It’s a gloomy Sunday when they meet again, huddled under umbrellas and grinning as they walked towards one another; Baekhyun’s free hand rising up in a meek wave as the distance grew shorter. For a few beats, Chanyeol’s heart skipped at the gesture, seeing the much shorter boy’s droopy eyes curling up into adorable little crescents as his thin lips curled around a smile. The space between them quickly diminished and the two boys stood only meters away as Chanyeol pokes around the pocket of his hoodie to procure a set of keys, all looped together by the faded old Yoda keychain Baekhyun had gotten him a long time ago.

“Morning, Yeol,” is all Baekhyun says in greeting, rubbing at his eye with a sleeve-covered fist, yawning quite adorably as the taller male jingles the key against the lock. He’s a cute little thing, Chanyeol thinks, standing almost a complete foot shorter than him; soft hazelnut locks and warm hazelnut irises which seemed to twinkle even in the miserable weather. Baekhyun’s dressed in a customary gray sweatshirt far too big for his slim frame, sleeves drooping past his fingers and hem almost reaching his knees, accompanied as usual by a pair of painfully snug skinny jeans and a pair of worn-down sneakers all mucked up and dirtied from hurdling over one too many puddles. He’s so warmly dressed, so homely, and yet Chanyeol finds it’s hard to look away, simply breathless by the mere existence of Byun Baekhyun.

As they descend into the dusty basement they called their studio, Chanyeol passes a paper cup over, finding a dust of pink on his cheeks at the meek smile and soft and sincere, “Thank you,” which comes from the boy walking a few paces ahead of him. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that he had to wake up a few extra minutes earlier to walk across campus to get to the coffee shop, nor did it matter that the queue took a few extra minutes to move because it was that smile, that same heartwarming smile which Baekhyun gives him that makes everything worthwhile…

They decide on a few new songs to cover for their usual spot as the university’s local café’s performers, quickly running through each one and harmonizing perfectly as they always did. Baekhyun’s voice is a bit rough, a little too sleepy, but Chanyeol doesn’t mind. He never does. To him, Baekhyun’s voice is an angels’ choir, and he tells the boy so every time Baekhyun frowns, blinking down at his sheet music as if they’ve betrayed him.

It was easy work, practicing with Baekhyun. They’ve known each other for years and even without words, it’s easy to understand each other’s needs. A simple flicker of the eyes tells Chanyeol to fasten his strumming, a tilt of the head and Baekhyun understands to slow down – they fit together easily, guitar and voice, synchronizing their talents to match the other’s. That’s how it’s always been, ever since they started two years ago. Easy. Simple.

And with every note, every chord, every day that they spend together, choking on dust mites as the floorboards creaked above them, Chanyeol found himself falling just a little more, just a little further for the boy whose eyes fluttered to a close with every high note – the boy whose nose crinkled up, whose cheeks pinked and whose lips wrapped around the music so beautifully…

“I don’t like the way this song flows…” The words bring him out of his reverie and Chanyeol clears his throat just in time to look up, arching an eyebrow over to Baekhyun who’d somehow ended up right beside him, making the air choke right out of his lungs. This close, he can see the tiny freckles just dusting over the tops of Baekhyun’s cheeks, he can see the little mole right above the boy’s lip, the small scar scratched underneath his eye from when they were kids. This close, Baekhyun is even more real, even more beautiful, and Chanyeol’s heart thumps and thunders, inhaling the sweet perfume of mint and teakwood coming from the boy leaning over him. Baekhyun’s arm feels warm pressed against his as the brunet puts his weight on Chanyeol’s back, breath ghosting over his collarbone as his finger points at Chanyeol’s sheet music. It takes all his concentration to steer his eyes away, blinking down on the sheets of paper propped up on a makeshift desk in front of him. “Maybe we could change this so the notes go lower, my voice keeps cracking up at the bridge…”

Dumbly, Chanyeol only nods his head and scratches out the hastily scribbled bars. Again, they’re off to work.

It’s when they’re deciding on a final song to add to their set that Chanyeol finally thinks he lost it. Baekhyun’s laying sprawled out on the beaten down pink sofa, limbs carelessly thrown into all directions with one leg over the backrest and the other stretched out all the way to the end of the couch, socked feet dipping along to the soft music blaring out from his phone. Chanyeol can’t help but stop and stare as he hides behind the guise of tuning his guitar, watching the way the brunet’s toes wiggled, making the little bear prints on the yellow sock dance, his head bobbing along as his lips moved to mime out the lyrics. He looks so precious like this, even the warm light coming from overhead only served to add to his ethereal glow, casting pretty shadows against his cheekbones and making his lips look even more pink, even more luscious as the brunet casts his wicked tongue out to wet them. Something coils in Chanyeol’s stomach and he coughs, deviating his eyes as the feeling gets too much. His mind is swimming, and it didn’t help that his nose could still pick up the smell of Baekhyun’s perfume floating around in the stifled air between them. Their coffee cups lay abandoned on the furry carpet a few meters from where Chanyeol’s sitting, along with a few wrappers from their hastily devoured cinnamon rolls (not a good breakfast, but still) and a few bottles of water, too.

Everything is pretty silent, because neither of them needed words to feel comfortable in each other’s presence. Chanyeol finds himself mindlessly strumming, not even noticing what chords he’s playing until Baekhyun sits up with a wicked grin, eyes twinkling with delight. “Do you think we should do it?”

Of course, Chanyeol is only nineteen and his mind goes to weird places like any post-pubescent boy. The tall male sputters, nearly coughing up a lung as he widens his eyes questioningly. Baekhyun only scrunches his nose and smiles, probably thinking how weird he is. “The song,” he says, slipping down to the rug beside Chanyeol, “You were strumming along to the song I was playing. Do you think we should add it to the set?”

“Um… I wasn’t really paying attention, Baek,” Chanyeol admits, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his neck like he always does. “What song were you talking about again?”

“You’re such a spazz, Chanyeol.” The way Baekhyun says it is so soft, almost adoringly as he pinches the taller boy’s nose between two fingers. He hands his phone over to a blinking Chanyeol, rolling his eyes in amusement when he did nothing more but stare down at the illuminated screen. “Just try playing these chords and I’ll do the rest.”

So Chanyeol obeyed, and Baekhyun began to sing.

It was only a smile
But my heart, it went wild
I wasn't expecting that

At the sound of Baekhyun’s voice, Chanyeol’s mind drifted away, adrift in the clouds as his imagination pulled him far from reality. He pictures the first day he’d met Baekhyun, fifteen years ago when he was nothing but a toddler, waddling his way across the wide berth of the neighborhood playground, red jumper and plump cheeks as his small, unsteady feet trudged across the sand. He falls down a few times to get to the play structure, and once he gets to the ladder, an unseen pail had him whacking his head against a pole, sending poor four year old Chanyeol to his bottom, blinking in confusion as tears pooled in his wide eyes.

Useless sobs tore through his throat and Chanyeol sat there, crying over something he could not control. He’d probably felt as if the world was ending, everyone was against him, and it was that pitiful sight that led a curious four year old to him. Baekhyun had been a rather pudgy child, teeth missing and smile crooked, but his eyes had been just as kind as he hovered over a wailing Chanyeol, wordlessly placing a newly unwrapped lollipop in the boy’s opened mouth and easily stopping the tears as the heartbroken toddler’s glassy eyes focused on the stranger.

“Don’t cry,” was all Baekhyun said, eyes soft and smile warm as his small hand patted on Chanyeol’s head.

Even back then, Chanyeol’s heart had experienced an unexplainable skip.

Just a delicate kiss
Anyone could've missed 
I wasn't expecting that

They were thirteen when Chanyeol experienced his first heartbreak. In a time when puberty was a demon that loomed over everyone, Chanyeol had found his heart stolen by an insanely pretty girl with the name Bae Joohyun. 

Valentine’s Day had found an overly excited, freshly-minted teenage Chanyeol heading for the nearby bakery on his way to school, the one Baekhyun’s mom owned, cutely putting the allowance he’d spent a month saving onto the counter and muttering a polite, “Good morning, Mrs. Byun, could I please have a slice of strawberry cake in a gift box?” which earned him a delighted coo from the mother at the other end of the counter as she moved over to the displays to fill his order.

Chanyeol had walked out of the shop with two things: an artfully wrapped cake slice (given for free by an ever-kind Mrs. Byun insisting that Chanyeol keep his money), and an overly-excited Byun Baekhyun trailing beside him, chattering away on the best way his lovesick best friend could confess his feelings (he was certain that Joohyun would fall head over heels for his “perfect best buddy”).

However, Baekhyun wasn’t always right, it seemed, because just as Chanyeol had plucked up all his courage and shuffled over to where a giggling Joohyun sat, breaking through her barrier of friends, Joohyun merely gave him a once-over and nearly fell out of her seat, screaming, “Ew, it’s Ferret Freak, get him away from me!” Chanyeol left school that afternoon with a depleted heart and a melting cake slice with Baekhyun walking beside him all the way even though he lived in the opposite direction, pulling all the creepy faces he could to try to cheer up his heartbroken best friend.

When they reached his door with Baekhyun unsuccessful, the shorter boy had only placed a comforting hand on Chanyeol’s arm, leaning close to gather the boy’s attention as he said, “Don’t worry about it, Yeol. She obviously can’t see how great you are! Just because you love talking about your pet ferret doesn’t mean you’re a freak.”

“Really?” There’s hope in Chanyeol’s eyes, twinkling in the back, and Baekhyun only nods encouragingly with a smile.

“It just shows how loving and how caring and how nice you are. And that’s good. Joohyun doesn’t know what she’s missing! She’s crazy,” he assures, squeezing Chanyeol’s arm. “Don’t worry, Yeollie, there’ll be somebody someday who will understand you. And they’ll love you like you deserve. Ferret and all.”

Baekhyun had waved goodbye and disappeared into the fading sun, but Chanyeol remained rooted to his spot, staring after his shadow with wide eyes, hand pressed to his cheek. Even after he’d gotten into bed that night, Chanyeol could still feel the warmth of Baekhyun’s lips.

Did I misread the sign?
Your hand slipped into mine 
I wasn't expecting that

The Thanksgiving Fair is something that happens every year in their small town; everyone’s dressed up in traditional hanboks and the smell of foot permeates the air more than anything else. Stalls of grilling meat and all sorts of traditional Korean food line the streets all along the town center leading up to the massive field where the fair ground is set up, small rides and game stalls erected onto patches of grass where families are either setting up picnic mats or children are running around, screaming and giggling as they played all the different games Chanyeol could remember playing himself when he was a child. Everybody’s on high spirits, and this included Baekhyun, obviously.

Fifteen now, Chanyeol’s growth plates had begun acting up, shooting him up a good few inches higher than he was last summer, taking away a little of his baby fats and slimming his body to show the handsomeness that he’d thought was nonexistent. Baekhyun still rolls his eyes when Chanyeol voices this out, although Chanyeol firmly believes that the boy was really only bitter about the fact that he was still pretty short for his age. Not that Chanyeol minded, of course – he thought his best friend was pretty great, just the way he was.

Over the horizon, the sun was only just beginning to set, painting the clear sky a lovely gradient of tangerine and amber just as the street and carnival lights began to light up. Baekhyun looks quite pretty in his hanbok, the pastel blues and yellows perfectly softening his features and making the shorter teen look even more precious than he already did. And for some reason, Chanyeol couldn’t look away. It unnerved him, how his heart began to beat faster the longer he stared at his best friend. He wondered if it was normal.

But then Baekhyun laughs and turns back to him urging, “Come on, Yeollie, I want to go on the ferris wheel! And then you’re going to win me a big teddy bear and treat me to some ddeokbokki!” with a heart-stopping sparkle in his eyes and Chanyeol’s mind just blanks until all he can think is how warm and perfect Baekhyun’s fingers feel entwined in his...

You spent the night in my bed
You woke up and you said 
"Well, I wasn't expecting that!" 

All-nighters become a great villain in their lives as soon as high school began. Homework piles up and scatters on every surface of the rug in between them as Chanyeol and Baekhyun rushed to complete their Chemistry project. Neither of them know what they’re doing, really, as they poke barbeque sticks and toothpicks into Styrofoam balls, dunking them into tubs of paint to piece together atom structures. It’s roughly one in the morning already and the paint is beginning to wear on their senses, making both boys just a little bit dreary as the heady scent clouded their nostrils.

They finish an hour and a half later, collapsing onto Chanyeol’s too-small bed, huddled beside each other with flecks of paint slashed onto their clothes, dotted onto Baekhyun’s nose and freckled onto Chanyeol’s cheeks. Too tired to laugh at their sorry appearances, they fall quickly to sleep, but within minutes, Chanyeol’s awake once more, eyes wide as he blinks down at the boy easily crawling into his arms, building a cocoon to house himself as Baekhyun’s blue-spotted nose skims against his neck and his soft, faraway voice hums in content.

When morning finally came, Chanyeol had slept not a wink and Baekhyun only snuggled closer, laughing into his ear until the taller boy kicked him off the bed.

I thought love wasn't meant to last
I thought you were just passing through 
If I ever get the nerve to ask 
What did I get right to deserve somebody like you? 
I wasn't expecting that

Come autumn during their sophomore year, Chanyeol could no longer deny his feelings for Baekhyun. With every single day, his heart would only swell more and more at the presence of the slightly older boy; with every smile, every laugh, every bright-eyed gaze aimed his way, Chanyeol fell more and more in love with his best friend.

Baekhyun was everything; he was kind, he was sweet, he was smart… but most of all, beautiful – inside and out. He simply shines like a star, twinkling light and fairy dust into Chanyeol’s life with all his easy jokes, his bright laughter and just the way he always seemed to know how to make even the worst day so much better. Everything he did, he did out of true and genuine love, and Chanyeol just became more and more enamored and awed by the miracle that was Byun Baekhyun.

Their Literature teacher continued to drone on and on about the beauty of prose, ranting to no one of the marvel brought by the written word while everyone else simply dazed away. A note slid across the surface of the wooden table and Chanyeol had to stifle a smile at the rather horrible doodle Baekhyun had made on a fresh sheet of loose-leaf. It’s supposed to be a bear, or an otter, or… something. Chanyeol can’t quite figure it out, but he loves it all the same as his eyes land on the speech bubble right beside it. “You’re un-bear-ably cute,” Baekhyun had scribbled.

Chanyeol could only sit and wonder how his life would be without his best friend.

It was only a word
It was almost misheard 
I wasn't expecting that 
But it came without fear
A month turned into a year 
I wasn't expecting that 

Winter at the age of seventeen was undoubtedly the coldest. Chanyeol laying sideways on his bed, huddled up like a toasty burrito underneath the sheets, feeling sorry for himself. He’s staring out the window with no feeling left in his body, only longing slowly creeping its way into his heart. In the back of his mind, he could still see it, the image he’d spent months trying his hardest to forget. Every time his eyes would close, it would just come back. Baekhyun. Kissing a boy. A boy that was not him. Even his mother had long since given up on reviving her son, only ever setting foot in his room to replace the tray of food on his bedside table – food which was barely touched. Chanyeol couldn’t stomach anything. Not when the thought of Baekhyun slowly falling in love, slowly learning to open his heart to someone else was still so fresh in his mind.

Two months. It had been two months of Chanyeol avoiding his best friend. Two months of him refusing to even look the shorter male in fear that the pain would tear him away.

“…boyfriend.” That one word had broken his will. One word and Chanyeol’s entire world had come crumbling down. The phone calls which used to go unanswered daily had slowly diminished into nothing, the text messages which used to go unread slowly stopped being sent. Baekhyun had moved on. Or so he thought.

With a loud, monstrous bang, the door to Chanyeol’s bedroom slammed against the wall, revealing an extremely red-faced Byun Baekhyun. The petite boy stood at his doorway, looking like Death with heavy bags under his eyes which seemed to be afire with fury and betrayal. It makes Chanyeol sit up almost immediately as Baekhyun comes in unannounced, shutting the door quite angrily behind him. “You,” he sneers. Chanyeol can tell, though, that there’s hurt in his tone. “How. Dare. You.”

“Baek—”

“Two. Months. Two months, Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screeches, throwing his hands up before the boy stalked over to stand a mere hairsbreadth away, leaning down so their faces are parallel and Chanyeol can see the fire in his eyes. “You don’t talk to me for two months and you expect me to be okay with it? What the hell is wrong with you!”

Silence filled the room as Chanyeol let the words simmer. Baekhyun’s still glaring, but the edges slowly wither and melt away into a dejected frown, one which scars against Chanyeol’s soul as the boy sags against him, falling down onto the bed with his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. A sigh leaves Baekhyun’s lips as his arms envelope around Chanyeol, tugging him close until their chests press against each other. “I miss you,” he whispers, breath hot and defeated against Chanyeol’s collar. It makes everything melt away almost instantly; all his sadness, all his heartbreak. All that mattered was Baekhyun, here, in his arms.

“Please don’t be mad anymore,” Baekhyun chokes. The sound of his voice breaking is enough for Chanyeol to pull him in, swaddling them both into the covers as they lay together. “I broke up with him.”

“Why?”

“Because I need my best friend more. I need you more.”

♦

Baekhyun’s voice wilts away softly as he notices the faraway look on the guitarist’s face. A tender smile graces his lips as his fingers settle on top of Chanyeol’s, watching how the taller boy slowly came back to focus and chuckling at the embarrassed blush which settles on the apples of his cheeks. Chanyeol’s hands freeze against his instrument, gulping nervously as Baekhyun gently pries the guitar out of his grasp, setting it aside with that twinkle in his eyes. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“I’m sorry, I—” Chanyeol doesn’t get to finish his sentence. Instead, he gets a lapful of the brunet; Baekhyun giggling at the cuteness that was Chanyeol as he settles himself atop him, arms entwined around Chanyeol’s neck to bring them closer together.

“You know,” Baekhyun laughs, rubbing his nose against the taller boy in an Eskimo kiss. “You’re so cute when you daydream.”

There, underneath the dim light, amidst the scattered papers and a seasonal shower of dust particles and the echoes of rain pattering against the world above them, Baekhyun’s lips met his and Chanyeol could feel his heart soaring in his chest.

“I love you.”

♦

Oh and isn't it strange
How a life can be changed
In the flicker of the sweetest smile
We were married in spring
You know I wouldn't change a thing
Without that innocent kiss
What a life I'd have missed

If you'd not took a chance
On a little romance
When I wasn't expecting that
Time doesn't take long
Three kids up and gone
I wasn't expecting that

TA-DA! Welcome to the end notes of this fic! ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง
If you've actually made it this far, I sincerely, sincerely thank you!

Let me know what you think, yes? Leave me a comment, upvote (if you're really, really nice - I'll love you so, so much and give you a big ol' cookie!), and maybe check out my other fics, too? I'd really like that. HAH

Anyhoo, till next time!
Xx

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