfamiliar faces because of the yearly reshuffling. Luckily, this year, he’s in the same class as his best friend as he slams the door open and once his eyes landed on Baekhyun, a huge smile breaks on his usually stoic face and he lunges after him, hugging him tight like they didn’t just see each other like literally two days ago. “We’re in the same class again, Baek! I missed you!”
“Yeah, well I don’t because I’m sick of your face. Get off me, you goof!”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh but I do, sorry not sorry.” Sehun pouts exaggeratedly in response. Baekhyun rolls his eyes at him before sitting down again, his best friend right after, choosing the seat next to him.
Once their teacher enters the room, everyone goes into their seats and greets the teacher all at the same time before sitting down. Mr Yoon has just started checking the class’ attendance, when the door at the back suddenly slides open and a figure comes in, walking slowly toward his seat. Baekhyun briefly turns his head to see who it is, catching a sight of wild red hair and huge ears, before facing forward.
“I’m glad to see that,” Mr Yoon momentarily looks at his wristwatch before looking at the student that just arrived. “You’re here early for a change, Park.”
The teacher receives no response and resumes checking the attendance. Once he’s done, he calls for everyone’s attention by tapping his pen on the table.
“Okay, everyone, listen up. Today, I have some good news for all of you.” The students started talking simultaneously and Mr Yoon calls for their attention once again. “As I was saying, I’m pleased to introduce to everyone our new student in class. Please come in, Lu-ssi.”
As soon as the teacher finished talking, the sliding door opens and a brunette student comes in with bright eyes on a small face. He stops beside the teacher, slightly fidgeting and playing with his sleeves, not knowing what to do with hands. Mr Yoon gives the student a smile and gestures for the student to introduce himself. The student stops fidgeting, dropping his hands to his side to stand straight and face his new class.
“Hello everyone, my name is Lu Han. I just moved here from Beijing, China. It’s nice to meet all of you. Please treat me well!”
He ends his short introduction with a ninety-degree bow. Lu Han blinks multiple times, a habit of his, before smiling broadly that caused majority of the class to fuss and squeal at how adorable he is. Baekhyun gives the student a small smile when their eyes meet as Lu Han scans the class fleetingly. He hears Sehun, gasp lightly and when he turns to look at him, Baekhyun can see him covering his mouth with his hand subtly, trying to control his reaction like he’s trying not to get affected by the new student’s smile. Sehun’s red ears say otherwise. Baekhyun chuckles lightly and faces forward again when their teacher calls out for the class’ attention.
“You may now take your seat on the vacant seat at the back, Lu-ssi.” Mr Yoon says, while taking out some papers from his messenger bag. Lu Han bows at him before going to his seat next to the redhead at the back, sleeping quietly, with his head down and earphones plugged in.
&&
The first week of classes pass by in a haze of papers and syllabuses passed around by their teachers for their subjects to be taken this year, of students going through the adjustment period because most of the students are still in vacation mode, and getting to know new faces in class.
Baekhyun is not one to go into big groups of friends; Sure, he likes talking to his fellow classmates, bonding over the shared interests and hobbies but that’s all there is to it. He turns down the offers he gets to hang out with them after classes. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t like the attention he gets from people. He has always wanted to lay low, just blend into the sea of students, live a busy and quiet student life without standing out too much. But deep down, he knows that the reason why he’s like this is because he’s afraid of being judged, of people going behind his back and stabbing him, of people who will just use him and put him aside after they’re done with him.
He has learned that the hard way in the last year of middle school, vaguely remembering the time where he accidentally overheard his supposed ‘friends’ talking about their plan on getting answers during their history exam and that someone like him, no matter how annoying he is, as they said, was worth something.
After that, he’s been wary of the people around him, and lived by the words his mother told him to choose his friends wisely and stick by people who will choose to stay and earn his trust. Two years later, he met his best friend, Sehun. He was a quiet and lanky kid kept to himself; he was painfully shy and was always alone. They kind of, just, happened and it was all because of Baekhyun accidentally spilled his milk all over him after approaching him one day to seat beside him.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry! It wasn’t on purpose, I swear!” Baekhyun sniffs, frown forming on his face.
There was a moment before Baekhyun thought he ruined his chance to make friends with someone who he thinks is on the same page as him, in a way, before Sehun told him “It’s okay.” Before continuing it with an “It’s not worth crying over.” Baekhyun who was frantically trying to dab his shirt with a paper towel, gets the lame pun a beat later, and they have a good laugh before they introduced each other.
&&
It’s a week after before they were given their first school project.
Their History teacher, Ms. Kwon, tells them to pair up for this project. Ms. Kwon told them that they were required to do a report and a research paper and failure to do this project will affect their grades greatly.
Baekhyun instantly reaches out for Sheen’s hand automatically and Sehun squeezes his hand in response as the rest of the class find their own partners. Ms Kwon stopped in front of Baekhyun’s seat. “Yes, Ms Kwon?”
“Baekhyun, dear, I have a favour to ask of you.” Ms Kwon says, and Baekhyun nods his head in response for her to continue.
“Is it okay if you become Park Chanyeol’s partner? I heard he’s quite the troublemaker, that kid. He hasn’t been attending all of his classes after the first day and the other teachers are already worried that if he keeps doing this, he’s going to miss out on a lot of things and I want you to keep an eye and make sure he does his work.”
“But why me, Ms Kwon? Why can’t the class president do it? Jongdae?”
Ms Kwon just gives him a look. “But I entrusting this task to you.”
“Okay, Ms Kwon, I’ll do my best.” Baekhyun knows better than to argue with his teacher so he doesn’t push it.
“And I trust you that you will. Don’t worry, he may be a troublemaker but he’s actually a really smart kid. Too bad he’s just…wasting his time on other less important things.”
“Okay. Is he here right now?”
“Well, you’re in luck because he’s present today. He’s at the back, next to Hyeri.”
Baekhyun glances back and catches sight of a familiar red head, he’s spotted twice or three times last week. He’s not sure why he doesn’t notice him because his hair sticks out like a sore thumb but Baekhyun rarely turns back during classes and every time he stands up to leave after classes, the seat at the back is already empty so maybe that’s why.
Baekhyun sighs and turns to Sehun, who looks saddened by the sudden turn of things. “Sorry, Sehunnie.”
Sehun nods in understanding. They can’t do anything about it because Ms Kwon is the type of teacher that when she decides on something, there’s nothing you could do to stop her or make her change her mind.
Baekhyun reluctantly stands up and walks over to the hunched figure, with his earphones plugged in once again. Baekhyun sighs. He might as well get this over with so they can immediately start on the project.
He prods the sleeping boy on the arm a few times to wake him up. He gets his first response by the boy groaning and turning his head away from him. Baekhyun starts shaking him by the arm as he calls out, “Hey, wake up. We’re still in class you know. Wake up!”
He shakes him a few more times, already growing a bit exasperated because seriously, who even goes to school just to sleep that is just -
His train of thought gets cut off when a hand darts out to grab his wrist. He freezes as the boy on the desk groans, slowly lifting his head while he rubs the sleep out of his eyes. He blinks his heavy eyelids a few more times before looking at the boy in front of him and - Oh.
This can’t be. No way. What the hell. This can’t be - oh my god. Is fate playing games with me?
Baekhyun’s eyes visibly widen behind his specs as a million thoughts pass by his head before going blank as the boy looks at him, irritated. This boy - he - this can’t be real. This can’t be Giant Stranger. This is -
But it is him, there is no doubt. He looks different, almost unrecognizable; His dark hair was replaced by a fiery shade of red, his fringe shorter with the sides of his head shaved. He notices a few piercings on both of his ears and a tattoo peeking out from underneath the long sleeves of his school uniform. His appearance made a drastic change from the last time he saw him (Though now Baekhyun was doubting if he ever saw everything correctly that night or if there were things about he failed to notice during that night.). But despite the change, he still looks attractive. Beautiful. Gorgeous even. There’s no doubting that.
He can’t forget those eyes and how they looked at him that night, a look that was hard to explain and Baekhyun’s feels butterflies in stomach once he remembers that night again. Oh God. But he just has to confirm if it’s true because Baekhyun can’t seem to handle this right now.
“A-are you Park Chanyeol?”
The boy - Chanyeol - tilts his head in acknowledgment. Once he got to look at Baekhyun properly, recognition flashes in his eyes as he gives Baekhyun another look over that caused Baekhyun’s heart to skip a beat. Chanyeol sits up straighter, his expression morphing into a look of surprise and disbelief. “You - you’re the guy from the concert that night -“
Oh my god, he remembers me. Oh my god this cannot seriously be real. Baekhyun’s heart is going into frenzy and his insides are turning up like the butterflies just multiplied five times. Baekhyun feels like he’s going to faint.
“Yeah, uhm, hi.” Baekhyun replies, trying to sound nonchalant and unaffected. He’s cool. He’s got this under control. “I’m Byun Baekhyun. I’ll be your partner for our History project. It’s nice to meet you, Chanyeol.” His voice almost breaks at the end (His body is betraying him.) when he mentions Chanyeol’s name. Chanyeol. (He likes the way his name rolls out of his tongue.)
“Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol echoes. Jesus Christ. “Finally, a name to match the face that’s been haunting me in my dreams ever since that night.”
This…this guy can’t be serious right now, is he?
“I’m Park Chanyeol. It’s nice to finally meet you too, partner.”
&&
Baekhyun ends up telling Sehun all about it after classes as they walk home together. Sehun couldn’t believe it either, telling Baekhyun in a joking way that this is like one of those scenes from those Korean dramas. Baekhyun scoffs and tells him to just go and flirt with the new Chinese student transferee and that’s when Baekhyun finds out, as Sehun turns into a blushing mess that he and Lu Han ended up being partners after Baekhyun left his seat.
Baekhyun teases him about it, cooing over how cute they’d look if they got together. They proceed to tell each other more about their crushes, going all silly and giggly in the middle of the streets that earned them a few judgmental stares but they don’t care.
They part ways later with matching goofy smiles on their faces.
Fate really is full of surprises.
&&
Turns out, Park Chanyeol has quite the reputation of being the class’ delinquent who always stood in his own corner, choosing to stay away from social groups and opting to go on about his own business as he tunes out everyone. He was always by himself and people usually don’t see him around since he disappears most of the time to god knows where.
Chanyeol still doesn’t attend some of his classes, which irks Baekhyun, because he’s wasting his education away by cutting. When Chanyeol does attend, he spends his time not paying attention. Since this is the first time they’ve been put into the same class, Baekhyun took it upon himself to ask Chanyeol’s former classmates if they had any idea what was going on with Chanyeol and why he’s like this. Most of them say that they have no idea since nobody every dares to approach him because of what he is, afraid of the kind of reaction they’ll get out of him since it’ll be like invading someone’s privacy.
There’s also the fact that Chanyeol still manages to pass quizzes and exams with high marks which most of Chanyeol’s former classmates (and Baekhyun, after hearing about it) find astonishing. How Chanyeol do it, he has no idea, really. Baekhyun has a feeling that Chanyeol’s a prodigy or something.
He was not expecting the object of his affection to be this…different. He was different from what he thought he would be but that doesn’t stop the curiosity and these whatever-it-is he feels when it comes to the object of his affection.
&&
They talk to each other for the first time ever since their fated meeting during lunch.
A proper talk that is.
Because for the past few days, their interactions consisted of fleeting touches, of catching each other staring and looking away only to look again moments later, of smiles secretly being exchanging, and greeting each other when they see each other by the hallways. All the recent happenings that made Baekhyun go nuts in every way possible. It gave Baekhyun this sort-of déjà vu feeling in his stomach; he feels like it’s not enough, like he’s on the edge waiting for something to happen but then there’s nothing.
So after talking to himself a million times in his head to just man up and a few talks with Sehun telling to just go and talk to him already because all the pining is making him go crazy, Baekhyun took it upon himself to approach the giant during lunch. Setting his lunch down and taking a seat across him, Baekhyun cleared his throat to get the other’s attention. Chanyeol tore his eyes away from his phone and looked up. As soon as he saw Baekhyun, his eyes visibly lit up, crinkling slightly.
“Hi.” Baekhyun starts, nerves already kicking in.
“Hello.” Chanyeol responds, turning his full attention on Baekhyun after locking his phone and placing it on the table.
“So, uh, how are you doing?”
“I’m good. How ‘bout you?”
“I’m great, thanks for asking.” Baekhyun tears a piece from his sandwich before popping it into his mouth.
“That’s good.” Chanyeol nods, just watching Baekhyun eat. Baekhyun flushes from the attention but continues eating anyway. “So, Baek,” Baekhyun almost chokes at the nickname. “What are you doing here?”
The tone of his voice wasn’t unwelcoming, more of a curious one with a hint of a teasing one added to it. “Do you mind?”
“I don’t mind, actually.” Chanyeol moves his hand to cradle his jaw as he continues to watch Baekhyun. “People don’t usually go to my table so I’m not used to it.”
“Well, here I am. I just wanted to, uhm, talk to you? About our project and other stuff. Also, to maybe, get to know you better?” Baekhyun’s almost whispers the last part, voice coming out shy and he almost wants to slap himself because what is he doing seriously.
Chanyeol, who he noticed, was clearly not expecting that so he looks kind of stunned by Baekhyun’s response before his lips break out into a small grin. “Sure. I’d like that.” Baekhyun beams back at the response.
As Baekhyun finishes his lunch, he cleans the table and pulls out the notebook he brought with him so they could start discussing about what they plan to do.
After the initial awkward stage of small talk and the conversation that only revolved around their projects, Baekhyun finds out talking to Chanyeol wasn’t hard like he kind of expected it to be. They hit it off like they’ve known each other forever, switching from one topic to another as they talk about anything under the sun, to sharing dumb jokes and puns in-between (most of which come from Baekhyun himself. This is what he gets from hanging out with Sehun too much.). As lunch period ends with a loud ring of the school bell, a signal for them to start getting their stuff for the next period, Baekhyun tells Chanyeol, with a finger to his face and a glare for him to attend the next class. Chanyeol rolls his eyes at him and tells him “I do whatever I want, Baek.”
Baekhyun gives him a stern look, telling him to attend his classes or else he’ll fail. Chanyeol just ruffles Baekhyun’s hair. “Don’t worry too much, Baek. I’ll see you later.”
&&
Chanyeol doesn’t attend the first class after lunch period but he does attend the next ones after.
Well, at least he didn’t cut in-between even if he spends the last subject sleeping. Baekhyun prides it in himself, a tiny bit, that maybe, just maybe, he may have changed Chanyeol’s mind. Or became the reason why he’s attending his classes but he’s not going go ahead of himself because this is only the start.
&&
They don’t stop talking after that day.
Over the course of two weeks, Baekhyun finds himself within the same radar as Chanyeol. So far, Baekhyun has learned that Chanyeol has an older sister and that his parents are divorced. He lives in an apartment away from his Mother, who moved to their province in the south after the divorce and he has a dog named King. He also learns, briefly, about the reason behind his actions and the way he looks, Chanyeol tells him it just kind of happened after his parents’ divorce and when his sister moved out and left him for college. Chanyeol tries hard not to show any weakness but Baekhyun can see it in his eyes and he can’t help but reach across and hold his hand tightly and telling him silently with a look that says ‘I’m sorry this happened to you, I’m here, and You’re not alone’. Chanyeol shakes his head lightly, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand back and telling him, “It’s okay.”
They find out that they have a lot in common than they thought, bonding over their love for music and indie bands. (Chanyeol promises to lend Baekhyun his copy of The 1975’s first album and his favourite album of Radiohead.)
They sit together during lunch, because it’s become a thing now, a habit, perhaps that Baekhyun just casually drops by his lunch table and Chanyeol doesn’t tell him to go away either so then there’s that. Later on, Baekhyun arrives with Sehun in tow and the latter also became a part of the lunch table. Again, Chanyeol looks like he doesn’t mind since he was the first one to greet Sehun once he’s sat down with a wave.
At first Sehun was quiet since he was honestly quite intimidated by Chanyeol but later finds himself opening up little by little, finding himself joining Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s conversation. Baekhyun is glad Sehun isn’t bothered or uncomfortable when it comes to Chanyeol despite his initial impression. He’d be disheartened if he knew that his best friend didn’t like Chanyeol or isn’t going getting along with him.
(Later on, when they were going home, Sehun speaks up for the first time ever since they left school. “I like him, Baek. He’s was intimidating at first but he’s okay once you get to know him. I approve.” Baekhyun laughs in response, grabbing his best friend close and giving him a tight hug. “Thanks, Hun.”)
People started to notice them; Baekhyun can’t blame them since they were bound to notice, finding their little clique a bit odd. They were probably expecting them not to get along with each other since their group was a group of ‘opposing forces’ if there was a term for it. Like they weren’t all on the same wavelength or something.
Baekhyun just ignores them; their opinions don’t matter anyway.
&&
Chanyeol invites Baekhyun to come over at his apartment.
They were going to finalize their project and hang out afterwards. Baekhyun accepts, not minding it at first but once he finds himself walking down an unfamiliar street to where Chanyeol’s apartment, his thoughts, going in-sync with his rapid beating heart and crazy nerves, start going on a rampage. Thoughts like, ‘This is the first time I’ll be going to another person’s house beside Sehun’s?’, ‘Oh my god do I look okay?’, and ‘I’m going to spend time outside of school with Chanyeol. For the first time. Alone.’
Alone. With Chanyeol.
Baekhyun feels his face heat up as he cradles his face in his hands, patting his cheeks repeatedly while mutters, “Get a hold of yourself, Byun Baek.” repeatedly to himself. He doesn’t want to think about what might happen later on but he does end up thinking about something else entirely. It’s subject he has yet to fully understand. Two days ago, he had a talk with Sehun about this, about all these crazy thoughts, the things that he feels whenever Chanyeol just pretty much appears anywhere within the same place, and how he can’t stop thinking about him during the moments wherein they were not together, and all Sehun could say in the end was: “You like him, hyung.” And it hits Baekhyun like train. His best friend was right. He really does. He doesn’t think it’d become like this and it’s crazy.
But the thing is, he doesn’t know if these feelings are reciprocated. He doesn’t know if he’s reading into things too much, if the way Chanyeol is looking at him is just an illusion, and that all the teasing and the gentle touches Chanyeol does is just his way of being ‘friendly’ and that it’s nothing to him. He doesn’t know if he’s reading Chanyeol and his actions right since this is all new to him. He does have strong feeling that the connection between them is strong like there’s no denying that. But. Still.
He’s had his crushes in the past, both guys and girls, but they were just short-term ones, the type of crushes he doesn’t want to pursue or just goes away easily. With Chanyeol, it’s like he can’t help but drown in an endless pit of feelings, like he’s fine but at the same time he’s not breathing at all and all he wants to do is just grab the boy and hold him and kiss him. Chanyeol just has this presence that Baekhyun can’t help but get drawn to.
He sighs. Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do, honestly. He’ll just have to go hold these damn feelings in for as long he can and just see. After all, he has plenty of time to figure things out and plan how he’s going to tell Chanyeol (If he has the courage to, maybe).
Baekhyun arrives in front of the apartment. The building looks average but has a good air to it despite it being pretty old. He stops to check his phone and sees that he has a new message from Chanyeol telling him to go to room 707 and to tell the landlord downstairs his name so he can get in. He gets ridiculously giddy every time he receives something from Chanyeol through text ever since they exchanged phone numbers.
Baekhyun passes by the said land lord once he steps inside the building, a friendly old lady who greeted him chirpily. Baekhyun returns the greeting, telling her his name and that he was here for Chanyeol. The old lady gives him a smile and then: “Oh, so you’re the boy that Chanyeol was talking about.” What. “What a lovely boy you are. Tell me, Baekhyun, are you his boyfriend?”
“What - excuse me, uhm. No, Ma’am, I’m not.” Not yet. Or ever. Baekhyun thinks, sadly.
“Is that so? I thought… Chanyeol, he just…” The old lady trails off and before she was able to speak again, Baekhyun beats her to it.
“I need to go, Ma’am. It was nice to meet you. I’ll be going now.” Baekhyun gives her a bow before going to the direction of the elevator. He vaguely hears the old lady say ‘ah, the complications of young love.’ before the elevator slides close.
&&
The door to Chanyeol’s apartment swings open a few moments after Baekhyun knocked twice. Chanyeol is wearing an old faded band t-shirt with sweats, barefoot, while rubbing his sleepy eyes as he greets Baekhyun. His hair is down and unkempt that Baekhyun finds strangely endearing, he doesn’t have his piercings on, and his arm tattoos are out, Baekhyun notices when Chanyeol lifted his right arm to greet him. (Baekhyun would have to ask him about them later.) He looks so good that Baekhyun just wants to cry and bury his face in his chest and breathe in his scent.
“Hey, Baek. Come in.” Chanyeol steps aside to let him in and Baekhyun steps inside and immediately removes his shoes to put them aside.
Chanyeol gives him a brief tour of the place, pointing to where his room is that’s across the bathroom, leading him inside the living room that’s right next to the kitchen. The place was neat, a good balance of black, white, blue, and brown all over the place, and had a home-y and warm overall feeling into it. It suits Chanyeol.
Chanyeol makes him sit on the black sofa in the middle of the living room in front of a television that’s playing re-runs of a Korean drama that Baekhyun is familiar with but can’t pinpoint what the name is.
“Do you want anything?” Chanyeol asks him once Baekhyun is settled down, pulling his notebooks and pen out of his bag. Baekhyun sets down his things on the coffee table in front of him.
“Just a glass of water, please.”
“Coming right up.” Chanyeol leaves to the kitchen and once his back is turned, Baekhyun gives himself a chance to breathe out and calm himself.
Chanyeol comes back with a glass of water in his hand and a few bags of chips on his other hand. He joins Baekhyun on his place on the floor with his back leaning on the sofa.
Immediately, they start discussing about their project, talking about the concept and the terms, pointing out the important things they should be focusing on the report and on the paper. Baekhyun finds himself just watching Chanyeol as they talk, just looking at him and how he uses his gestures to prove a point or to explain, listening to the deep baritone of his voice that sends small chills down his spine, still not used to the stark contrast of his voice to his face, and finding himself drawn to his lips - his tongue coming out to lick his plump bottom lip. Baekhyun must look really idiotic right now, ogling at his crush blatantly and he has to stop, he really does, but he just can’t seem to stop staring at Chanyeol and his -
“Baek? Are you okay?” Chanyeol’s questions snap him out his trance. A blush immediately spreads on Baekhyun’s face, guilty of being caught staring and possibly drooling over his crush as Chanyeol smirks at him knowingly. Baekhyun catches a glint in his eyes that he chose to ignore.
“I-I’m fine.”
“You sure?” Chanyeol shifts closer without Baekhyun noticing, too busy trying to scold himself mentally all the while trying to keep the blush off his face.
“If you say so.” Their knees brush as Chanyeol moves in his place to stretch out his legs underneath the coffee table, copying Baekhyun’s position. Baekhyun feels the familiar buzz beneath his skin whenever Chanyeol touches or brushes against him and it sends a warm feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t move away. “So, as I was saying, I think we should…”
&&
They spend an hour and a half over the project, finalizing everything they need to do until they were done.
They spent the time after that just talking, telling stories of any kind to each other. Baekhyun decides it’s time he ask about Chanyeol’s tattoos.
“Chanyeol, can I ask something about your tattoos?”
“Go ahead.”
“What do they mean? What’s the story behind them if you don’t mind me asking?” Baekhyun points to his arms and Chanyeol showcases him the three tattoos he has on his forearms. Chanyeol looks over them before looking at Baekhyun and shrugging.
“Like I told you before, they just happened.” Chanyeol points at the first two lines on his right forearm, leaning forward so Baekhyun can see better. Baekhyun moves closer, and because he couldn’t resist it, he lifts a hand and starts tracing a line from where the tattoo starts to the end of it. “Suavitre suaviter in modo, fortiter in re. ” Chanyeol reads and Baekhyun realizes these words were in Latin. “Which means, ‘gently in manner, firm in action.’ ”
Baekhyun nods, his eyes following the movement of Chanyeol’s lips as he spoke. “The second one underneath this one is solum omnium lumen which means the sun shines everywhere.” Baekhyun traces his finger on the lines lightly, feeling Chanyeol shiver slightly under his touch. Baekhyun smiles to himself when he noticed. Chanyeol shows him his other forearm. “This is the last one, my latest one, si me amas, serva me, and that means if you love me, keep me. ”
The way the tattoos were carved into his skin, the gentle strokes and the curves of each words, were beautiful. For some reason, they match Chanyeol as well. Like Chanyeol’s arms were made to have pretty tattoos scattered on on it. Baekhyun can’t stop looking at them, scanning them in awe. “I got them during those times when… I just didn’t feel like myself. When I was so lost and depressed because of the situation with my parents. In a way, these were kind of a reminder to me of what I am, of who I am.”
“I see, “ Baekhyun replies, eyes fixated on the words as he continues to drag his finger on them. Chanyeol’s explanations were always so short and straight to the point, leaving details behind. Baekhyun understands. Maybe he can hear the full story of these tattoos on another day. He doesn’t want to push it if it makes Chanyeol uncomfortable. They have all the time in the world anyway.
Baekhyun was about to change the topic and suggest they should get some food but stopped when he looked up to find Chanyeol gazing at him with a look on his eyes that has Baekhyun’s heart leaping in his throat. It’s that kind of look, the familiar look he had in his eyes like the ones he had during that night in the concert venue mixed with something else - uncertainty? Fear? Want?
Desire swirls inside Baekhyun stomach, his nerves buzzing as the urge to just lean in and pull Chanyeol close grows. Baekhyun does nothing though and just swallows, tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip, trying to calm his nerves and stop himself before he does something stupid but then he notices Chanyeol follow the movement with his eyes, staring at his lips before looking back at him again. Baekhyun’s breath hitches. Unconsciously, they both slowly lean towards one another closer and closer like there’s a magnetic pull that they can’t bring to a halt and -
“Baekhyun, I - “
There was a pause; wherein the world just stops moving for a while as they look into each other’s eyes, their faces less than a breath away, both hesitant to make the first move. Baekhyun hopes Chanyeol can read him right now. He wants him to go for it, to continue what he was about to say or just - really - just lean and fucking go for it. He hopes he’ll get to see it in his eyes, how Baekhyun feels about him. When Chanyeol doesn’t show any signs of continuing any further, almost backing away, alarms go off on Baekhyun’s head as he thinks, ‘Ah, fuck it’, and just grabs Chanyeol by the nape and pulls him in, pouring all his unspoken feelings and affection for the boy into the kiss.
Baekhyun’s mind goes blank as he slowly moves his lips against Chanyeol’s and almost breathes a sigh of relief when Chanyeol instantly kisses back, pulling Baekhyun closer by the waist until he’s half on top of him. Their lips move quietly against each other as Baekhyun wraps his arms around Chanyeol’s neck to pull him even closer. Chanyeol gradually starts to lick along his bottom lip to which Baekhyun responds with a sigh, opening his mouth to welcome Chanyeol’s tongue. Heat simmers down Baekhyun’s tummy as he feels sparks go on haywire underneath his skin as he’s being held in Chanyeol’s arms. Baekhyun wants to pull him closer and closer until there’s no more space between them but they jerk apart, once they both needed air to bring back into their lungs.
Chanyeol’s eyes gaze lock on to his lips, cherry lips breathing heavily, and Baekhyun licks his lips subconsciously, faintly tasting Chanyeol on his lips. Chanyeol groans, itching to have Baekhyun close again and smother him with more kisses. Baekhyun wants to, he really does, but instead he places a hand on Chanyeol’s chest to stop him when the latter starts to lean in again.
“Chanyeol, what - this is - “
“I’ve been wanting to do that ever since the night I saw you.” Chanyeol whispers like it’s a secret. Baekhyun shivers in response, not taking how bad Chanyeol is affecting him.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol nods, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Baekhyun’s neck, planting soft kiss there.
“You have no idea how much I - I wanted to see you again after but I didn’t know how. I was starting to lose hope once I finally admitted to myself that I won’t be seeing you again but then it seems like the universe has other plans for us because later on, we found each other again. And now here you are in my arms.” Chanyeol tightens his hold on Baekhyun. Right where you belong.
“M-me too,” Baekhyun responds, getting slowly overwhelmed by the amount of feelings he has for this boy and from Chanyeol’s words. “I’m glad we found our way back to each other, Chanyeol.”
“It’s crazy how we’ve only met like less than a month ago and I feel like I’ve known you all my life. Like we have this sort of connection, as cliché as that sounds.” Chanyeol sighs. He pauses after a beat before gently pulling away from Baekhyun. He looks worried, brows fussed together as he bites his lip. “This is…this isn’t too much, isn’t it? I don’t want to scare you off because of all the dumb that’s coming out of my mouth right now.”
Baekhyun playfully rolls his eyes and pulls him close again until they’re nose to nose. “No, it’s not and again, no, it’s not dumb. I actually feel the same way, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol gives him the biggest smile ever, complete with an adorable dimple on his cheek that knocks the breath out of Baekhyun. “I’m glad.” He laughs at the growing blush on Baekhyun’s face as he grabs his face gently with both hands before leaning in to kiss him again.
&&
Chanyeol sends Baekhyun off with a few kisses in the middle of the street and they part ways with such goofy smiles on their faces that anyone who would pass by might think there’s something wrong with them or they’re just crazy.
Baekhyun is about two blocks down and is about to cross the road when his phone buzzes. He instantly pulls it out once he’s crossed and opens it to find a new message from Chanyeol.
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Take care on your way home, Baek. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night! Dream of me!! :)
Baekhyun bites his lip, trying to stop the growing smile on his face by biting his lips. He’s about to reply when his phone buzzes again.
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Also, are you free on Friday?
A huge smile spreads on his lips as he quickly replies.
Fr: Byun Baek
To: Chanyeol
I will! Thank you <3 See you tomorrow, giant. Good night! C:
And yes, I am. Why?
Fr: Chanyeol
To: Byun Baek
Text me when you get home, okay?
Do you want to catch a movie after classes? :) And maybe, dinner at my place after?
Baekhyun lets out a small squeal, cheeks aching from how hard he’s smiling right now.
Fr: Byun Baek
To: Chanyeol
Okay!
Yes. It’s a date <3