One Meeting, Infinite Coincidences
Baekhyun stared at his rucksack and tried to think of anything he may have forgotten. He, Kyungsoo and Jongdae had been waiting for the better part of two years for Baekhyun’s mother to actually allow him to go to this music festival with his friends and now that he was eighteen, he had finally been able to buy the tickets as soon as they went on sale. Mrs Byun was still a little apprehensive, being the worrying sort of mother, but as Baekhyun had argued over and over - he was an adult now, she couldn’t stop him. And besides, he would be with Jongdae and Kyungsoo; they would look out for each other.
After grabbing his ticket and slinging his rucksack over his shoulder and onto his back, bouncing a little to position it right, Baekhyun excitedly bounded down the stairs when he heard the tell-tale beep of Jongdae’s marigold yellow split screen VW Camper. “Bye Mum! No, I won’t take drugs, yes I’ll be careful! See you in four days!” Then before she could even give him a parting hug, Baekhyun was out the door and throwing himself into the back of the van, eager for his mini holiday to begin.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
“WOW, FANTASTIC BABY! DANCE!” The car shook with the force of their bouncing around as the three boys enthusiastically sang along to the radio. They were speeding down the motorway, already an hour into their three hour journey and the weariness of travelling had not yet set in. The friends chattered constantly, about how they had been since they last saw each other and how excited they were about the festival, in between singing overzealously to the occasional “OH! I love this song!” on the radio.
By the time two hours had passed they began to settle down a little. Kyungsoo had swapped driving with Jongdae so the latter could relax a little and Baekhyun found that despite trying to while the time away by dozing off, he was far too excited to do so. After rustling around in the back for a bit, he produced a pack of cards from behind a cushion and had a game with Jongdae, still singing, just with a little less vigour.
Upon arriving, they were stopped at the vehicle entrance and asked for their tickets, searched for illegal substances, then sent on their way through the gate and into one of the many fields reserved for the festival which lay ahead. Baekhyun, who was driving at this point, slowed down and after calling out, only to discover that his two friends were asleep, he continued on to find a good place to set up camp for the four days. The place was huge. They’d gotten there pretty early, therefore there were plenty of good spots available for them to park in, however it certainly looked like the tent field was nearly packed. There were still large patches of empty space, but looking across, Baekhyun viewed a sea of colour. The whole field in front of him was covered with tents, big ones and small ones in reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, blues, greens and so many more colours. He was awestruck; so much so that he nearly crashed the van.
Slamming on the breaks and yanking up the handbrake so hard it almost snapped, Baekhyun lurched forward, not quite getting whiplash but having to take a moment to regain breath. The abrupt emergency stop also woke Kyungsoo and Jongdae, who nearly ended up upside-down, bashing their heads together and groaning like in some sort of slapstick cartoon. When Baekhyun finally came round, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the van, not hearing or simply ignoring his two friends in the back who were shouting for someone to shed some light on the current situation. As it was, Baekhyun himself hadn’t quite realised just how close he’d come to running into the back of the van only a couple of inches from the front of theirs.
Someone walked around the side of the old and slightly rusty looking green khaki camouflage painted VW camper, dressed in plain khaki trousers and a tie-dye t-shirt with candyfloss pink hair. Baekhyun was a little taken aback but decided to go with it. This was a festival after all - what was he expecting, men in designer suits? To be quite honest, he was actually surprised he didn’t spot the other van sooner; ironically despite its design, it didn’t exactly blend in. The guy had reached the back of the army rust-bucket by then and was studying the gap (or lack of) between the two vehicles with concentration. Baekhyun stood awkwardly to the side, as if he were a school boy waiting for the headmaster to decide on a suitable punishment.
“So, I suppose it’s just good job you didn’t actually crash into us, right?” He looked expectantly at Baekhyun, as if he genuinely required an answer for his rhetorical question. Baekhyun was still a little shaken from the sharp halt, so he didn’t sound his enthusiastic self.
“Uh, I guess.”
“Though it would certainly be you that was worse off if you did rear end us that’s for sure. It would probably make this old pile of junk look better if I’m honest. I...”
“Yah, Kim Minseok, you’d better not let Yeol hear you talking like that about Dexter, he’ll - Oh! Hi, you must be the person who made that screeching racket. Your breaks need oiling.” The new guy stated, as if he were talking about the weather and not picking faults in Jongdae’s car - good job he was still inside it. “Oh yeah, and I’m Kim Jongin, nice to meet you.” Kim Jongin extended his hand and Baekhyun, once again, had to remind himself just to go with it. This guy was sporting dark blue skinny jeans and a low cut t-shirt which showed off his collarbones and a fair bit of chest.
“Hi, Byun Baekhyun. It’s a pleasure.”
At that moment, the sliding door behind Baekhyun flew open and out tumbled Jongdae and Kyungsoo - with questionably feminine shrieks - onto the grass. When they saw that they were being watched, the two scrambled up to introduce themselves, seeing the opportunity to make new friends.
“Hi pals, we’re Baek’s friends, I’m Jongdae and this is Kyungsoo. Wow, nice van, I’m loving the pai- whoa Baek, don’t you think you parked a bit close?” Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and Jongin and Minseok simply chuckled at Jongdae’s hyperactive chatter, though Kyungsoo was a little more exasperated “Pal? Really Jong? Who even says pal anymore? Do you want…” He gestured wildly at the two strangers.
“Jongin and Minseok” they kindly supplied.
“Do you want Jongin and Minseok to be friends with you?”
Once things had settled down a little and the two groups had actually become ‘pals’, Jongdae’s camper was properly parked up next to the other with a bit of space to set up a sort of camp between them. Kyungsoo did it, nobody would let Baekhyun drive again which made him pout. The five of them had decided to pull out foldable deckchairs and laze about, using the excuse that after a long day travelling - even though it was only three hours, pointed out Kyungsoo, and that it was still only half past eleven in the morning - they deserved a break. Jongin had pulled out some cookies and Jongdae managed to dig up a kettle. And so they sat.
After a while, Jongin spoke up. Minseok seemed to be asleep, a cap over his face. “We have another friend with us by the way. He’s called Chanyeol. Actually, he’s the one who owns our camper. I don’t know where he’s disappeared to though. He said he was going to go explore but it’s been ages.”
“So where did the three of you come from then? Very far?” Kyungsoo inquired.
“Nah, we live about half an hour away from here. Really, we could have just stayed at home and heard the music from our gardens it’s so loud, but it’s not the same. We come here every year. And Yeol, Chanyeol who I mentioned, he has Dexter - our camper - so he likes bringing it out. We were actually gonna give it another coat of paint this year but…well, that evidently didn’t happen.” They all looked to the van behind Jongin, even the bumper seemed like it would fall off by flicking it. Baekhyun silently thanked God that he missed it.
Weirdly enough, Baekhyun didn’t see Chanyeol all that day. Whenever he was out getting water, exploring the tents or listening to the various artists, Chanyeol was apparently back at the camp. Baekhyun couldn’t understand it. How could that happen? It was as if someone didn’t want them to meet. Even as he got ready to go out and party that night, he didn’t see their other camp mate anywhere. Kyungsoo and Jongdae had seen him. Tall. Very tall they said. With a deep voice and a cute face. He sounded like Baekhyun’s type thinking of it now, but he tried to shove that aside. As much as he thought it was a girly notion, he wasn’t losing his virginity at a festival. Besides, Baekhyun had never been in a proper relationship and though he wouldn’t share it with anyone, he was a little nervous. Instead of worrying however, he focused on applying his eyeliner correctly and not poking himself in the eye since the mirror was tiny and he was slightly tipsy from previous drinking games ‘to start off the weekend’ they had said.
Somehow throughout the night, Baekhyun managed to lose his friends. At that point, he was pretty pissed. One shot after another had taken its toll on him, as well as his wallet, and even when he’d run out of the money on his person, he’d had plenty of people offering to buy him drinks. Baekhyun’s skin tight jeans and ripped tank top certainly weren't repelling people; though they had apparently repelled his friends. At first, he didn’t even realise that he was on his own. Looking around, Baekhyun managed to push his way out of the tent and almost stumbled when he reached open space, no packed bodies to push him this way and that, but also to keep him standing. After glancing around, the boy decided that they’d be fine. He had his phone with him and he could take care of himself (or so he thought, swaying on his feet again). On the way back in, someone offered him a hip flask and without thinking of the consequences and too drunk to care, he took a swig of what tasted like vodka before disappearing off again into the middle of the crowd.
Ten minutes turned into thirty turned into a full hour and by this time, Baekhyun had completely lost focus of the world around him. It was half one in the morning and he was burning up, sweating like a pig but enjoying the thrumming of the music, the weight of bodies that crowded him. If he wasn’t so drunk, he would have been overwhelmed.
Someone suddenly pushed up beside him, arms in the air, making him look taller than the staggering height he already was. When Baekhyun looked up he nearly fell back, his head swimming - the guy was like a tower. The tall person looked down at Baekhyun, as if he could sense eyes watching him and gave a huge grin, one eye disappearing, cheeks scrunching up.
“Hey.” He shouted over the music, a spark of something in his eyes. The way Baekhyun’s mind took note of this person seemed somewhat familiar, but the state he was in would not allow him to connect any dots. The guy’s pupils were slightly dilated, perhaps because of the low lighting, alcohol consumption or maybe lust, and with the way his eyes were raking up and down Baekhyun’s body, he thought lust seemed like a likely reason.
Without realising it, Baekhyun had been leaning up into the other boy’s space, aware of the look he was getting and aware of how it was making him feel in his inebriated state.
“God, you’re hot” Baekhyun whispered against the other’s mouth, relying on his lip reading skills to digest the words, then he grabbed the guy’s collar and dove right in. The kiss - if you could have called it that - did not start off slow or hesitant. It was fully fledged hunger, tongues put into action straight away. They were not sober enough for introductions or polite enough to consider going somewhere more private - everyone else was at it anyway. Baekhyun’s mind was screaming at him to get closer, he barely managed to ask himself in disbelief what he had been missing out on, turning down all those girls and even boys who had confessed to him in high school, or maybe it was just this guy. His body felt like it was on fire, the guy’s hands running up and down his sides, clutching at his ass and tugging at his hair. Baekhyun’s own fingers were dancing across the taller’s extremely toned stomach and chest - marvelling at the way the muscles flexed with excitement. He couldn’t stop himself from rotating his hips; Baekhyun would never have danced like this if he were sober. He pushed himself up closer to the guy, leaving no space between them, tilting his head even more for access. The guy groaned and bucked his own hips into Baekhyun’s. They were both hard and Baekhyun was desperate to get off, but he remembered the promise he made to himself about getting laid, and he didn’t think his friends would appreciate it if he brought a random dude back with him.
So with that thought (and a lot of effort) he pushed himself away and fled, hearing shouts of “WAIT!” from behind him. Baekhyun kept walking. The cold night air hit him like a ton of bricks and dried all the sweat on his body, but he kept going, staggering back to their van, but not before admittedly getting lost a few times. At this point the alcohol was starting to wear off, his top was hanging off one shoulder and his hair was dishevelled, but he kept going. On his way, Baekhyun got a few shouts from the tents he passed, but he continued walking, ignoring the voices that wanted to take advantage and finally reaching his own camp. Without taking off his makeup, Baekhyun slid into the back of the van where his friends had already set up pillows and blankets and were tucked under them, and climbed into his own set, falling asleep almost immediately.
The next morning, Baekhyun - naturally - woke up with a killer hangover. Clutching his throbbing head, he rooted around for the box of painkillers the three had brought with them, knowing in advance that they were going to be in this state at some point. After he had taken two and wiped most of the smudged eyeliner from under his eyes without bothering to run a brush - or even a hand - through his bed hair, Baekhyun opened the door of the van to the smell of bacon. As he walked round the side of the camper however, Baekhyun got the surprise of his life. Emerging from the back of the other van was The Guy. The guy from last night. The guy he made out with whilst he was pissed off his face. Oh no! Baekhyun thought. What if he remembers like I do? Oh shit! And then Oh my God! That’s Chanyeol! Mind rapidly wondering how he would face the other, Baekhyun made his way forward, deciding that just introducing himself would be the best course of action. If the guy remembered, well, Baekhyun would pretend like it didn’t happen unless the other brought it up. If he didn’t remember, it would probably be best to forget about it (as fantastic as it was thought his mind) and start afresh a new friendship. So with that, he made his way forward.
The two reached the camping area at the same time and Chanyeol spotted him before the others got chance to. “Oh, hi. You must be Baekhyun. Nice to meet you, I’m Chanyeol. It’s weird we haven’t met yet right?” Chanyeol grinned a sleepy grin and extended a hand for Baekhyun, who silently breathed a sigh of relief. It doesn’t look like he remembers thank God, that’s an awkward situation avoided. Baekhyun firmly believed that situations were only awkward if one made them awkward, and so he allowed his own happy smile to surface and responded “Hi, yeah I’m Baekhyun. Nice to meet you too.” At that moment, the others noticed their presence and invited them for bacon but unfortunately, no eggs because in both groups there was a clumsy one (Chanyeol and Jongdae) and they’d both decided that eggs would get broken. Other than the usual ‘bacon, Baekhyun, Bacon!’ Jokes, Baekhyun found that breakfast went surprisingly smoothly considering Chanyeol was there and he still felt the throbbing remnants of a headache.
Over the course of the next three days, the six of them formed a strong bond. Especially, Baekhyun found, he and Chanyeol. They just seemed to click and it had nothing to do with the incident - though Baekhyun made sure to stay away from Chanyeol while they were in the dance tent and full of alcohol. By the end of the festival, they all had each other’s numbers saved and were giving out hugs as if they would never see each other again. “Ah, bro, come here.” Jongdae shouted over at Minseok, who was shoving the last deck chair into the back of their van. Stupidly however, he hadn’t folded it down so it wouldn’t go in and looked as if it was about to snap.
“YAH MINSEOK! Stop! That’s my chair you’re breaking there!” Jongin could most probably be heard from the other field, but they were almost the last ones there anyway. The grounds looked deserted and full of junk and tents people didn’t want to take home, so Baekhyun supposed it didn’t matter too much.
Just before they were all ready to set off and Baekhyun was about to get into the back of the camper (Jongdae still wouldn’t let him drive his precious van), Chanyeol came over and pulled him round the back of the vehicle, embracing him in a tight hug, chin resting on his head. Baekhyun’s heart went into overdrive but he tried to calm it. They’d built a good friendship and he didn’t want to ruin it now. Anyway, maybe his crush would calm down a little once there was some space between them.
“I’ll really miss you Baek. Stay in touch okay?” Baekhyun hummed, wrapping his own arms around Chanyeol’s torso.
“Mmhm. You’d better not forget me Yeol.” He looked up into the taller’s eyes, searching for something. A promise maybe. Baekhyun just hoped that Chanyeol couldn’t read everything that was in his own.
“I won’t. Same goes for you.” Then before either boy could say anything more, Kyungsoo called “Come on Baek, we need to go! The others don’t have three hours to drive!” Chanyeol chuckled and ruffled Baekhyun’s now purple hair. (What could he say? There was a tent and Baekhyun’s friends, new and old, could be very persuasive; he was also - as he was for most of the festival - slightly tipsy). “Go on. Kyungsoo looks like he’ll drive off without you if you don’t hurry.” As they left, leaning out of the window and waving until the camouflage VW was out of sight, they all sat back and sighed almost simultaneously, which caused a few giggles. Soon they were in fits of laughter and as Jongdae leaned through the gap between the seats and turned the radio on, clutching his stomach, the long weekend was ending like it started; in good humour and deafening themselves by loudly singing along to the radio.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
Baekhyun spent the next two days in bed. The ‘Don’t you dare enter (╬ Ò ‸ Ó)’ sign on the door mostly kept his family out, however Baekhyun’s mother still popped her head in every now and then, just to remind him that he was still human and he still had to eat, as well as collecting his unpacked bag to wash clothes. She had spoken to him the morning he returned and he’d briefly told her how it was, of the new friends he’d made, but nothing of how much they drank. He had managed to get a few words in before she could fully corner him about his new hair colour, thankfully.
“I’m going to go hibernate mum; I’ll come down in two days, just pretend like I’m not here.” And with that he had escaped up the stairs and dressed into some loose pyjama pants and a wife beater, crawling underneath his duvet and as promised, not emerging unless it was to grab some food.
The Monday after, Baekhyun’s University courses began again. Chanyeol had been swimming around in his head ever since he got back from the festival and he longed to see him again, despite knowing that that would be difficult with the distance. The taller boy had sent him a text asking if they got back alright but Baekhyun had heard no more from him after that. He must be busy, the boy thought, walking into a passer by.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorr- wait. Yixing? Hey, how was your holiday?” Baekhyun thanked God he bumped into a friend from his music course rather than the unwanted potential angry stranger.
“Oh hey Baek, don’t worry about it. Mmm it was good. Exam prep though, ugh. How about you?”
“Good, yeah. I went to that festival.”
“Yeah yeah, I know the one.” Suddenly Baekhyun panicked and looked at his watch.
“Whoa, I’d better go. Music calls…hang on a minute, where are you going? We both have music…you haven’t dropped out have you? Yixing! You can’t! You’re one of the best there, don’t leave me!” Baekhyun pressed his hands together and over exaggerated his pleading, sticking his bottom lip out whilst Yixing laughed whole heartedly and patted him on the head.
“Calm down, no I’m not dropping out. They know I’m not attending today, I have to pick my cousin up from the station, he majored in business and was sent do experience in one of the local businesses around here, so he’s staying with me for now.”
“Ah, well okay then. See you later hyung.” After they had bid each other goodbye, Baekhyun arrived at his music classroom, of course apologising for being late, and spent the rest of the lesson thinking again about Chanyeol and what he might be doing at that moment - even messing up the small piano performance he had to show the class.
More days passed and by that time Baekhyun was really missing the object of his crush. Unfortunately, the crush itself had not gone away like he had hoped. He had been round to Kyungsoo’s place the night before and Jongin had Skyped. During the conversation, Baekhyun became aware of the fact that the two had been dating since the end of the festival. He realised how oblivious he must have been not to notice and when Jongin and Kyungsoo started cooing at each other through the webcam, Baekhyun decided that he had had enough, said his goodbyes and left for home - which was only down the street and round a bend. Turning the corner, Baekhyun saw a figure up ahead. Tall, with a posture that he most definitely thought he recognized. Baekhyun rubbed his eyes and did a double take. No, it couldn’t be Chanyeol right? He lived three and a half hours away. Turning back, he squinted his eyes again, but this time saw only Yixing disappearing into his home, which was five houses down from his on the other side of the street. Wow Baekhyun thought to himself I really need to stop thinking of Chanyeol all the time.
Reasoning that maybe he just needed to talk to the younger, to prove that Chanyeol only saw him as a friend and thus calming his hopes, Baekhyun Skyped Chanyeol that night. They talked until early morning about everything and nothing; useless things; chatter that only close friends would be comfortable enough to engage in without worrying if the other was bored. Once four am came around, Chanyeol confessed that he had work the next day. No wait, that day, and so Baekhyun regretfully said goodbye and went to sleep, dreaming of a handsome face, lean body and expert kissing skills.
Because there were no lectures for Baekhyun the next day, he decided to visit the music shop near campus. For the whole term he had been struggling along with a borrowed microphone and people had been approaching him after seeing performances set up by the Uni, asking him to sing at events. He was even being pushed by his professor to take part in open-mic nights for experience with an audience, so with this in mind Baekhyun set off to the bus stop after getting dressed. Despite it being a school and college day for most, the bus was surprisingly packed, though it was mostly full of the elderly and the odd truanting fifteen year old who thought the world of themselves. One kid who looked about twelve even flipped Baekhyun the bird and luckily, he noticed the next stop was his; pressing the button and muttering about how disrespectful the youth of today was becoming. Once Baekhyun got off, he watched the bus drive away, even more relieved that he was no longer surrounded by pensioners. Jeez, I’m turning into one.
The shop was only across the road and Baekhyun could see through the window to the various instruments on racks. Excitement built within him. He loved going to the music shop. He could spend hours at a time in there just playing all the different instruments they had to offer and wishing he had enough money to buy them. As soon as he opened the door he heard the bell chime and without looking anywhere else, walked straight over to where he knew the microphones were displayed. After a moment, he thought he heard a gasp coming from the counter. Even though Baekhyun knew it would probably just be someone dropping something or perhaps being outraged at the price of an instrument - despite Baekhyun thinking it was quite reasonable in here - he turned around anyway, curiosity always getting the better of him. As it happened, he couldn’t decide whether or not he was glad he did. There, stood at the counter, was none other than Park Chanyeol. He looked utterly exhausted, but that was probably because they’d been up all night talking to each other.
Chanyeol schooled his expression into something a little less flabbergasted and waved at Baekhyun. He wasn’t unhappy to see the older boy, quite the opposite in fact. He was just extremely shocked over the coincidence of his temporary workplace being where Baekhyun lived.
On the other side of the counter Baekhyun’s mind was whirring. Questions were flying through his brain. What was Chanyeol doing here? Didn’t he live away from Baekhyun’s town? Wasn’t he at his own University? What about… And then it hit him. “You’re Yixing’s cousin.” Baekhyun mumbled, almost to himself.
“What?”
“Yixing is your cousin right?” Chanyeol looked a little confused as to why Baekhyun would be asking this, but nodded.
“Yeah, he is. I’m staying with him because I have to do experience for my business course here. I didn’t know you lived here though Baek.” At this point, everything was piecing together in Baekhyun’s mind and he smiled. Looking at Chanyeol relieved his heart. He had huge bags under his eyes but he looked as handsome as ever and Baekhyun just wanted to go and hug him - kiss him, like he had been wanting to do ever since the first time. His smile grew and he couldn’t stop it, soon his face would be hurting but Baekhyun didn’t care because Chanyeol was stood in front of him. Chanyeol was living with Yixing, five houses down and across the road from him.
Baekhyun walked up to the counter.
“Isn’t it such a coincidence that you’re here where I live, you’re working in the music shop I frequent, I’m friends with your cousin, who just so happens to be on the same music course as me, and he also lives on the same street as me.” He said coincidence, he thought fate. However Chanyeol only widened his eyes.
“You live on the same street? Oh my God Baek, that’s crazy!” Crazy indeed. So crazy was the situation in fact, that Baekhyun left the shop thinking about how crazy he was for Chanyeol without buying the microphone and had to go back in, extremely embarrassed. “Yeah, uh…hi again, I forgot to buy that mic.” Chanyeol only laughed, clapping his hands and scrunching his face up, which also caused Baekhyun to laugh.
“Oh yeah, Baek, I actually finish up here in about…” Chanyeol looked at his watch and his face brightened. “Oh! About now, someone should be coming to cover my shift." As soon as he said it, the bell chimed again and someone else walked into the shop. Baekhyun recognised her as a girl everyone called Juniel from his course and he greeted her. He wasn't totally surprised that she worked here; she was one of the more talented ones in his class and seemed really into music.
Baekhyun looked back at Chanyeol in question, thinking he only wanted them to walk home together. So he was surprsed when the taller slung an arm around Baekhyun's one shoulder, his bag on his own other one.
"Let's go next door. I liked the look of it when I peeked through the window earlier, the cakes look delicous." Baekhyun playfully poked Canyeol's belly.
"All you did at the festival was eat and talk about food and now you want to go to the café? I’m surprised you’re not obese.”
“I’m a black hole, it’s fine. Your appetite is hardly small though, you ate just as much as me that weekend!” For the rest of the afternoon they sat in the café and just like the night before, conversation flowed.
On their way back to their respective houses, Baekhyun found himself wishing that Chanyeol would just come back to his. He wondered what it would be like to live with Chanyeol, if he was messy, or if he would cook for Baekhyun…and then shook his head. He really hadn’t known Chanyeol for more than a month, how could he be thinking of things like that? Chanyeol saw him shaking his head and looked down.
“You alright Baek?” Baekhyun looked back up and smiled, quickly thinking up an excuse.
“Mmm. I’m just - just tired. Do you realise how long we were talking last night?”
“I know, I look like a panda, see?” without warning, Chanyeol stopped walking and leaned down to show Baekhyun, but miscalculated Baekhyun’s height and ended up nearly nose to nose with the shorter. Both of their eyes widened, but neither of them moved. Chanyeol was too startled and Baekhyun…Baekhyun was trying not to blurt out how he was in danger of getting lost in Chanyeol’s eyes. Trying not to do or say anything cheesy or stupid that could have lost him a friend. And yet there he was, touching his forehead with Chanyeol’s. Baekhyun was not alerted to pull away by the fact that Chanyeol was not doing anything to break the connection either.
There was confusion in the latter’s eyes as to why he didn’t want to pull away, and yet he knew he had to. But why did he have to? There was nothing to stop him from kissing Baekhyun right here. The next thing to flash in Chanyeol’s mind was sudden panic. Kissing Baekhyun. The thought, admittedly, was not new to him - especially not after the first time - however he’d never have guessed that he would be in a situation to almost act upon it once again. No. Baekhyun was pretty. Very pretty. Who wouldn’t have had thoughts of kissing him? Or touching him, or Baekhyun touching…no. Why was he thinking of this in this situation? Chanyeol thought that could not have had worse timing. What was even worse timing was when Baekhyun’s phone rang.
The two jumped, scared, and bashed their foreheads together. “OW” Baekhyun reached into his back pocket and pulled out his mobile, all the while mirroring Chanyeol and rubbing his head.
“What’s up?”
“Hey Baek, there’s this party tonight, and-”
“No.”
“Aw, come on. Please, I’ve even managed to persuade Kyungsoo.”
“Look, Jongdae. The last time you talked me into this sort of thing, we nearly got caught by the police, and besides, I’ve had enough headaches to last me fifty years.”
“Baek. Jongin and Minseok are going. Don’t you want to see them? I’ve tried contacting Chanyeol but he didn’t answer his phone like, three times so I gave up. Please. I promise I won’t let you drink too much. Besides, it’s outside, so you can clear your head.”
“Jong, you and I both know you’re gonna slip vodka into my water. Urgh, whatever, I’ll go. Just, ugh, there’d better not be too many people there.”
“Great! 8pm, at the park, see you there.” Jongdae then hung up before Baekhyun had a chance to reply. He rolled his eyes, put the phone back in his pocket and looked at Chanyeol, who had now recovered from the pain in his head and was toeing the ground with his shoe. Baekhyun broke the short silence
“So, uh, I’d better go home. I enjoyed today.” He internally winced, berating himself for making it sound like he was coming home from a date. This was his friend. Only his friend.
“So did I. It was nice to see you in person again. I’ll call you and we’ll meet up soon okay?” Yet he couldn’t stop the little spark of happiness when Chanyeol said he would call him.
“Okay. Bye Yeol.” Even that small sentence made the older boy happy. He practically skipped home, and once he got through the door he shouted “MUM, I’M BACK.”
“Not so loud Hyunnie, I’m right here.”
Before he knew it, it was seven, and Baekhyun decided that he should probably start getting ready. He really felt a little disappointed that Chanyeol was not going, and annoyed with himself that he didn’t ask the guy himself. Despite this though, Baekhyun reasoned that if Chanyeol was not there, he had no opportunity to make a move on him and scare him off. The distance between their homes hadn’t put Chanyeol off wanting contact, but then, friends missed each other just as much as lovers did, so he didn’t really have any evidence as to whether Chanyeol liked him back or not. Baekhyun wore dark purple skinny jeans and a t-shirt and because the party was outside, he also put on his leather jacket and Docs.
Baekhyun lived close enough that he could walk to the park, so with that, he set off - but not without applying a thin line of eyeliner first. He wasn’t in the mood to party that night, so when he got there and saw the crowd by the fountain in the middle of the large expanse of grass, Baekhyun heaved a big sigh and stood on the outskirts, trying in vain to search for Jongdae and Kyungsoo, or even anyone that he knew well enough. Suddenly a shout came from his right
“Yah Baek! You came! I was gonna go to your house and drag you out if you didn’t.”
“Yeah I kind of figured that out Jong.” Jongdae dragged Baekhyun into the group of people and thrust a bottle of beer into his hand, then promptly disappeared.
“Hey, wait. Jong- JONGDAE!” But Jongdae had seemingly vanished. Ah well. Baekhyun shrugged. One beer wasn’t going to do him any harm. And besides, it wasn’t like he had anything - or anyone - to stay sober for.
One beer quickly turned into two, turned into something much stronger. Jongdae kept re-appearing with booze as if he was on a mission to get Baekhyun drunk. He probably was, since he had been calling Baekhyun a killjoy since he invited him that afternoon. As Baekhyun became more and more unaware of his surroundings, his mind went to Chanyeol. He should have expected this really, his thoughts were on Chanyeol more often than he liked anyway so especially now he had no firm control of his brain these images would pop up.
Someone began to dance with him and he imagined that it was Chanyeol. This guy was tall enough to be him anyway. His big hands were around Baekhyun’s hips as he danced in much the same way that he did at the festival. He looked up hoping to see Chanyeol’s face, but knew he would be disappointed. When he did look up, he saw…Chanyeol’s face? Baekhyun felt like he was starting to get deja vu. The hungry look he’d seen in Chanyeol’s eyes at the festival was back. Baekhyun concluded that the taller must have been as drunk as he was. They continued dancing, until Baekhyun realised that no, he didn’t want a repeat of last time. He wanted Chanyeol to remember any kiss they had, and to consciously know what he was doing. So Baekhyun pulled away.
“Sorry Chanyeol.” He winced at the sloppy sound of his voice and also at the familiar scene which had begun playing out again.
Baekhyun managed to escape the hurt look on the taller's face and waded through the crowd, somehow bumping into Kyungsoo, who was dancing with Jongin.
“Oh, Baek hyung.” Jongin sounded pleasantly surprised, but Baekhyun only grabbed his almost full cup off him and downed it, coughing a little, then with only a mumbled apology and a
“Sorry I can’t stay.” Baekhyun rushed off again, through the other side of the crowd and stumbled, feeling the ground spin. It was happening again, just like it did at the festival. This time however, there was no kiss. Baekhyun felt relief but also regret. He was the one who stopped it. It was for the best though. Right?
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him up. The world was still spinning.
“Yah Baekhyun.” Chanyeol still didn’t sound sober, but the fact that he ran after Baekhyun had to mean something right? “Baekhyun. Stop running away. Don’t run away this time. Just kiss me.” Then Chanyeol clumsily wrapped his arms around Baekhyun and kissed him. It wasn’t perfect, and to a passer by, it probably looked like they were trying to eat each other. Baekhyun certainly wanted Chanyeol inside him. However, neither of them really thought about that. It was drunk and passionate and when they pulled apart, Chanyeol said “There, not bad for a second kiss.” And Baekhyun’s mind had time to scream HE REMEMBERS? Before he turned away and threw up in the fountain.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
“Baek.” Huh? Who is that? “Baekhyun. Wake up.” Chanyeol? Baekhyun sat up, and immediately fell back down again. He was wearing his pyjama pants but was bare chested, led in his own bed. He didn’t remember getting there. The headache that pounded through his skull was like no other, and he managed to grind out
“I’m gonna kill Jongdae.” The response was a low chuckle, then when he refused to open his eyes, he felt lips on his, very softly pressing down. They were gone in an instant but the kiss had the desired effect. Baekhyun shot his eyes wide open and while his lips were still parted in shock, someone shoved a tablet into his mouth. “Painkiller. I thought you might need it.” Again came Chanyeol’s deep voice and when Baekhyun looked over, the taller seemed hesitant. Baekhyun just groaned.
“With the amount of painkillers I’ve taken lately I feel like I might overdose.” But Baekhyun swallowed it nonetheless. Chanyeol still looked unsure of something and Baekhyun took it upon himself to ask, “Are you alright?” Chanyeol spluttered and that’s when Baekhyun knew he had something on his mind. Then another thought occurred to him. “Chanyeol, you - did you…remember?” Chanyeol immediately knew what he meant and his cheeks turned scarlet. He nodded, then looked up through his lashes at Baekhyun, a guilty expression on his face.
“I…I didn’t want to say anything. You didn’t look like you remembered so I just thought that I could try to, you know, stop thinking about it. Well, it turns out that I couldn’t.” Baekhyun’s jaw hung open. Everything was being turned on its head.
“Believe it or not, um, I can tell you exactly the same thing.” Chanyeol looked back into Baekhyun’s eyes, and then leaned forward and very lightly pecked him on the lips. Their third kiss.
“Well then, I guess now is a good time to tell you that…I finished my business course and they offered me a permanent place at the music store. You know the old manager was, well - old. So I’m taking over.” Baekhyun couldn’t believe his ears.
“Isn’t it funny how life works? That’s such a coincidence.” Chanyeol gazed at him fondly and replied.
“No, it’s not a coincidence. It’s fate.”
The End
After grabbing his ticket and slinging his rucksack over his shoulder and onto his back, bouncing a little to position it right, Baekhyun excitedly bounded down the stairs when he heard the tell-tale beep of Jongdae’s marigold yellow split screen VW Camper. “Bye Mum! No, I won’t take drugs, yes I’ll be careful! See you in four days!” Then before she could even give him a parting hug, Baekhyun was out the door and throwing himself into the back of the van, eager for his mini holiday to begin.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
“WOW, FANTASTIC BABY! DANCE!” The car shook with the force of their bouncing around as the three boys enthusiastically sang along to the radio. They were speeding down the motorway, already an hour into their three hour journey and the weariness of travelling had not yet set in. The friends chattered constantly, about how they had been since they last saw each other and how excited they were about the festival, in between singing overzealously to the occasional “OH! I love this song!” on the radio.
By the time two hours had passed they began to settle down a little. Kyungsoo had swapped driving with Jongdae so the latter could relax a little and Baekhyun found that despite trying to while the time away by dozing off, he was far too excited to do so. After rustling around in the back for a bit, he produced a pack of cards from behind a cushion and had a game with Jongdae, still singing, just with a little less vigour.
Upon arriving, they were stopped at the vehicle entrance and asked for their tickets, searched for illegal substances, then sent on their way through the gate and into one of the many fields reserved for the festival which lay ahead. Baekhyun, who was driving at this point, slowed down and after calling out, only to discover that his two friends were asleep, he continued on to find a good place to set up camp for the four days. The place was huge. They’d gotten there pretty early, therefore there were plenty of good spots available for them to park in, however it certainly looked like the tent field was nearly packed. There were still large patches of empty space, but looking across, Baekhyun viewed a sea of colour. The whole field in front of him was covered with tents, big ones and small ones in reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, blues, greens and so many more colours. He was awestruck; so much so that he nearly crashed the van.
Slamming on the breaks and yanking up the handbrake so hard it almost snapped, Baekhyun lurched forward, not quite getting whiplash but having to take a moment to regain breath. The abrupt emergency stop also woke Kyungsoo and Jongdae, who nearly ended up upside-down, bashing their heads together and groaning like in some sort of slapstick cartoon. When Baekhyun finally came round, he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the van, not hearing or simply ignoring his two friends in the back who were shouting for someone to shed some light on the current situation. As it was, Baekhyun himself hadn’t quite realised just how close he’d come to running into the back of the van only a couple of inches from the front of theirs.
Someone walked around the side of the old and slightly rusty looking green khaki camouflage painted VW camper, dressed in plain khaki trousers and a tie-dye t-shirt with candyfloss pink hair. Baekhyun was a little taken aback but decided to go with it. This was a festival after all - what was he expecting, men in designer suits? To be quite honest, he was actually surprised he didn’t spot the other van sooner; ironically despite its design, it didn’t exactly blend in. The guy had reached the back of the army rust-bucket by then and was studying the gap (or lack of) between the two vehicles with concentration. Baekhyun stood awkwardly to the side, as if he were a school boy waiting for the headmaster to decide on a suitable punishment.
“So, I suppose it’s just good job you didn’t actually crash into us, right?” He looked expectantly at Baekhyun, as if he genuinely required an answer for his rhetorical question. Baekhyun was still a little shaken from the sharp halt, so he didn’t sound his enthusiastic self.
“Uh, I guess.”
“Though it would certainly be you that was worse off if you did rear end us that’s for sure. It would probably make this old pile of junk look better if I’m honest. I...”
“Yah, Kim Minseok, you’d better not let Yeol hear you talking like that about Dexter, he’ll - Oh! Hi, you must be the person who made that screeching racket. Your breaks need oiling.” The new guy stated, as if he were talking about the weather and not picking faults in Jongdae’s car - good job he was still inside it. “Oh yeah, and I’m Kim Jongin, nice to meet you.” Kim Jongin extended his hand and Baekhyun, once again, had to remind himself just to go with it. This guy was sporting dark blue skinny jeans and a low cut t-shirt which showed off his collarbones and a fair bit of chest.
“Hi, Byun Baekhyun. It’s a pleasure.”
At that moment, the sliding door behind Baekhyun flew open and out tumbled Jongdae and Kyungsoo - with questionably feminine shrieks - onto the grass. When they saw that they were being watched, the two scrambled up to introduce themselves, seeing the opportunity to make new friends.
“Hi pals, we’re Baek’s friends, I’m Jongdae and this is Kyungsoo. Wow, nice van, I’m loving the pai- whoa Baek, don’t you think you parked a bit close?” Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and Jongin and Minseok simply chuckled at Jongdae’s hyperactive chatter, though Kyungsoo was a little more exasperated “Pal? Really Jong? Who even says pal anymore? Do you want…” He gestured wildly at the two strangers.
“Jongin and Minseok” they kindly supplied.
“Do you want Jongin and Minseok to be friends with you?”
Once things had settled down a little and the two groups had actually become ‘pals’, Jongdae’s camper was properly parked up next to the other with a bit of space to set up a sort of camp between them. Kyungsoo did it, nobody would let Baekhyun drive again which made him pout. The five of them had decided to pull out foldable deckchairs and laze about, using the excuse that after a long day travelling - even though it was only three hours, pointed out Kyungsoo, and that it was still only half past eleven in the morning - they deserved a break. Jongin had pulled out some cookies and Jongdae managed to dig up a kettle. And so they sat.
After a while, Jongin spoke up. Minseok seemed to be asleep, a cap over his face. “We have another friend with us by the way. He’s called Chanyeol. Actually, he’s the one who owns our camper. I don’t know where he’s disappeared to though. He said he was going to go explore but it’s been ages.”
“So where did the three of you come from then? Very far?” Kyungsoo inquired.
“Nah, we live about half an hour away from here. Really, we could have just stayed at home and heard the music from our gardens it’s so loud, but it’s not the same. We come here every year. And Yeol, Chanyeol who I mentioned, he has Dexter - our camper - so he likes bringing it out. We were actually gonna give it another coat of paint this year but…well, that evidently didn’t happen.” They all looked to the van behind Jongin, even the bumper seemed like it would fall off by flicking it. Baekhyun silently thanked God that he missed it.
Weirdly enough, Baekhyun didn’t see Chanyeol all that day. Whenever he was out getting water, exploring the tents or listening to the various artists, Chanyeol was apparently back at the camp. Baekhyun couldn’t understand it. How could that happen? It was as if someone didn’t want them to meet. Even as he got ready to go out and party that night, he didn’t see their other camp mate anywhere. Kyungsoo and Jongdae had seen him. Tall. Very tall they said. With a deep voice and a cute face. He sounded like Baekhyun’s type thinking of it now, but he tried to shove that aside. As much as he thought it was a girly notion, he wasn’t losing his virginity at a festival. Besides, Baekhyun had never been in a proper relationship and though he wouldn’t share it with anyone, he was a little nervous. Instead of worrying however, he focused on applying his eyeliner correctly and not poking himself in the eye since the mirror was tiny and he was slightly tipsy from previous drinking games ‘to start off the weekend’ they had said.
Somehow throughout the night, Baekhyun managed to lose his friends. At that point, he was pretty pissed. One shot after another had taken its toll on him, as well as his wallet, and even when he’d run out of the money on his person, he’d had plenty of people offering to buy him drinks. Baekhyun’s skin tight jeans and ripped tank top certainly weren't repelling people; though they had apparently repelled his friends. At first, he didn’t even realise that he was on his own. Looking around, Baekhyun managed to push his way out of the tent and almost stumbled when he reached open space, no packed bodies to push him this way and that, but also to keep him standing. After glancing around, the boy decided that they’d be fine. He had his phone with him and he could take care of himself (or so he thought, swaying on his feet again). On the way back in, someone offered him a hip flask and without thinking of the consequences and too drunk to care, he took a swig of what tasted like vodka before disappearing off again into the middle of the crowd.
Ten minutes turned into thirty turned into a full hour and by this time, Baekhyun had completely lost focus of the world around him. It was half one in the morning and he was burning up, sweating like a pig but enjoying the thrumming of the music, the weight of bodies that crowded him. If he wasn’t so drunk, he would have been overwhelmed.
Someone suddenly pushed up beside him, arms in the air, making him look taller than the staggering height he already was. When Baekhyun looked up he nearly fell back, his head swimming - the guy was like a tower. The tall person looked down at Baekhyun, as if he could sense eyes watching him and gave a huge grin, one eye disappearing, cheeks scrunching up.
“Hey.” He shouted over the music, a spark of something in his eyes. The way Baekhyun’s mind took note of this person seemed somewhat familiar, but the state he was in would not allow him to connect any dots. The guy’s pupils were slightly dilated, perhaps because of the low lighting, alcohol consumption or maybe lust, and with the way his eyes were raking up and down Baekhyun’s body, he thought lust seemed like a likely reason.
Without realising it, Baekhyun had been leaning up into the other boy’s space, aware of the look he was getting and aware of how it was making him feel in his inebriated state.
“God, you’re hot” Baekhyun whispered against the other’s mouth, relying on his lip reading skills to digest the words, then he grabbed the guy’s collar and dove right in. The kiss - if you could have called it that - did not start off slow or hesitant. It was fully fledged hunger, tongues put into action straight away. They were not sober enough for introductions or polite enough to consider going somewhere more private - everyone else was at it anyway. Baekhyun’s mind was screaming at him to get closer, he barely managed to ask himself in disbelief what he had been missing out on, turning down all those girls and even boys who had confessed to him in high school, or maybe it was just this guy. His body felt like it was on fire, the guy’s hands running up and down his sides, clutching at his ass and tugging at his hair. Baekhyun’s own fingers were dancing across the taller’s extremely toned stomach and chest - marvelling at the way the muscles flexed with excitement. He couldn’t stop himself from rotating his hips; Baekhyun would never have danced like this if he were sober. He pushed himself up closer to the guy, leaving no space between them, tilting his head even more for access. The guy groaned and bucked his own hips into Baekhyun’s. They were both hard and Baekhyun was desperate to get off, but he remembered the promise he made to himself about getting laid, and he didn’t think his friends would appreciate it if he brought a random dude back with him.
So with that thought (and a lot of effort) he pushed himself away and fled, hearing shouts of “WAIT!” from behind him. Baekhyun kept walking. The cold night air hit him like a ton of bricks and dried all the sweat on his body, but he kept going, staggering back to their van, but not before admittedly getting lost a few times. At this point the alcohol was starting to wear off, his top was hanging off one shoulder and his hair was dishevelled, but he kept going. On his way, Baekhyun got a few shouts from the tents he passed, but he continued walking, ignoring the voices that wanted to take advantage and finally reaching his own camp. Without taking off his makeup, Baekhyun slid into the back of the van where his friends had already set up pillows and blankets and were tucked under them, and climbed into his own set, falling asleep almost immediately.
The next morning, Baekhyun - naturally - woke up with a killer hangover. Clutching his throbbing head, he rooted around for the box of painkillers the three had brought with them, knowing in advance that they were going to be in this state at some point. After he had taken two and wiped most of the smudged eyeliner from under his eyes without bothering to run a brush - or even a hand - through his bed hair, Baekhyun opened the door of the van to the smell of bacon. As he walked round the side of the camper however, Baekhyun got the surprise of his life. Emerging from the back of the other van was The Guy. The guy from last night. The guy he made out with whilst he was pissed off his face. Oh no! Baekhyun thought. What if he remembers like I do? Oh shit! And then Oh my God! That’s Chanyeol! Mind rapidly wondering how he would face the other, Baekhyun made his way forward, deciding that just introducing himself would be the best course of action. If the guy remembered, well, Baekhyun would pretend like it didn’t happen unless the other brought it up. If he didn’t remember, it would probably be best to forget about it (as fantastic as it was thought his mind) and start afresh a new friendship. So with that, he made his way forward.
The two reached the camping area at the same time and Chanyeol spotted him before the others got chance to. “Oh, hi. You must be Baekhyun. Nice to meet you, I’m Chanyeol. It’s weird we haven’t met yet right?” Chanyeol grinned a sleepy grin and extended a hand for Baekhyun, who silently breathed a sigh of relief. It doesn’t look like he remembers thank God, that’s an awkward situation avoided. Baekhyun firmly believed that situations were only awkward if one made them awkward, and so he allowed his own happy smile to surface and responded “Hi, yeah I’m Baekhyun. Nice to meet you too.” At that moment, the others noticed their presence and invited them for bacon but unfortunately, no eggs because in both groups there was a clumsy one (Chanyeol and Jongdae) and they’d both decided that eggs would get broken. Other than the usual ‘bacon, Baekhyun, Bacon!’ Jokes, Baekhyun found that breakfast went surprisingly smoothly considering Chanyeol was there and he still felt the throbbing remnants of a headache.
Over the course of the next three days, the six of them formed a strong bond. Especially, Baekhyun found, he and Chanyeol. They just seemed to click and it had nothing to do with the incident - though Baekhyun made sure to stay away from Chanyeol while they were in the dance tent and full of alcohol. By the end of the festival, they all had each other’s numbers saved and were giving out hugs as if they would never see each other again. “Ah, bro, come here.” Jongdae shouted over at Minseok, who was shoving the last deck chair into the back of their van. Stupidly however, he hadn’t folded it down so it wouldn’t go in and looked as if it was about to snap.
“YAH MINSEOK! Stop! That’s my chair you’re breaking there!” Jongin could most probably be heard from the other field, but they were almost the last ones there anyway. The grounds looked deserted and full of junk and tents people didn’t want to take home, so Baekhyun supposed it didn’t matter too much.
Just before they were all ready to set off and Baekhyun was about to get into the back of the camper (Jongdae still wouldn’t let him drive his precious van), Chanyeol came over and pulled him round the back of the vehicle, embracing him in a tight hug, chin resting on his head. Baekhyun’s heart went into overdrive but he tried to calm it. They’d built a good friendship and he didn’t want to ruin it now. Anyway, maybe his crush would calm down a little once there was some space between them.
“I’ll really miss you Baek. Stay in touch okay?” Baekhyun hummed, wrapping his own arms around Chanyeol’s torso.
“Mmhm. You’d better not forget me Yeol.” He looked up into the taller’s eyes, searching for something. A promise maybe. Baekhyun just hoped that Chanyeol couldn’t read everything that was in his own.
“I won’t. Same goes for you.” Then before either boy could say anything more, Kyungsoo called “Come on Baek, we need to go! The others don’t have three hours to drive!” Chanyeol chuckled and ruffled Baekhyun’s now purple hair. (What could he say? There was a tent and Baekhyun’s friends, new and old, could be very persuasive; he was also - as he was for most of the festival - slightly tipsy). “Go on. Kyungsoo looks like he’ll drive off without you if you don’t hurry.” As they left, leaning out of the window and waving until the camouflage VW was out of sight, they all sat back and sighed almost simultaneously, which caused a few giggles. Soon they were in fits of laughter and as Jongdae leaned through the gap between the seats and turned the radio on, clutching his stomach, the long weekend was ending like it started; in good humour and deafening themselves by loudly singing along to the radio.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
Baekhyun spent the next two days in bed. The ‘Don’t you dare enter (╬ Ò ‸ Ó)’ sign on the door mostly kept his family out, however Baekhyun’s mother still popped her head in every now and then, just to remind him that he was still human and he still had to eat, as well as collecting his unpacked bag to wash clothes. She had spoken to him the morning he returned and he’d briefly told her how it was, of the new friends he’d made, but nothing of how much they drank. He had managed to get a few words in before she could fully corner him about his new hair colour, thankfully.
“I’m going to go hibernate mum; I’ll come down in two days, just pretend like I’m not here.” And with that he had escaped up the stairs and dressed into some loose pyjama pants and a wife beater, crawling underneath his duvet and as promised, not emerging unless it was to grab some food.
The Monday after, Baekhyun’s University courses began again. Chanyeol had been swimming around in his head ever since he got back from the festival and he longed to see him again, despite knowing that that would be difficult with the distance. The taller boy had sent him a text asking if they got back alright but Baekhyun had heard no more from him after that. He must be busy, the boy thought, walking into a passer by.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorr- wait. Yixing? Hey, how was your holiday?” Baekhyun thanked God he bumped into a friend from his music course rather than the unwanted potential angry stranger.
“Oh hey Baek, don’t worry about it. Mmm it was good. Exam prep though, ugh. How about you?”
“Good, yeah. I went to that festival.”
“Yeah yeah, I know the one.” Suddenly Baekhyun panicked and looked at his watch.
“Whoa, I’d better go. Music calls…hang on a minute, where are you going? We both have music…you haven’t dropped out have you? Yixing! You can’t! You’re one of the best there, don’t leave me!” Baekhyun pressed his hands together and over exaggerated his pleading, sticking his bottom lip out whilst Yixing laughed whole heartedly and patted him on the head.
“Calm down, no I’m not dropping out. They know I’m not attending today, I have to pick my cousin up from the station, he majored in business and was sent do experience in one of the local businesses around here, so he’s staying with me for now.”
“Ah, well okay then. See you later hyung.” After they had bid each other goodbye, Baekhyun arrived at his music classroom, of course apologising for being late, and spent the rest of the lesson thinking again about Chanyeol and what he might be doing at that moment - even messing up the small piano performance he had to show the class.
More days passed and by that time Baekhyun was really missing the object of his crush. Unfortunately, the crush itself had not gone away like he had hoped. He had been round to Kyungsoo’s place the night before and Jongin had Skyped. During the conversation, Baekhyun became aware of the fact that the two had been dating since the end of the festival. He realised how oblivious he must have been not to notice and when Jongin and Kyungsoo started cooing at each other through the webcam, Baekhyun decided that he had had enough, said his goodbyes and left for home - which was only down the street and round a bend. Turning the corner, Baekhyun saw a figure up ahead. Tall, with a posture that he most definitely thought he recognized. Baekhyun rubbed his eyes and did a double take. No, it couldn’t be Chanyeol right? He lived three and a half hours away. Turning back, he squinted his eyes again, but this time saw only Yixing disappearing into his home, which was five houses down from his on the other side of the street. Wow Baekhyun thought to himself I really need to stop thinking of Chanyeol all the time.
Reasoning that maybe he just needed to talk to the younger, to prove that Chanyeol only saw him as a friend and thus calming his hopes, Baekhyun Skyped Chanyeol that night. They talked until early morning about everything and nothing; useless things; chatter that only close friends would be comfortable enough to engage in without worrying if the other was bored. Once four am came around, Chanyeol confessed that he had work the next day. No wait, that day, and so Baekhyun regretfully said goodbye and went to sleep, dreaming of a handsome face, lean body and expert kissing skills.
Because there were no lectures for Baekhyun the next day, he decided to visit the music shop near campus. For the whole term he had been struggling along with a borrowed microphone and people had been approaching him after seeing performances set up by the Uni, asking him to sing at events. He was even being pushed by his professor to take part in open-mic nights for experience with an audience, so with this in mind Baekhyun set off to the bus stop after getting dressed. Despite it being a school and college day for most, the bus was surprisingly packed, though it was mostly full of the elderly and the odd truanting fifteen year old who thought the world of themselves. One kid who looked about twelve even flipped Baekhyun the bird and luckily, he noticed the next stop was his; pressing the button and muttering about how disrespectful the youth of today was becoming. Once Baekhyun got off, he watched the bus drive away, even more relieved that he was no longer surrounded by pensioners. Jeez, I’m turning into one.
The shop was only across the road and Baekhyun could see through the window to the various instruments on racks. Excitement built within him. He loved going to the music shop. He could spend hours at a time in there just playing all the different instruments they had to offer and wishing he had enough money to buy them. As soon as he opened the door he heard the bell chime and without looking anywhere else, walked straight over to where he knew the microphones were displayed. After a moment, he thought he heard a gasp coming from the counter. Even though Baekhyun knew it would probably just be someone dropping something or perhaps being outraged at the price of an instrument - despite Baekhyun thinking it was quite reasonable in here - he turned around anyway, curiosity always getting the better of him. As it happened, he couldn’t decide whether or not he was glad he did. There, stood at the counter, was none other than Park Chanyeol. He looked utterly exhausted, but that was probably because they’d been up all night talking to each other.
Chanyeol schooled his expression into something a little less flabbergasted and waved at Baekhyun. He wasn’t unhappy to see the older boy, quite the opposite in fact. He was just extremely shocked over the coincidence of his temporary workplace being where Baekhyun lived.
On the other side of the counter Baekhyun’s mind was whirring. Questions were flying through his brain. What was Chanyeol doing here? Didn’t he live away from Baekhyun’s town? Wasn’t he at his own University? What about… And then it hit him. “You’re Yixing’s cousin.” Baekhyun mumbled, almost to himself.
“What?”
“Yixing is your cousin right?” Chanyeol looked a little confused as to why Baekhyun would be asking this, but nodded.
“Yeah, he is. I’m staying with him because I have to do experience for my business course here. I didn’t know you lived here though Baek.” At this point, everything was piecing together in Baekhyun’s mind and he smiled. Looking at Chanyeol relieved his heart. He had huge bags under his eyes but he looked as handsome as ever and Baekhyun just wanted to go and hug him - kiss him, like he had been wanting to do ever since the first time. His smile grew and he couldn’t stop it, soon his face would be hurting but Baekhyun didn’t care because Chanyeol was stood in front of him. Chanyeol was living with Yixing, five houses down and across the road from him.
Baekhyun walked up to the counter.
“Isn’t it such a coincidence that you’re here where I live, you’re working in the music shop I frequent, I’m friends with your cousin, who just so happens to be on the same music course as me, and he also lives on the same street as me.” He said coincidence, he thought fate. However Chanyeol only widened his eyes.
“You live on the same street? Oh my God Baek, that’s crazy!” Crazy indeed. So crazy was the situation in fact, that Baekhyun left the shop thinking about how crazy he was for Chanyeol without buying the microphone and had to go back in, extremely embarrassed. “Yeah, uh…hi again, I forgot to buy that mic.” Chanyeol only laughed, clapping his hands and scrunching his face up, which also caused Baekhyun to laugh.
“Oh yeah, Baek, I actually finish up here in about…” Chanyeol looked at his watch and his face brightened. “Oh! About now, someone should be coming to cover my shift." As soon as he said it, the bell chimed again and someone else walked into the shop. Baekhyun recognised her as a girl everyone called Juniel from his course and he greeted her. He wasn't totally surprised that she worked here; she was one of the more talented ones in his class and seemed really into music.
Baekhyun looked back at Chanyeol in question, thinking he only wanted them to walk home together. So he was surprsed when the taller slung an arm around Baekhyun's one shoulder, his bag on his own other one.
"Let's go next door. I liked the look of it when I peeked through the window earlier, the cakes look delicous." Baekhyun playfully poked Canyeol's belly.
"All you did at the festival was eat and talk about food and now you want to go to the café? I’m surprised you’re not obese.”
“I’m a black hole, it’s fine. Your appetite is hardly small though, you ate just as much as me that weekend!” For the rest of the afternoon they sat in the café and just like the night before, conversation flowed.
On their way back to their respective houses, Baekhyun found himself wishing that Chanyeol would just come back to his. He wondered what it would be like to live with Chanyeol, if he was messy, or if he would cook for Baekhyun…and then shook his head. He really hadn’t known Chanyeol for more than a month, how could he be thinking of things like that? Chanyeol saw him shaking his head and looked down.
“You alright Baek?” Baekhyun looked back up and smiled, quickly thinking up an excuse.
“Mmm. I’m just - just tired. Do you realise how long we were talking last night?”
“I know, I look like a panda, see?” without warning, Chanyeol stopped walking and leaned down to show Baekhyun, but miscalculated Baekhyun’s height and ended up nearly nose to nose with the shorter. Both of their eyes widened, but neither of them moved. Chanyeol was too startled and Baekhyun…Baekhyun was trying not to blurt out how he was in danger of getting lost in Chanyeol’s eyes. Trying not to do or say anything cheesy or stupid that could have lost him a friend. And yet there he was, touching his forehead with Chanyeol’s. Baekhyun was not alerted to pull away by the fact that Chanyeol was not doing anything to break the connection either.
There was confusion in the latter’s eyes as to why he didn’t want to pull away, and yet he knew he had to. But why did he have to? There was nothing to stop him from kissing Baekhyun right here. The next thing to flash in Chanyeol’s mind was sudden panic. Kissing Baekhyun. The thought, admittedly, was not new to him - especially not after the first time - however he’d never have guessed that he would be in a situation to almost act upon it once again. No. Baekhyun was pretty. Very pretty. Who wouldn’t have had thoughts of kissing him? Or touching him, or Baekhyun touching…no. Why was he thinking of this in this situation? Chanyeol thought that could not have had worse timing. What was even worse timing was when Baekhyun’s phone rang.
The two jumped, scared, and bashed their foreheads together. “OW” Baekhyun reached into his back pocket and pulled out his mobile, all the while mirroring Chanyeol and rubbing his head.
“What’s up?”
“Hey Baek, there’s this party tonight, and-”
“No.”
“Aw, come on. Please, I’ve even managed to persuade Kyungsoo.”
“Look, Jongdae. The last time you talked me into this sort of thing, we nearly got caught by the police, and besides, I’ve had enough headaches to last me fifty years.”
“Baek. Jongin and Minseok are going. Don’t you want to see them? I’ve tried contacting Chanyeol but he didn’t answer his phone like, three times so I gave up. Please. I promise I won’t let you drink too much. Besides, it’s outside, so you can clear your head.”
“Jong, you and I both know you’re gonna slip vodka into my water. Urgh, whatever, I’ll go. Just, ugh, there’d better not be too many people there.”
“Great! 8pm, at the park, see you there.” Jongdae then hung up before Baekhyun had a chance to reply. He rolled his eyes, put the phone back in his pocket and looked at Chanyeol, who had now recovered from the pain in his head and was toeing the ground with his shoe. Baekhyun broke the short silence
“So, uh, I’d better go home. I enjoyed today.” He internally winced, berating himself for making it sound like he was coming home from a date. This was his friend. Only his friend.
“So did I. It was nice to see you in person again. I’ll call you and we’ll meet up soon okay?” Yet he couldn’t stop the little spark of happiness when Chanyeol said he would call him.
“Okay. Bye Yeol.” Even that small sentence made the older boy happy. He practically skipped home, and once he got through the door he shouted “MUM, I’M BACK.”
“Not so loud Hyunnie, I’m right here.”
Before he knew it, it was seven, and Baekhyun decided that he should probably start getting ready. He really felt a little disappointed that Chanyeol was not going, and annoyed with himself that he didn’t ask the guy himself. Despite this though, Baekhyun reasoned that if Chanyeol was not there, he had no opportunity to make a move on him and scare him off. The distance between their homes hadn’t put Chanyeol off wanting contact, but then, friends missed each other just as much as lovers did, so he didn’t really have any evidence as to whether Chanyeol liked him back or not. Baekhyun wore dark purple skinny jeans and a t-shirt and because the party was outside, he also put on his leather jacket and Docs.
Baekhyun lived close enough that he could walk to the park, so with that, he set off - but not without applying a thin line of eyeliner first. He wasn’t in the mood to party that night, so when he got there and saw the crowd by the fountain in the middle of the large expanse of grass, Baekhyun heaved a big sigh and stood on the outskirts, trying in vain to search for Jongdae and Kyungsoo, or even anyone that he knew well enough. Suddenly a shout came from his right
“Yah Baek! You came! I was gonna go to your house and drag you out if you didn’t.”
“Yeah I kind of figured that out Jong.” Jongdae dragged Baekhyun into the group of people and thrust a bottle of beer into his hand, then promptly disappeared.
“Hey, wait. Jong- JONGDAE!” But Jongdae had seemingly vanished. Ah well. Baekhyun shrugged. One beer wasn’t going to do him any harm. And besides, it wasn’t like he had anything - or anyone - to stay sober for.
One beer quickly turned into two, turned into something much stronger. Jongdae kept re-appearing with booze as if he was on a mission to get Baekhyun drunk. He probably was, since he had been calling Baekhyun a killjoy since he invited him that afternoon. As Baekhyun became more and more unaware of his surroundings, his mind went to Chanyeol. He should have expected this really, his thoughts were on Chanyeol more often than he liked anyway so especially now he had no firm control of his brain these images would pop up.
Someone began to dance with him and he imagined that it was Chanyeol. This guy was tall enough to be him anyway. His big hands were around Baekhyun’s hips as he danced in much the same way that he did at the festival. He looked up hoping to see Chanyeol’s face, but knew he would be disappointed. When he did look up, he saw…Chanyeol’s face? Baekhyun felt like he was starting to get deja vu. The hungry look he’d seen in Chanyeol’s eyes at the festival was back. Baekhyun concluded that the taller must have been as drunk as he was. They continued dancing, until Baekhyun realised that no, he didn’t want a repeat of last time. He wanted Chanyeol to remember any kiss they had, and to consciously know what he was doing. So Baekhyun pulled away.
“Sorry Chanyeol.” He winced at the sloppy sound of his voice and also at the familiar scene which had begun playing out again.
Baekhyun managed to escape the hurt look on the taller's face and waded through the crowd, somehow bumping into Kyungsoo, who was dancing with Jongin.
“Oh, Baek hyung.” Jongin sounded pleasantly surprised, but Baekhyun only grabbed his almost full cup off him and downed it, coughing a little, then with only a mumbled apology and a
“Sorry I can’t stay.” Baekhyun rushed off again, through the other side of the crowd and stumbled, feeling the ground spin. It was happening again, just like it did at the festival. This time however, there was no kiss. Baekhyun felt relief but also regret. He was the one who stopped it. It was for the best though. Right?
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him up. The world was still spinning.
“Yah Baekhyun.” Chanyeol still didn’t sound sober, but the fact that he ran after Baekhyun had to mean something right? “Baekhyun. Stop running away. Don’t run away this time. Just kiss me.” Then Chanyeol clumsily wrapped his arms around Baekhyun and kissed him. It wasn’t perfect, and to a passer by, it probably looked like they were trying to eat each other. Baekhyun certainly wanted Chanyeol inside him. However, neither of them really thought about that. It was drunk and passionate and when they pulled apart, Chanyeol said “There, not bad for a second kiss.” And Baekhyun’s mind had time to scream HE REMEMBERS? Before he turned away and threw up in the fountain.
♫ ~ ♪ ~ ♫
“Baek.” Huh? Who is that? “Baekhyun. Wake up.” Chanyeol? Baekhyun sat up, and immediately fell back down again. He was wearing his pyjama pants but was bare chested, led in his own bed. He didn’t remember getting there. The headache that pounded through his skull was like no other, and he managed to grind out
“I’m gonna kill Jongdae.” The response was a low chuckle, then when he refused to open his eyes, he felt lips on his, very softly pressing down. They were gone in an instant but the kiss had the desired effect. Baekhyun shot his eyes wide open and while his lips were still parted in shock, someone shoved a tablet into his mouth. “Painkiller. I thought you might need it.” Again came Chanyeol’s deep voice and when Baekhyun looked over, the taller seemed hesitant. Baekhyun just groaned.
“With the amount of painkillers I’ve taken lately I feel like I might overdose.” But Baekhyun swallowed it nonetheless. Chanyeol still looked unsure of something and Baekhyun took it upon himself to ask, “Are you alright?” Chanyeol spluttered and that’s when Baekhyun knew he had something on his mind. Then another thought occurred to him. “Chanyeol, you - did you…remember?” Chanyeol immediately knew what he meant and his cheeks turned scarlet. He nodded, then looked up through his lashes at Baekhyun, a guilty expression on his face.
“I…I didn’t want to say anything. You didn’t look like you remembered so I just thought that I could try to, you know, stop thinking about it. Well, it turns out that I couldn’t.” Baekhyun’s jaw hung open. Everything was being turned on its head.
“Believe it or not, um, I can tell you exactly the same thing.” Chanyeol looked back into Baekhyun’s eyes, and then leaned forward and very lightly pecked him on the lips. Their third kiss.
“Well then, I guess now is a good time to tell you that…I finished my business course and they offered me a permanent place at the music store. You know the old manager was, well - old. So I’m taking over.” Baekhyun couldn’t believe his ears.
“Isn’t it funny how life works? That’s such a coincidence.” Chanyeol gazed at him fondly and replied.
“No, it’s not a coincidence. It’s fate.”
The End