Jongdae reluctantly opened his eyes with an air of annoyance. It was past midnight and it was raining heavily outside. He could hear the loud thunder outside of his apartment, but it wasn't the thunder that had woken him up, it was his phone that was at his bed side. He contemplated ignoring it and just going back to sleep, but he thought better of it and decided to answer whoever it was that was calling him so late at night.

He checked the caller ID and saw that it was his boyfriend, Beakhyun. He often called Jongdae while he was asleep, but never this late at night. He sighed as he brought the phone to his ear.

“J-Jongdae—” said Baekhyun, but he was cut off by the other.

“What in the hell are you doing awake at this hour Baek!” said Jongdae as he blinked rapidly to clear his vision. He really wanted to go back to sleep.

“I-I'm sorry, but I don't k-know where I-I am,” said Baekhyun as he sniffled.

“What do you mean?” sighed Jongdae.

“I-I- -BOOM,” a thunderous sound was all Jongdae heard before he heard Beakhyun yelp. Jongdae shot up from the bed. He knew his boyfriend was terrified of thunder, he saw first hand what it did to Baekhyun. He heard crying on the other side of the line.

“Baek, hey Baek calm down. Tell me what happened,” he said as he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“I-I don't know w-where I-I a-am,” said Baekhyun. He sounded terrified. There was another loud crackle before Baekhyun once again yelled, but this time he started to cry.

“Hey, hey Baek tell me where you are, it's gonna be alright, just let me know where you are. I'll come get you, okay,” said Jongdae as he grabbed his keys and lifted himself off his bed. 

“I don't k-know, Jongdae. I-I don't know. Chanyeol wanted me to c-come to this new c-cafe with him and Xiumin. A-After a while they were gonna leave, but I-I wanted to stay longer, s-so I let them go on without me.” There was another crackle and Baekhyun cried even louder, Jongdae waited for what seemed like hours, but was actually seconds before Baekhyun continued.

Baekhyun calmed down a little. “After t-that I s-saw that it was s-starting to rain, s-so I decided to w-walk home and then t-there was thunder, so I ran a-and I didn't watch where I was going. I got lost a-and then I decided to call y-you because I'm s-scared. P-Please Jongdae I don't want to be o-out here anymore.”

“Okay, don't worry Baek I'll be there. Can you tell me what you see?” said Jongdae as he hoped into his car.

Baek tried to look around the area, but it was too dark to see. “Uh, I think I'm in an alley. A-and there I-is a—oh gosh, I don't know Jongdae. I-I can't see a thing and my phone is about to die,” said Baekhyun as he started to panic.

“Okay, take deep breathes. I will find you Baekhyun just calm down. It's gonna be alright.” But the truth was Jongdae had no idea where Baekhyun was, but he wasn't going to say that to him. He tried to think of the near by coffee shops, but that wasn't going to work because Baekhyun said it was a new shop, and Jongdae didn't even know that there was a new shop, so in other words he was screwed.

He still had Baekhyun on the other line. He could hear his fast pace breath. Jongdae was going to have some serious words with Chanyeol, but first he had to find his Baek. Jongdae left the gate of his apartment. He was trying to see past the heavy pain that obscured his line of view. He really hoped he didn't get into a car accident.

“J-jongdae? are y-you still there?” said Baekhyun, he didn't want to be left alone in this weather. Jongdae was his protector. He was his rock.

“I'm still here,” said Jongdae as he tried to search for new shops on his phone, but it wasn't working. There were tons of new coffee shops,

'Why were there so much coffee shops!' he thought.

“Jongdae my p-phone is almost out of battery, I-I don't know how long it's g-gonna last.” Once Baekhyun finished his sentence there was another loud BOOM. He heard Baekhyun gasp trying to suppress a sob. “Jongdae I-beep-beep- oh no, it's g-gonna turn off.” Baekhyun began to hyperventilate.

“Hey, I’ll find you.” Jongdae tried to think of something to distract Baekhyun. He remembered that listening to stories always helped when he was scared, so he decided to tell Beakhyun a story that they both knew well.

“Baek, remember the first time we meet?” he hoped this would work.

“Y-yeah.” he heard Baekhyun sniffle.

“Remember how you were playing by the grass at the park and you decided to count how many ladybugs were near you, then suddenly there was these older kids who were messing with you...”

Flashback

Baekhyun was sitting by the grass alone. He was trying to count the lady bugs besides him, he was usually alone while doing this. Well, he was mostly always alone, but it didn't really bother him all that much. He was about to pull a lady bug on the palm of his hand when he felt someone jerk him up.

“Look what we have here,” Baekhyun heard a couple boys laugh.

“Why are you always alone?” said one of the boys

“I know why, it's because he's weird,” replied another.

One of the bigger boys pushed him down. At this point, Baekhyun started to cry.

“Stop, p-please.”

“Look at the cry baby,” mocked one of the boys. They were about to kick him when they heard someone interject.

“Hey! Leave him alone!” said someone Baekhyun couldn't see.

All heads turned towards the boy. “Just turn around and leave,” said one of the boys in the group.

“No. I said leave him alone,” said the boy as he walked closer to Baekhyun. One of the other boys began to advance towards the boy, when the leader of the group stopped them.

“Leave it, this is boring me,” he said as he his heel and left with the others in tow.

“Hey, are you okay,” said the boy as he offered his hand to Baekhyun.

“Y-Yeah, *sniffle* I'm fine,” said Baekhyun as he grabbed the others hand.

The boy looked at Baekhyun's scrapped knee. “Ouch, that looks like it hurts, here,” he said as he handed Baekhyun a band-aid.

“I always carry these with me because I always fall,” said the boy as he and Baekhyun sat on a bench. Baekhyun put on the band-aid.

“T-thank you.”

“My name's Jongdae by the way,” he said as he looked the other in the eyes.

“I'm Baekhyun,” replied the other. Jongdae looked at his knee.

“Does it still hurt?”

“A little.” Jongdae bent his head down and placed a small kiss on Baekhyun's knee.

“There. My mom always kisses my cuts to make me feel better. 

They spent the whole day after that by each others side.

End of flashback

Jongdae finished re-telling their first encounter when he heard a weak laugh from the other line.

“We stayed by each other from that day on, remember?”

“Y-yeah we did, you were my protector, my best friend and you still are—BOOM.

“J-Jongdae?” Baekhyun sounded scared.

“I'm here, I'm here.” Jongdae tried to keep Baekhyun's mind away from the thunder by telling another story.

“Baek, do you remember the first time we kissed.”

“D-don't you mean the first time I kissed you?” said Baekhyun.

“Yeah, yeah well remember how...”

Flashback

It was their junior year in high school, and both Baekhyun and Jongdae were sitting by an oak tree with the rest of their friends.

From the time they met till now, both Baekhyun and Jongdae were inseparable having a closer bond then what normal best friends would usually have.

“I'm bored,” whined Xiumin.

“I want to play a game,” said Luhan.

“What game?” asked Xiumin

“I dunno truth or dare?” he replied.

“This isn't elementary school,” replied Kyungsoo.

“Beats doing nothing,” said Xiumin as he stuck hos tongue out at Kyungsoo and sat down on the grass.

The pack of friends sat down in a circle with Baekhyun next to Jongdae, as always. They begun to ask questions and do stupid dares, but they were having a good time, until it was Jongdae's turn to choose truth or dare.

“Okay, truth or dare,” said Lay.

“Truth,” he replied.

“Ugh, that's so lame,” Kai said.

Kyungsoo leaned into Lay's ear and whispered something before he pulled away. Both of them were smiling like idiots.

'Oh, boy. Here it comes,' thought Jongdae as he braced himself for the whatever they had planned.

“Who was your first kiss?” asked Lay. Jongdae's eyes went wide.

“U-uh...” stuttered Jongdae.

A few seconds passed before Kyungsoo spoke. “Don't tell me you haven't kissed anyone?” said Kyungsoo.  

“I have, It's just...” Jongdae was at loss for words. The truth was he had never kissed anyone. The only one who knew was Baekhyun, his best friend and as he turned to Baekhyun with pleading eyes, Jongdae could tell he was just trying to hide a smile.

'Traitor,' thought Jongdae as he glared at Baekhyun.

Beakhyun rolled his eyes and turned to the others. “He has kissed someone,” said Baekhyun as the others turned to him with a skeptic look.

“Yeah, right,” said Luhan.

“I'll prove it,” said Baekhyun as he lifted himself off the ground and lifted Jongdae up. Jongdae looked confused. He didn't know how Baekhyun was going to prove such a false statement. He turned to Baekhyun.

“Baek, how are we go—” he was silenced when Baekhyun crashed their lips together. Baekhyun had both his hands on both sides of Jongdae's face, refusing to let go.

Baekhyun was in love with Jongdae for what seemed like longest, but he never acted on his feelings out of fear of being rejected, not until now. He moved his lips against Jongdae's, but he got no response. He knew he shouldn't have kissed him, but this was his only chance. If Jongdae rejected him he could just say that he was just trying to help him out. Baekhyun was about to let go when suddenly Jongdae wrapped his arms around his waist and deepened the kiss.

“Ahem.”

Both Jongdae and Baekhyun jumped and let each other go. Both of their faces were completely flushed.

“Okay, we get it. Jongdae has kissed someone, message received” said Kyungsoo as he tried to look annoyed, but just smiled at the two. As the other started to go, leaving both Baekhyun and Jongdae to sort of their feelings, they heard Tao say “It was about damn time too.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

End of flashback

Jongdae finished telling their story. He heard Baekhyun sniffle, “I-I was so scared that you would reject m-me.”

“I would never, I love you Baek. Don't you forget that, Okay.” Jongdae heard another beeping sound from the other line.

“Baek? You still there?”

“Jongdae, My phone is about to die,” said Baekhyun as he started to panic again. Jongdae still couldn't find Baekhyun.

“Jongdae I-” the line was cut.

“!” Jongdae cursed. Baekhyun was probably even more scared, now that he was completely alone. It broke Jongdae's heart thinking about how Baekhyun was feeling.

He turned another corner before he went through his contact list, trying to find Chanyeol's number. Once he found it he pressed the dial button waiting impatiently. Jongdae waited for what seemed like forever before Chanyeol answered.

“Jesus man, what the hell are you calling me at —“

“What the hell were you thinking!?!” Jongdae practically shouted.

“Whoa, hey no need to shout, just tell me what I did wrong.”

“Baekhyun is out in the rain, it's thundering, and he's lost, that's what's wrong,” said Jongdae furiously.

“How can Baekhyun get lost?”

“You left him at that new coffee shop and he doesn't know his way back. Look at the weather. Don't you know he'safraid of thunder?!!”

“Okay, okay, look I'm sorry. I thought he was going to get a cab or something. Do you know where he is?” Chanyeol sounded worried.

Jongdae sighed. “No. That's the problem. Just give me the address to that shop, so I can find him.”

Chanyeol proceeded to give Jongdae the address to the new coffee shop, which was quite a drive. Jongdae had no clue as to why they decided to go that far, but all that mattered at the moment was trying to find Baekhyun.

Once he got to his destination, he drove in circles trying to look for Baekhyun. He couldn't see a thing with the rain pouring down so heavily. The thunder hadn't subsided, which was what worried him the most. He couldn’t imagine what Baekhyun was going through at the moment. Jongdae decided to park his car and look for him on foot, at least on foot he would be able to see better. He grabbed his phone and jacket which he neglected to put on because he was in a rush. He hoped out of his car in search for Baekhyun.

He walked through the many shops not seeing Baekhyun anywhere. At this point, he was getting sick with worry.

Thirty minutes had passed and still nothing no sign of Baekhyun anywhere. Jongdae was about to call the police when he heard a soft sob across the street 

“Baek?” Jongdae asked.

There was another sniffle before Jongdae approached the small figure curled up in a corner. Once Jongdae's eyes adjusted to the dark he could see that It was Baekhyun. Jongdae rushed to his side.

“Hey Baek, I'm here. It's gonna be okay.” said Jongdae as he rushed to Baekhyun's side. He embraced Baekhyun and felt his skin as cold as ice. He was wearing blue jeans, a plain red shirt, and some sneakers. Baekhyun was stuck in this weaker for about an hour maybe even more. Jongdae took off his sweater and put it on Baekhyun.

Even with the sweater he was still shivering. He picked up Baekhyun bridal style and rushed to the car.

“It's gonna be alright,” said Jongdae as he opened the passenger door and gently placed Baekhyun in the passenger seat. Jongdae got into his car and the heater. During the ride to his apartment Baekhyun had said nothing, which worried Jongdae 

They finally arrived after a few hours and Jongdae took Baekhyun to his bedroom. He stripped him of his clothes, but because he had none of Baekhyun's clothes, he gave him some of his own. He handed the clothes to Baekhyun and he silently put on the clothes. Jongdae settled him into bed.

'He's still freezing cold. I should make him some hot soup.'Jongdae thought as he made his way to the door.

“W-wait,” he heard Baekhyun plead as he grabbed a hold of his hand.

“D-don't go, p-please,” Baekhyun whimpered. Jongdae's heart broke.

“I'm not going anywhere,” said Jongdae as he lifted the covers to settle himself besides Baekhyun. He heard Baekhyun sniffle.

“It's going to be okay, I'm here and nothing will happen to you,” he placed a small peck on Baekhyun's lips and put his arms around his waist. It wasn't long before they both drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Jongdae would always be there for Baekhyun, they were each others rock, and that was all they needed.