Before We Go Up in Flames [3/7]
Let | Me |
- LOVE -
Seven:
“How’s my little star doing?” Chanyeol asked, pinching Baekhyun’s cheeks in a way that made Baekhyun pull away from him with a soft laugh.
“I’m fine. Kind of cold.”
Chanyeol wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist and placed his chin on his head. “I can warm you up,” he whispered, slowly swaying left and right as Baekhyun placed his hands over Chanyeol’s and leaned back against his chest.
Chanyeol let his eyes close as his arms tightened around him. Please don’t escape from my arms.
Kyungsoo and Jongdae will attack in a week.
Until then, let me show you in all the ways possible how much I love you.
The morning had begun with Chanyeol waking up to Baekhyun’s puffy, sleeping face, just as cute as he remembered it. He had lain there for a few moments, watching him sleep, watching him breathe. He had made a large breakfast, much to Baekhyun’s confusion and hesitant delight, but he ate everything in sight until he began moaning about a stomach ache, which immediately had Chanyeol at his side, massaging his back until he felt better.
Chanyeol had made it a goal for the week to spend time with Baekhyun, keeping him away from any suspicion and fear and making up for how distant they had been recently. But having the others get ready for Kyungsoo and Jongdae wouldn’t be bad either.
To Sehun: ‘I want you two to start preparing for battle. Don’t question me, just be ready.’
From Sehun: ‘What do you mean? We’re always ready ;)’
Chanyeol had only given a grim smile to his phone. Not always.
“Yeol?” Baekhyun cut into his thoughts, “Are you okay? You’ve been acting kinda strangely since last night.”
Chanyeol laughed. “Have I? I don’t feel like I’ve been acting strangely.”
“You’re clinging.”
“What’s wrong with clinging?” Chanyeol asked with a pout, prompting Baekhyun to turn around in his arms, looking up to him with a frown.
“You haven’t been clingy recently.”
Chanyeol’s voice softened as his smile dimmed. “Do you miss it?”
Baekhyun’s frown slowly faded, and he wrapped his arms around Chanyeol’s waist and closed his eyes as he rest his cheek on his chest. “A little.”
Chanyeol placed one hand on top of Baekhyun’s head, running his fingers through the thin blonde strands of hair. “I’ll make it up to you, okay?” Baekhyun only responded with a slow nod against his chest.
Chanyeol sighed, holding Baekhyun close. He pressed his lips to the top of his head and whispered, “For the rest of the week, I’m yours. I’m completely yours.”
“Really?” Baekhyun whispered softly into his chest.
“Yes. Really.”
They stood there in silence for a few seconds, letting Baekhyun breathe in Chanyeol’s scent, letting Chanyeol comfort him as they swayed to no rhythm in particular.
Chanyeol spoke up after about a minute or so. “Let’s do something together today, how does that sound?”
Baekhyun’s eyes stayed closed as he mumbled, “Okay, sure, what do you want to do?”
Anything. Everything. Chanyeol’s hands moved to curl behind Baekhyun’s ears, rubbing soft circles along them as Baekhyun gave a small moan of delight. “We could take a trip to Venice?”
Baekhyun shifted in Chanyeol’s arms. “As much as I’d love to, we don’t have the luxury for that. And we’ve discussed this; who’s going to watch the town if we’re gone for too long?”
Chanyeol gave a smile. “Sehun and Jongin, of course.”
“Yeol,” Baekhyun whispered, beautiful eyes fluttering open, “You know we can’t just leave them alone.”
Chanyeol pouted. “We’re not their parents and they're not irresponsible children.”
“And we have work too…”
Chanyeol’s fingers tugged on Baekhyun’s ears in a way that got Baekhyun’s eyes to close again. “Don’t worry about work; let’s take the week off.”
Baekhyun hummed as he leaned back against Chanyeol. “Sounds delightful.”
“Let’s go to the beach,” Chanyeol whispered. “Take a walk, play around, have a romantic dinner as we watch the sun set…”
“Go on...” Baekhyun drawled, leaning in to Chanyeol’s touch as his fingers slid down to massage Baekhyun’s back.
“Or we can stay home, and I’ll just pamper you constantly.” Chanyeol let his fingers slowly move down to his waist. “Or we can do some other stuff,” he sang, prompting a soft bout of laughter from Baekhyun’s lips.
“Anything less extravagant?” Baekhyun mumbled tiredly. “You’re trying too hard to please me.”
Chanyeol hummed, fingers still rubbing circles into Baekhyun’s sides. “We… can make cookies?”
Baekhyun’s eyes shot open as he looked up to his husband, sparkling like diamonds.
Of course, Chanyeol should have known that baking cookies wouldn’t actually involve baking cookies, as with only about a batch made, another batch had begun to burn when Chanyeol got caught up in the middle of feeding Baekhyun cookie after cookie, until Baekhyun flicked a spoonful of batter at Chanyeol, who retaliated by spraying whipped cream back onto Baekhyun’s face, and a messy food war took place in their small kitchen, ending with batter in Baekhyun’s hair, chocolate stains on the walls, and their faces painted white with flour. Chanyeol slipped on some spilled flour on the floor, pulling Baekhyun down with him, and as the smaller man crashed against his chest, they couldn’t help but laugh at the mess they had made, until Baekhyun leaned down to press their lips together in a kiss that tasted like flour and chocolate, right before the smoke from the burning cookies in the oven sent off the smoke detector. As the sprinklers in the ceiling began to drench them with water, Baekhyun only laughed, flipping his hair back before leaning down to kiss Chanyeol once again, and in this mess of flour, water, and burnt cookies, Chanyeol easily decided that it couldn’t get any better than this.
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Six:
It was some time between the early hours of the morning that Chanyeol opened his eyes to darkness, his head and vision foggy as the clouds floated across the sky outside his window, muddling the light from the moon, casting soft shadows across the walls.
He gave a heavy sigh, sinking into the mattress, and let his head loll to one side to see Baekhyun lying beside him, his body unusually cold and pale. He wasn’t breathing. His heart wasn’t beating. A small trail of dark blood was dried on his lips and his chin, and in his panic, Chanyeol sat up and threw back the covers, eyes immediately drawn to the blood stained sheets.
Chanyeol awoke with a jolt and immediately turned to his husband lying motionless by his side.
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispered, giving the smaller man a quick shake and pressing his fingers across his neck to feel for a pulse, before he noticed the soft rise and fall of his chest and the small whine that escaped his lips when he began to wake up.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips. “Baekhyun,” he said once again, softer.
“Yeol?” Baekhyun asked groggily, turning over under Chanyeol's touch and immediately snuggling up to his side, drawing closer to Chanyeol’s warmth. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned as he spoke. “Is something wrong?”
Chanyeol settled back, brushing the tangled strands of hair away from Baekhyun’s face. Nothing was wrong. But the nightmares were back.
Chanyeol shook his head and wrapped his arms around Baekhyun, wanting to hold him to his chest and just lie with him there forever, hug him tightly forever, keep him warm forever, keep him safe forever.
Baekhyun adjusted in his arms with a soft sigh as he rubbed at his eyes with his wrists. “I can’t believe you woke me up,” he mumbled, the words muddled with sleep as he wrapped the blankets around himself. “At 3 am? What type of husband are you.”
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispered, his breath warm against Baekhyun’s nose, causing the smaller man to shiver as he glanced up, his eyes nearly closed in tired slits. “Would... would you like to go on a date?”
His nose scrunched. “Isn't it too early to start being romantic?”
“It's never too early to be romantic. My love for you runs hot 24/7,” Chanyeol teased, his warm fingers snaking up Baekhyun’s back.
With a soft groan, Baekhyun let his eyes close and turned away from his husband. “Don’t you have work?”
“I already told you, this week is for you. Don't worry about work.” He nuzzled his nose against his neck. “Why aren’t you letting me be a good husband.”
Baekhyun pressed back against him with a tired sigh, his small fingers reaching for Chanyeol’s hands to draw his arms around his waist. “You’d be a good husband if you just let me go back to sleep.”
There was a single second of silence before Chanyeol softly kissed Baekhyun’s nape. “Goodnight, love.”
“So Baekhyunnie, tell me about yourself.”
Baekhyun let out a laugh, wrapping his hands around his warm mug as he leaned over the table. “If we’ve been married for over four years and I still need to tell you about myself, our relationship must be digressing.”
Chanyeol pouted while Baekhyun’s lips spread into a cute smile, his eyes curling into small crescents as he lifted his mug to his lips. “I’m trying to reenact an old date of ours, you know.”
“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun brought his mug down from his lips to give a soft laugh, “We were never this awkward; you knew enough about me before we were ever actually dating, Yeol.”
Chanyeol frowned. “Why can’t you let me enjoy this; let’s pretend we were normal for once.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and brought his mug back up to his lips. “How boring. You could probably tell me about myself as well as I could by now.”
Chanyeol smiled at his husband, taking that remark as a challenge. “Byun Baekhyun. Twenty-seven. Can never decide what color he wants his hair to be, but looks stunning in any color.” Baekhyun almost choked on his tea. “Loves staying up all night to marathon sappy romance movies. Loves lilies. Madly loves his current husband.” Baekhyun sat forward in his seat, leaning against the table with an amused smile. Chanyeol’s smile softened as he continued. “Has the most dazzling smile I’ve ever seen, and a laugh that makes me want to make him happy forever. Wants to save the world. Wants to be loved. That’s you: Byun Baekhyun, the most perfect angel alive, and the beautiful other half of the devilishly handsome Park Chanyeol.”
Baekhyun laughed, picking up a fork and poking at his shortcake. “Those parts about you aren't really things I would have said a few years ago.”
“But they’re true now,” Chanyeol asserted, watching Baekhyun poke a fork full of cake into his mouth. “Especially the devilishly handsome parts.”
“Ah?” Baekhyun mumbled around his fork, “I’m not so sure.” He took the fork from between his lips and twirled it between his fingers before pointing it at Chanyeol. “Look, I could do even better than you at describing you too.”
“Really?” Chanyeol asked, sitting back in his chair. “Do your worst.”
With a smile, Baekhyun began. “Park Chanyeol: dork extraordinaire.”
Chanyeol sat up and whined, “Baek-”
“Twenty-six, hot and single.”
Chanyeol coughed, and his cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “D-Don’t pretend I would say something that embarrassing.” Baekhyun gave him a daring glare, and Chanyeol leaned back again with an exaggerated pout, crossing his arms.
“As lovable and huggable as a giant rilakkuma,” Baekhyun continued with a smile, “and can never keep his hands to himself. Reserved. Talented. Charming. Rarely opens up to people for fear of getting too close and burning the ones he adores, but would burn down the world for something he believes in. Has beautiful eyes, a beautiful smile, and a beautiful soul, yet is too conserved to show it. Loves unconditionally, works hard for what he wants and plays just as hard once he gets it. To Byun Baekhyun, he’s more important than anything, and he’s the most perfect being ever created, almost as though he was made just for me. That’s you. My lovely Park Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol wasn’t sure when he began staring, whether he had been staring the entire time or not, but he felt his lips curling up into a small, admiring smile as he let out a soft, breathless, “Wow.”
“What,” Baekhyun chuckled, leaning back in his chair as he took a sip of his tea, “was I right about all of it? We’re quite compatible for having just met.” He set down the mug and tapped his beautiful fingers against the wooden table. “Perhaps this is a relationship worth pursuing.”
Chanyeol slowly leaned forward to take Baekhyun’s hands in his. “Have I told you I love you?”
Baekhyun let out a soft laugh. “This is a little too fast for a first date, don’t you think?”
Chanyeol merely smiled at him before standing up to lean over the table, and he pressed a kiss to his husband’s sugar coated lips, sweet with strawberry icing and spiced tea. Chanyeol’s eyes sparkled as he pulled away, his nose barely a few centimeters away from Baekhyun’s, close enough for him to feel Chanyeol’s breath fan across his lips as Chanyeol spoke. “I love you.”
Baekhyun’s cheeks blushed a soft pink as he found himself naturally repeating the words, bringing a smile to Chanyeol’s lips. Baekhyun turned away and slid his hands out from Chanyeol’s, quickly lifting his mug back up to his lips to hide his embarrassment as Chanyeol sat back in his seat, his soft smile never leaving his lips, his eyes never leaving Baekhyun.
Baekhyun cleared his throat. “So now that this ‘awkward first date that we never had’ remake is over, can I ask what’s going on? Is there an event I forgot to mark on the calendar?”
“You mean you don’t remember?” Chanyeol asked, pursing his lips. “You don’t remember this not-special day that I just randomly decided to take you out on a date because I felt like it?”
Baekhyun set the mug down with a frown. “It’s not every day we visit this cafe, Yeol.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything special to go out on a coffee date,” Chanyeol replied, slipping another fork full of cake between his husband's lips, leaning forward to wipe the icing from the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth with his thumb. “I promise you didn’t forget anything. I just wanted to get out of the house with you. Spend a little time together, you know?”
Baekhyun frowned and licked absentmindedly at the corner of his lips. “We haven’t just ‘gone on a date’ in a long time.”
“Because we’ve been busy,” Chanyeol responded, glancing away from his husband’s curious stare. “But we’re not busy now. So we’re on a date.” Chanyeol’s voice got softer. “Can’t we just enjoy it without questioning it? I want to spend the week with you.”
Baekhyun sank down in his seat, rhythmically tapping his nails on the small, round table. “Fine,” he sighed, paused, and finished with a soft, “Thank you.”
Chanyeol let his eyes wander back to Baekhyun, who was slowly peeling back the lids of two individually packaged creamers.
“To our next year of marriage?” Baekhyun asked with a shy smile, holding one out toward his husband.
Chanyeol blinked and looked between the creamer and Baekhyun. It was almost like a tradition, he assumed, since they had done their first love shot with sweet French vanilla creamers one of their first dates, toasting to the rest of their courtship. Chanyeol had held out the small container with a smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows, saying, “It’s French vanilla, translated as Fancy vanilla.” Baekhyun merely laughed and played along, tapping Chanyeol’s creamer with his own for a toast before taking their love shot. They had also done one after Chanyeol proposed, and shared one secretly on the day of their marriage behind the curtains away from the eyes of family and friends, to down their love shot to happiness for rest of their lives together as one.
Chanyeol took the creamer from Baekhyun’s thin fingers and wrapped his arm around Baekhyun’s as he gave him a smile. “From today and onward.” And they drank the creamer together with a tilt of their heads.
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Five:
“Ah, crime in the city has been so minimal recently,” Baekhyun whined, lacing his fingers behind his head as he closed his eyes and continued walking by Chanyeol’s side. “We don’t have much to do.”
Chanyeol glanced over to his small husband and wrapped an arm around his waist. “That’s a good thing,” he mumbled into his ear. “It also gives me more time to spend with you.”
“Still bored though,” Baekhyun sighed, pulling out of Chanyeol’s embrace. “Look at us, going out to restaurants we haven’t gone to in years.” With a laugh, he bumped against Chanyeol’s side. “It’s like we’re in our early-twenties again.”
Chanyeol frowned. “It wasn’t that long ago. Don’t reminisce and say that this is like the good old days.”
Baekhyun silenced himself with a sigh as he leaned against Chanyeol’s side, and he didn’t even have to say the words that he was holding back for Chanyeol to know what they were. It must have seemed like the sweetest parts of their relationship were far in the past, that they had already left their best days behind, and now they were just tangled up in this busy life that gave them no opportunity to just spend time together and love each other like they used to. Their relationship had been slowly getting buried under the stresses of work, returning home late and leaving early until they were barely able to get in an “I love you” anymore, although the words were there, just… hiding. Between the creases of lips that longed to be kissed, and in early morning whispers, falling dormant on sleeping ears.
Baekhyun cleared his throat and shook his head, clearing his mind like the dark, cloudless sky. “But still, what are we even doing? First, the cafe we had our first official date at, now the restaurant you took me to the night you proposed... is something going on? You’re skipping work, you’re forcing me to skip work,” he leaned in close to his husband’s ear, standing on the tips of his toes as he pulled Chanyeol down to him. “How are we going to pay the bills, Yeol?”
“With love,” Chanyeol chuckled, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”
Baekhyun looked up to him with a pout, shuddering as a gust of wind blew his jacket from his shoulder. He grasped his arms and glanced over his shoulder with a frown. “It feels like Sehun is playing tricks on us again.”
Chanyeol sighed, pulling Baekhyun back against his side and rubbing his arms to warm him up. “That was one time.” Baekhyun looked up to Chanyeol with a glare, and Chanyeol looked away with a roll of his eyes. “Okay, maybe it was more than once, but it was all in good humor.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you two had planned it out just so you’d have an excuse to wrap your arms around me.”
Chanyeol chuckled, his fingers sliding down Baekhyun’s side to tighten around his waist, tugging him closer. “I don’t need an excuse to hold you,” Chanyeol mumbled, snuggling his nose against Baekhyun’s neck. “Because I’m warm, and you love me.”
Baekhyun leaned against Chanyeol, relaxing under his touch. “I’d love to fight you on that, but you’re absolutely right.”
They walked slowly through the night on their detour back home through the park, under the streetlamps and barren trees as Chanyeol thought about the past and the future until Baekhyun curled against Chanyeol’s side and let out a soft giggle. He looked up to his husband’s questioning face and turned away. “I remembered something. Walking down this road reminds me of some pleasant memories.”
Recognizing what he was referencing, Chanyeol glanced away with a teasing scoff. “Pleasant for who?”
“Both of us!” Baekhyun responded, pulling away from Chanyeol’s embrace to slip his fingers between Chanyeol’s. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Chanyeol looked forward, suddenly seeing the scene from that evening as they walked under the arches of trees lining the path, orange and red leaves cascading around them in the golden light of the sunset back on the day that Baekhyun was referencing, lights from the festival strung up between the trees in a beautiful display, and Chanyeol remembered choosing this particular spot in the middle of the park because of the fountain in the center of the garden not to far from here, until Baekhyun had run off in the other direction.
Chanyeol nodded and Baekhyun squeezed his fingers with a giggle, looking up to Chanyeol with delighted eyes as he spoke. “Remember when you destroyed the entire street trying to catch me?”
“And the city made us pay for it to get fixed? I do.”
Baekhyun laughed again, leaning back against Chanyeol’s chest. “They were good days; we barely get any time in to just play anymore.”
“Or now that we’re so out about our powers, the city likes to punish us for being a public disturbance because they can’t punish us just for having them. They look for any little reason for us to slip up instead.”
Baekhyun silenced down, tightening his grip on Chanyeol’s hand as he leaned against his side. “I’ve never cared much for the rules anyway. Who are they to stop us from having fun?”
Chanyeol looked down to him but didn’t respond, opting instead to continue his walk in silence, staring at the barren trees and possibilities.
Baekhyun stopped his walk and tugged back on Chanyeol’s hand, face suddenly brightening. “Chanyeol? Let’s play a game.”
Chanyeol didn’t get the breath in to even ask what game it was before Baekhyun had disappeared, leaving behind a bright streak of light in the direction he had zoomed off in.
Chanyeol gave a tired laugh, tapping the tips of his shoes on the ground before following after the fading tail of light in an old game of tag.
It was a game Baekhyun had often forced Chanyeol to play when they were teenagers, skipping between buildings, begging Chanyeol to follow him, daring Chanyeol to try to catch him, and then watching him struggle when he didn’t have enough control over his powers to even keep up. And although Baekhyun would try to teach him, he would never learn, never able to get up enough flame to follow him, or whenever he did, he’d immediately faceplant into the dirt.
Baekhyun had just sat down and placed his hand on Chanyeol’s head with a smile and an “It’s okay, we don’t have to play anymore.”
On the day Baekhyun was referencing in particular, they had spent the night at Baekhyun’s favorite restaurant, in formal attire under large, crystal chandeliers, laughing nervously as Baekhyun constantly leaned over the table to fix Chanyeol’s tie after Chanyeol continued to loosen it. Baekhyun would often remark how nice it was to see him in a black suit and tie, and Chanyeol would comment the same. They fed each other fancy foods, laughing and giggling the entire time, and Chanyeol had almost forgotten his nervousness in the midst of it all, although his hand continuously went to his jacket pocket, and all the butterflies in his stomach would return. Baekhyun would notice and sit solemnly in his seat until he thought of a way to change the subject and make Chanyeol laugh again.
The same night after they had left the restaurant, they walked through the park, along this same path that they were traversing right now.
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol had finally spoken up in the middle of this familiar path that they had walked down so many times, they had memorized every crack in the trail and every tree root protruding from the concrete. “Baekhyun, I…” he cleared his throat. “I have a question to ask you.”
Baekhyun glanced over to his boyfriend with a frown, noticing the tension furrowing his brows as he gnawed on his bottom lip. With a shy smile, Baekhyun placed a thin finger on Chanyeol’s lips. “Hold that thought.” Baekhyun’s smile softened. “You seem nervous.”
Baekhyun let his finger slide away from Chanyeol’s lips as he continued speaking. “I have seen you put uncatchable criminals behind bars, and I have also seen you make the meanest strawberry shortcake I have ever tasted. I’ve seen you fight off both evildoers and animosity, and Chanyeol, you are one of the strongest, most sincere guys that I know. Asking me a question shouldn’t be too hard.”
Chanyeol’s hand went to his pocket again as he opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again and turned away.
Baekhyun gave a sigh and stepped forward in the midst of the autumn foliage, the wind blowing through his hair in a way that made him look too beautiful for Chanyeol to deserve. Chanyeol’s chest tightened as Baekhyun took his hands into his. “Yeol, you know I’ve never liked these grand things to be so stressful. I like messy spontaneity, and nontraditional events. Right now it’s just you and me. No one is watching us. No expectations. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to impress me. You can relax.”
But when the tension didn't fade from his features, he sighed. “You know what?” Baekhyun asked. “Let’s play a game.”
Baekhyun took a few steps back from Chanyeol. “Light is elusive. It’s not really something you can tie down. I need someone who can keep up with me.” His expression turned into a hesitant smile. “Maybe, if you can catch me, you can keep me.”
And then he was gone in a flash, leaving Chanyeol staring behind at the brief flash of light. It hurt, if he was honest. To be forced to play a game Baekhyun knew Chanyeol would never win, to watch him run away, knowing he would never catch him, it hurt. He couldn’t tell whether this was Baekhyun begging him to get lost, or if he was treating this all as just another game.
But he didn’t want to lose him. He couldn’t lose him. Not like this.
So he ran.
He sped into the night, courageously following the trails of light, forcing himself pick up power and pick up speed. Determination burned under his feet like a rocket with little to no control, propelling him forward into the night as he followed closely behind Baekhyun’s tail zig-zagging between buildings and traffic, and as Baekhyun came into his sight, he clenched his fists and sped up, tearing up the street behind him with the intensity of his flame, and it was only when he was too close that he realized he couldn’t stop and ran straight into Baekhyun, tumbling along the empty street in a mess of momentum and tangled limbs.
As they came to a stop, Chanyeol let out a groan against the street, and Baekhyun pushed himself up from his chest.
“Oh my god, Chanyeol, are you okay?”
Chanyeol’s pained groans turned into laughter as he wrapped his arms around the small brunette on top of him, peppering his face with kisses. He pulled away with a smile. “Gotcha.”
Baekhyun’s worried expression slowly faded, turning into a large smile as they lay there together, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh was how crazily in love with this little ball of light that he was.
Chanyeol closed his eyes and let his head rest back against the cold asphalt, his body releasing steam in thin wisps. This was definitely not how he planned for this to go, but all the unpredictability and uncertainty of Baekhyun was so worth it if he could spend all of his time in his arms just like this, forever.
Baekhyun looked up from Chanyeol’s chest with a small, shy smile. “Now, good sir, I believe you had a question to ask me?”
Chanyeol merely laughed up to the brunette in his arms in drunken elation, tired, happy, in love. He couldn’t even get up to kneel, and he didn’t want to let go of Baekhyun to pull the ring from his jacket pocket, and the speech he had prepared was long past forgotten, but the smile on Baekhyun’s face implied that he didn’t care, nor did he want a sappy, practiced speech. Instead, Chanyeol stared up to his glowing boyfriend with a smile, and spoke. The words weren’t even able to finish leaving his lips before Baekhyun silenced him with an overjoyed kiss.
“Byun Baekhyun, will you marry me?”
Chanyeol slowed his chase as he snapped out of his memories and his mind returned to the present, and he watched his husband glide gracefully through the sky, shouting as he did flips off of buildings, leaving behind springs and coils of light that burst in the air, ribbons and streamers weaving between buildings and hanging along the quiet streets of the night.
Chanyeol watched in silent amazement and amusement, wondering how someone so full of light and life could have such little of it left.
He quickly shook the thought from his head and chased after his husband again.
Throughout the years, Chanyeol had gotten better at this, learning all of Baekhyun’s favorite tricks and twists, and he would copy the way Baekhyun made sharp turns around corners, or leapt from building to building with ease. Streaks of fire and light tangled in the night sky, creating their own constellations and writing ‘I love you’ amidst the stars. Chanyeol always loved whenever Baekhyun was this excited, so he would play along, despite how difficult it was to keep up with his small, glowing husband.
He followed the long tail of a streak of light on top of the buildings until Baekhyun shot back up into the sky. Chanyeol slowed his chase, tiredly sitting on the roof of what he believed was the bank, watching him until the light began flashing from beneath his feet in sputters in sparks as he began to fall.
Chanyeol merely watched, waiting for him to pull up again, as he had freaked him out by pretending to fall many times before, but it seemed like he couldn’t. He was flailing in the air, giving off soft bursts of light from his feet, but nothing was significant enough to save him from falling. Chanyeol quickly jumped forward to catch him, and his husband landed safely in his arms.
“Looks like I caught you again,” Chanyeol said with a triumphant smile, and Baekhyun looked up to him, his eyes wide, and the bewildered look on his face as though he hadn’t done it on purpose. Chanyeol’s smile slowly dropped.
Baekhyun blinked a few times. “Yeah, I…” he mumbled softly, curling his arms around Chanyeol's neck, his hands trembling slightly before he let out a laugh, his eyes scrunching into little crescents. “That was fun! Wasn’t it fun?”
Chanyeol stared down to the blonde with a skeptical raise of an eyebrow. “You were falling from the sky.”
“But you caught me,” Baekhyun responded much too quickly, trying to get his husband to stop worrying. He buried his face in his chest with a sigh. “You’re my hero, Yeol.”
Chanyeol never took his eyes off the small man curled in his arms as he slowly lowered to the ground. He spoke softly. “What type of superhero would I be if I couldn't even save my husband?”
Baekhyun curled into Chanyeol’s chest, his arms tightening around Chanyeol’s neck. “I want to go home.”
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Four:
Baekhyun is the first thought in Chanyeol’s mind when he wakes up in the morning, and the last breath of air that escapes his lips at night. The last thing he looks for before closing his eyes to sleep, and the only thing he dreams of. Baekhyun is the overwhelming golden light that streams in through the windows and fills the rooms at dawn, and the pinkish orange hues of light that romanticize the evening.
Chanyeol was not sure when he and Baekhyun became boyfriends, or when they became lovers. He didn't remember ever making it official, nor did he remember needing to.
Perhaps it was the first time he had slept in his bed in the middle of the winter, holding him close as they cuddled underneath the sheets, and he wished to wake up to his precious, sleeping face every day. Perhaps it was their first kiss, shared when they were late teenagers on the roof of the tallest building in town underneath the bright fireworks of the summer festival, although they had been holding hands and acting too close to be just friends much before then. Perhaps it was a few days after that, during their first actual date at the coffee shop, the first time Chanyeol had ever felt so embarrassed around Baekhyun, and he wasn’t sure what the flame burning in his heart was, but it felt different, more passionate, than the one he was used to. Perhaps it was when they first met, with Baekhyun’s eyes sparkling as he took Chanyeol’s hands between his, still warm with his flame from lighting a stove when he shouldn’t have been, too shocked and scared from being caught to pull away from the excited boy standing in front of him, his body nearly glowing with light as he spoke with the voice of an angel.
“Are you like me too?”
Chanyeol didn't know when they became boyfriends, or lovers, or whatever they were before they were fiancés. He couldn’t tell you what the process of falling in love felt like, because as far as he knew, he and Baekhyun were just friends until the day he found himself lying in the middle of the street asking to marry him. Then they were back to hugging and kissing as Baekhyun glowed more brightly and beautifully than all of the stars in the night sky, and Chanyeol wanted nothing more than to keep him forever. Chanyeol was not sure when they stopped being friends and started being whatever they were now. Perhaps they never stopped being friends, and their relationship just piled on more friendship until it became full and complete: love. Like layers of a chocolate cake, and all the extra bits were the sweet frosting in between that made it more than just chocolate on chocolate. But he didn't think it mattered when it happened, because he knew that he had been in love with Baekhyun - in love with the way his hair fell in front of his eyes, in love with the way his face lit up when he talked about something he was passionate about, in love with the stubborn light inside of him - far before then, and he would continue to love him far past this lifetime.
Chanyeol would often joke that because Baekhyun had dragged him around everywhere, it was like he was forced to fall in love with him eventually.
“Why?” Baekhyun would ask, “I may have approached you, but you’re the one that started following me around like a lost little puppy. No wonder I took a liking to you so easily.”
Chanyeol would just smile and never respond, although he knew that he had never been accepted by someone else so easily; he had never felt like someone loved his presence or that someone could understand him as well as Baekhyun did.
They were as opposite as opposite could be, though they filled the parts of each other that they were missing. From Baekhyun and his stubborn personality, to Chanyeol and his incredible patience. From Baekhyun and his outrageous tricks and ideas, to Chanyeol and his books and solitude.
“We could be superheroes, Chanyeol!” Baekhyun had said to him one evening, throwing out his arms as he spun in small circles on his apartment’s terrace before dizzily stumbling forward, reaching out to take Chanyeol’s hands. “You and me. Together.”
They were much too close, close enough to smell the Soju still clinging to his upper lip, and Chanyeol couldn’t tell if Baekhyun could also feel the awkwardness radiating out of him, so instead, he pulled away, nervously rubbing his shoulder.
“Superheroes?” Chanyeol let out with a laugh, turning his gaze away from his friend. “You’ve come up with a lot of crazy ideas, Byun Baek, but this one is definitely at the top of the list. Superheroes? What makes you think we’re capable of that?”
“The fact that you can spit fire from your lips - you can create flame from your fingertips, and you think being a superhero is impossible? Explain the anomaly of our powers first.”
Chanyeol squinted back at his friend, slapping his arm. “That’s not what I meant.”
“We can learn!” Baekhyun responded with a laugh. “We’ll fight all the bad guys, and the town will be so grateful, Chanyeol, they’ll love us!”
“The people of the town fear us,” Chanyeol hissed back in response, unexpectedly met by Baekhyun’s widening smile as he leaned in closer.
“Well then if they’re being bad, let's give them a reason to.”
Chanyeol shook his head and took a step back. “Why? Why can’t we just live peacefully like we have been? We’re okay right now; we don’t have to change anything.”
A small frown settled on Baekhyun’s lips. “Yeol, we bonded over the fact that we both have these powers; what if there are more people like us? What if we put ourselves out there, they’ll stop being afraid too? Aren’t you tired of hiding all the time?”
Chanyeol tried to turn away, but Baekhyun grabbed his shoulders, turning him back toward him. “We have been friends for years now, and recently, I have only seen you use your power once or twice to light a fireplace when you’ve run out of matches; I’d forget what it was if you weren’t so hot-headed all the time.”
Chanyeol puffed out his cheeks, holding back insults of his own as he scrunched his eyebrows. “I don’t use it because I don’t need to. Unlike you, who’s always leaking light everywhere. If I did that, I’d burn my house down.”
“Then be responsible,” Baekhyun cooed as he patted Chanyeol’s cheeks. “What’s the point of having it if you’re never going to do anything with it? If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it,” he teased, turning away to walk further out on the balcony until Chanyeol stepped forward and caught his wrist.
“What if I lose control?” he asked, his voice a soft whisper.
Delighted that he was beginning to catch Chanyeol’s interest, Baekhyun’s lips spread into a smug smile. “The only way to get better at it is to practice. Come on; I’ll even help you out if I can.”
Chanyeol paled at the thought. Baekhyun? Helping him with his… fire? No. No, it was ridiculous and he couldn’t even believe that he was considering it.
“No,” Chanyeol cut in, slapping away Baekhyun’s hand with a frown. “We can’t be superheroes, Baek, it’s absurd. You could get hurt.”
“It beats being an electrician,” Baekhyun mumbled after a small span of silence. “You have so much power within you, yet you’re keeping it hidden. Years down the road, you’ll still be hiding it, miserably working at that restaurant and lighting stoves in the kitchen when no one’s looking, and I’d be stuck fixing lightbulbs in old warehouses and fancy bathrooms of the people that shun us for these amazing powers we have while we’re stuck in the streets.”
Baekhyun’s frown hardened as he continued. “I don’t want that. You don’t want that. And if we don’t do something about it, it's never going to change. Come on, Yeol,” he muttered, nudging his shoulder. “We’re better than this.”
“But I don’t want to have these so called ‘amazing powers’ that you love so much,” Chanyeol whined, “I want to be normal! I don’t want this; I don’t want to hide, and I don’t want to be a freak - I want to be normal!”
“But you’re not!” Baekhyun screamed back. “And thank fucking God that you’re not, because you’re special, Park! What would you be without that flame in your chest, and what would I have done if we never met?”
Perhaps it was then that they transcended beyond friendship, in the midst of an argument, as Chanyeol was overcome with an urge to reach forward, draw his friend toward him and kiss those soft pink lips, if only to get him to stop shouting, to remind him that he needed him too and that he hated seeing him so angry and would rather see him blushing, flustered as they rekindled their relationship with a flame that would burn hotter than one Chanyeol had ever lit and a spark that burned brighter than all of the stars in this galaxy combined.
Instead, he curled his fists, fighting to subdue the feeling with a clench of his fists, focusing on the current conversation instead.
“It’s still illogical,” Chanyeol responded with a low growl. “We’re not children, Baekhyun, this isn’t a fantasy game. What am I going to do? Burn the town attempting to save it?” He scoffed. “And what are you going to do? Light up and blind them? We’re not made for this purpose; we’re not useful. Understand? Fire and light aren’t super powers. I destroy things. You’re just a light source - you’re nothing!”
Baekhyun stared at him silently, the faint glow of his skin dimming to a softer, dull burn, and as he noticed it, Chanyeol stepped forward, his anger suddenly simmering down.
“Baek, you know that’s not what I meant-”
“Sure, fire can destroy things,” Baekhyun spoke softly, his brow furrowed as he gnawed on his bottom lip and turned on his heels. “But that doesn't mean you have to.” Chanyeol opened his mouth to interrupt, but Baekhyun spoke over him. “And don’t say the same for me. Light gives life. Hope. Without me, your flame wouldn’t exist.”
Chanyeol clenched his jaw. He knew this. Baekhyun meant more to him than he would ever know. Baekhyun was Chanyeol’s hope as much as he was his friend and everything else Chanyeol needed to survive. Without Baekhyun, Chanyeol would just be another lost soul, a flame blown out by the wind.
Maybe that was why he felt so much pain tugging on his heart while he focused on Baekhyun’s back as he walked away. “You’re looking at this through the wrong lenses. You have so much potential and you’ve never even tried.” He paused his steps. “I bet that’s all you can do. Burn the things you love when you’re trying to save them.” Baekhyun’s voice softened as he glanced back at him over his shoulder. “I can see it in your eyes.”
Chanyeol immediately looked away as Baekhyun began walking back toward him. “That’s why you’re scared. It’s not the townspeople that fear you,” he whispered, poking Chanyeol softly in the chest. “It’s you that fears you.”
He was right. Again. He knew he was right. He knew from the way Chanyeol’s eyes softened; he knew the from the way Chanyeol’s fingers unclenched. As that hard frown on Baekhyun’s face let up, Chanyeol knew Baekhyun knew, because he had burned him before. Chanyeol had been timid before, always keeping his flame hidden for fear of the people he loved shunning him. His mother hated his powers, and his father hated them even more. But Baekhyun had always been so amazed by them that he always asked him to light flames and to show him tricks, yet it was in an attempt to show off just a few years before that Baekhyun stood a little too close, and Chanyeol got a little too careless, and the image of Baekhyun cowering away from him in fear was one that haunted him for years. And although Baekhyun was the one that had gotten him to use them again, Baekhyun was also the reason he vowed not to use them anymore.
“I don’t want to hurt people,” Chanyeol muttered. “I don’t want to burn things. I don’t want people to fear me, and I don’t want to fear myself, I don’t…” He paused at the soft touch of Baekhyun’s hand on his face as Baekhyun looked up to him with soft eyes, like a silent sentiment of ‘But I don’t fear you,’ as though he knew all of his thoughts; as though Baekhyun was already filling the half of Chanyeol that he had been missing, as though he knew he was Chanyeol’s source of courage and strength, and his approval alone was all that he needed.
Chanyeol’s voice was soft as he spoke. “You really think we can be superheroes?”
Baekhyun let his hand fall from Chanyeol’s face, and Chanyeol wished he had held it there longer. He could feel the cold prickles of the cold night taking away the remnants of the warmth left behind, before the smaller man spoke, the smile on his face brightening. “Sure, why not? We can start small. Scaring off robbers and saving cats from trees. Maybe we’ll meet super villains and save the town in an epic battle, and all the ladies will swoon~”
Chanyeol watched his friend with a soft laugh and a roll of his eyes. “Grow up a little, will you?”
Baekhyun took in a breath of air, leaning out across the balcony as a soft wind sifted through his hair. “Never.”
Chanyeol watched him for a few seconds, admiring the silhouette of his profile, dimmed by the soft lights of the fading sunset in the background, before approaching him with a sigh. “But we’re teenagers, Baekhyun. Young adults. We’re not trained for this, and movies don’t count. The adults don’t trust us enough to clean the ovens alone; they don’t take us seriously. What makes you think we can save the town?”
Chanyeol stopped speaking and staggered back when Baekhyun whipped around toward him, stealing his breath away as he pointed an arrow made purely of light right at Chanyeol’s face, his fingers cradling a large bow of golden light.
The word came out of Chanyeol’s mouth in a soft, astonished breath. “Whoa.”
“Cool, right?” Baekhyun smiled, aiming into the night and letting the arrow fly like a shooting star, streaking into the forest. “Fast, simple, clean.” The arrow burst into a soft explosion of light as it hit whatever target in the distance.
“It’s amazing.”
“Is it?” Baekhyun gave a shy laugh as the bow dissipated into small balls of light between his fingers and floated up to the stars. “It's cool, but do you know what’s cooler?” He paused and glanced over his shoulder, giving Chanyeol a rather seductive look. “Lightsabers.”
The serious look on Baekhyun’s face indicated that he shouldn’t, but Chanyeol couldn't hold back a laugh.
“You laugh now, but I’m going to do it!” Baekhyun asserted with a smile that shined brighter than the stars in the sky as he leaned on the iron railing, looking out across the balcony with a sigh. “Someday I'm going to make my very own lightsaber. And it will be so awesome, you won’t be able to do anything but stop and stare at my flawlessness.” He laughed and shook his head before looking over his shoulder, eyes thin and inviting as he focused on Chanyeol. “But imagine… if I can do this, what can you do?”
Chanyeol couldn't give an answer because he thought his friend looked so beautiful in the night, the way his hair framed his face and the light floating around him looked so heavenly, and with the sound of his laughter dancing around his ears, Chanyeol was absolutely mesmerized. Baekhyun gave another soft laugh and waved Chanyeol over, but Chanyeol’s feet didn’t move as he remained caught in his daze.
“Come on,” Baekhyun laughed, bouncing over to Chanyeol’s side. “Follow me,” he whispered and held out a hand that Chanyeol slowly took. Baekhyun’s fingers tightened around it in a second, and suddenly they were in the stairwells, running up to the roof of the building, and Chanyeol was following after him, watching Baekhyun’s chestnut hair shifting behind him as the golden balls of light like fairies or fireflies followed him, his laugh gliding through the air and teasing his ears.
They burst through the door to the roof, and Baekhyun slid his hand out of Chanyeol’s. He ran forward across the expanse of the roof, leaving Chanyeol behind to watch, and only stopped to turn around at the edge of the building and hold up his arms, shouting as the wind whipped at his hair.
“Sometimes, you’ve just gotta let go…”
And he fell backwards, down, and out of his sight.
Alarmed, Chanyeol ran up to the edge of the building and thrust his arm out as though he could reach down and stop him from falling, but Baekhyun was completely gone, swallowed up by the darkness of the night aside from a soft flicker of light below.
Baekhyun’s “Follow me,” suddenly meant something more than just following him up to the roof, and Chanyeol’s heart clenched at the thought of following him everywhere. His mom had often teased him, as most moms did, asking “If your friend told you to jump off a cliff, would you?” And as Chanyeol stood at the tip of the building and squeezed his eyes closed as the wind whipped at his hair, he realized that he never thought his answer would be yes. At least for Baekhyun. He let out a long, low groan. Goddammit, Baekhyun. He held his breath and lifted his arms before letting go and falling over the side of the building.
He flailed in the air, trying to catch himself or slow his descent as flames sputtered beneath his feet, until he felt tug on his wrist, caught between small fingers and flickering bubbles of light from above.
Caught by Baekhyun, smiling down to him.
“...And trust that I’ll catch you.”
Light wasn’t useless. Chanyeol had learned this well throughout the years. Baekhyun was everything to Chanyeol when he had nothing. Baekhyun brought him out of the old cycle of surviving just to get through another day and taught him what it was like to truly live - what it was like to love and be loved.
Back then, it was so hard to love myself, but it was so easy to love you.
And damn, did I love you.
Light wasn’t useless. Baekhyun wasn’t useless. He was the only thing that lit up his world, all the paths and possibilities, when all Chanyeol saw was darkness and no way to escape it.
Chanyeol sighed softly, combing his hands through Baekhyun’s short, blonde strands of hair. It was so hard to believe that the same man that had convinced him to stop hiding and lured Sehun and Jongin in as well years ago was now shivering as he curled in his arms, so small, cold, and fragile as Chanyeol brushed the hair away from the corners of his pink lips.
“I’m scared, Yeol.” His voice was so soft and shaky, and the eternal heat burning in Chanyeol’s chest seemed to immediately freeze over.
“I don’t want to supernova.”
Supernova.
The word had always stirred up fear inside of them, and although they both had suspicions about it from the night before, neither of them had muttered the word, lest it seem more real than either of them wanted it to be.
The last time Baekhyun was unable to control his power, he ended up in the hospital, the top half of his face wrapped in bandages as his body gave off a quick pulsing glow to the beat of his heart. Chanyeol had thrown the door to the room open as soon as he was given permission to enter, immediately rushing past Yixing to stand wordlessly by Baekhyun’s side. Baekhyun’s hand shook as he blindly reached out toward him, his voice soft and scared. “Yeol?”
Yixing had told them that he’d have to stay in the hospital for a few days for his eyes to rest and heal. Baekhyun was always too close to the risk of blinding himself, and luckily they had managed to stop him before any damage was permanent. But he needed to be incredibly careful with his light for the next few days even after he returned home, or else he could get too close to supernova again, and they might not be able to stop him the next time.
Yet even as Yixing was saying so, Baekhyun unfolded Chanyeol’s tightly clenched hand and let the tip of his finger glow as he slowly wrote “I love you” in Chanyeol’s palm. Chanyeol let his hand close as the words written in light faded, and he held Baekhyun’s hand up to his lips to kiss the mole on his thumb, making Baekhyun’s lips spread into a smile.
But that was a few years ago, and the image of Baekhyun curled on the floor, the outline of his body lost beneath the blinding light radiating out of him, eyes glowing as he screamed, and the inability to even get close to attempt to help still haunted Chanyeol. That had happened because of a game they were playing, and he didn’t want to wonder how bad it would be if instead of overexerting himself to the point of supernova, Baekhyun completely lost complete control of his power.
Baekhyun shuffled in Chanyeol’s arms with a weak whimper, and Chanyeol held him closer, drawing his fingers slowly through his hair and softly massaging his scalp, soothing him into an illusory tranquility, though he wasn’t sure how much of a help he could be when he couldn’t even still the thoughts in his own mind.
Light had always been an unstable power - both Chanyeol and Baekhyun had known that, and every close encounter that they had only reaffirmed it. It was too easy to lose control, too easy to fluctuate, too easy to leak, and any simple mistake could send his light spiraling out of control and possibly consume the wielder. After all, holding in all the energy of a star that shone as brightly as Baekhyun did was bound to make him burst eventually.
Chanyeol’s arms tightened around his husband’s frame as Baekhyun sagged weakly in his arms, his nose pressed against his chest as he tried to fall asleep, cuddled in Chanyeol’s warmth.
“Don’t worry, Baekhyun. I won’t let you.”
Chanyeol’s hand lowered to softly cradle the side of his face before he closed his eyes and pressed a soft kiss to the top of his head.
I won’t let you go.
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A/n: the chase scene may or may not have been inspired by this scene in the powerpuff girls movie ._.
Next~