3/3
.
Baekhyun goes through all the normal routine. He goes out more than usual. He buys five new books and reads through them so fast he can’t differentiate which plot belongs to which book. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t get mad this time around, doesn’t throw things and curse at inanimate objects. It’s a quiet kind of hurt. It’s expecting Chanyeol to come through the door bringing Chinese take-out, it’s missing mundane conversations, it’s hearing his keypad beeps and knowing it can only be one person.
It’s being disappointed when he opens the door and sees Luhan instead.
“Thanks, so nice to see you,” Luhan huffs. “I hate you.”
“Hi Luhan.”
“Do you know Chanyeol’s keycode?”
Baekhyun frowns, “Yes? Why?”
“Because he hasn’t returned any phone calls and we are worried he might be dead.”
“No. He…I always hear his guitar. He’s there.”
“Oh Baekhyun.” Luhan pulls him into an embrace before Baekhyun realizes he’s crying. “Why do you do this?”
.
Chanyeol stares at his wall. He registers his keypad beeping and hears the click but it doesn’t occur to him that someone is breaking in until he sees Luhan, arms crossed, glaring him down.
“How?”
“Baekhyun.”
Chanyeol nods. “So what’s up?”
Luhan doesn’t budge, “No. What’s up with you? What is wrong with you? Baekhyun is perfect! He is amazing! Why are you here and why is he there?”
Chanyeol has always prided himself on his even temper, so it surprises even himself when he throws kicks his guitar aside. “What do you want from me, Luhan? Did you know he confessed, right on my bathroom floor? Went on and on about how he couldn’t expect anything from me but he likes me. I’m not that kind of guy - Baekhyun….he probably had it all planned in his head, you know? How our relationship would be, probably how I would confess.”
“Oh boo hoo,” Luhan is not a sympathetic creature. “Some great guy loves you and wants to have a relationship with you, poor Chanyeol.”
“He said so himself, that he was impossible! That his boyfriends left!”
“Because they were scumbags! Scumbags he found when he goes out, they’ve never been worth anything more than what Baekhyun romanticizes them to be. Their loss.” Luhan pauses. “And you know what, your loss. They didn’t deserve him and neither do you.”
"I don't know what to do, Luhan."
"Yes you do," Luhan says. "There is a reason why you always stayed by his side, a reason why you pulled Heechul off of Baekhyun at the party. There is a reason why Heechul hyung is sporting a sore jaw." The look Luhan gives him is meaningful.
Chanyeol remembers. He remembers pulling the older male off of Baekhyun, remembers how angry he had been when Heechul accidently pushes Baekhyun in the middle of their scuffle. He also remembers the look on Baekhyun's face - so beautiful and sad, when he told Chanyeol it was all over. Chanyeol doesn't want it to be over. He wants to be the one Baekhyun makes out with at a party, wants to be one Baekhyun dances with, wants to continue to be the one Baekhyun relies on whenever he is sick. He thinks about what Luhan had said and he knows, he knows Baekhyun is a great guy and some day someone will realize that. Chanyeol doesn't want that to happen - doesn't want Baekhyun to be with some guy, someday. He wants Baekhyun with him, today.
And he still doesn't get it. He doesn't understand grand gestures or cheesy one liners; but for Baekhyun, he thinks he can try.
.
And that’s how Chanyeol finds himself climbing up Baekhyun’s fire escape, struggling to carry his guitar up the narrow ladder. He takes a deep breath and knocks on the window. Baekhyun’s face appears moments later, eyes blown wide with surprise. But Baekhyun doesn’t open the window and Chanyeol has to shout over the glass barrier.
“Baek! Baek, open up! We need to talk.”
Nothing.
“Baek, come on. I wrote this song for you, I didn’t even know it. Don’t you want to hear it? I finished it, Baek.”
Baekhyun moves to close the drapes.
Chanyeol tosses pride away as he steels himself and takes a deep breath. He positions the guitar and starts playing - slow, sweet, melodious - and what the hell, he starts to sing.
I do believe all the love you give
All of the things you do
Love you Love you
I'll keep you safe Don't you worry
I wouldn't leave Wanna keep you near
Cause I feel the same way too**
Finally, Baekhyun pushes the window up. “Stop, stop. You’re embarrassing me.”
“Baek….”
“It was so hard to get over you, I can’t do it again.”
Chanyeol tries to climb in before Baekhyun slams the window shut again, “Stop. Let me speak.” He takes a deep breath, “Look. I’ve always liked you, too. I just didn’t…know. All the things that you said, I thought we were too different. And you always blew hot and cold - you would pull back sometimes and I just didn’t know…and then all of the sudden when you confessed to me, I thought it wouldn’t work. We are too different.
“But I see it now, Baek. I see why we work, because...things are just better with you.”
.
Baekhyun comes to realize that everyday is beautiful with the right person. Baekhyun appreciates the occasional flowers and Chanyeol's clumsy attempts to romance. He laughs when Chanyeol tries to show grand declaration of love. It's heart-warming and wonderful, it's both silly and still so touching. But Baekhyun learns a lot about love by being in love with Chanyeol - that yes, he still dreams and appreciates all the gestures that come from being in a committed relationship; but no, he doesn't need them to know Chanyeo loves him. It's all in the little things, it's in the way Chanyeol still looks at Baekhyun like he has a secret (but Baekhyun thinks he knows now). It's the way that Chanyeol considers him, in that quiet and contemplative gaze. It's the way that he can hold our his hand and he knows Chanyeol will take it.
But it's also in the way that Chanyeol will wash his dishes when Baekhyun has too many things going in, in the way that Chanyeol would roll his eyes but will read aloud for as long as Baekhyun wants him to. They do argue over dishes, they argue over groceries - but they also get so caught up but Jongdae has to kick Baekhyun while making gagging sounds.
Baekhyun knows theirs is a love people write about; and some nights, he even puts his book down early and just snuggle in with Chanyeol instead. Just because he can.
----------------- END
** The lyrics are not my own. Original song goes to: Bumkey & Rhythmking "LOVE SONG"
Baekyeol performed the song before and omg how perfect is it for them!?