"You smell like sweat."

Baekhyun cringes as his head leans onto Chanyeol's chest. They've been standing for the past fifteen minutes and he couldn't stand the awkward silence.

"I wonder who's fault that is." Chanyeol grumbles.

Baekhyun frowns. "Are you saying this is my fault? It's not like I asked you to follow after me."

"You're so stupid." The taller male says and Baekhyun snaps.

"Will you cut it out?! I don't even know you and you don't know me. Why do you keep insulting me for everything I do? What have I ever done to you to make you hate me so much?"

Baekhyun desperately wished he was not physically stuck with Chanyeol. If he could run away and leave Chanyeol by himself, he would.

These are the situations in which Jongin's teleportation nova is useful..

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. "Don't take it personally. I could honestly care less for your well being."

"Then why are we even in this position? Why didn't you just let me get paralyzed?" Baekhyun argues.

"Because you're a stupid and careless idiot."

Baekhyun's blood boiled. "Can y-"

"You dropped your spell band when you were chasing after those two students."

Baekhyun paused and struggled to look down at his wrist for the metal bracelet.

It's not there!

"S-So? I could have still-"

"You would have died if you were paralyzed without it. Your heart would have eventually stopped beating."

Baekhyun's heart raced with fear at the sound of that. "S-Stop beating?"

Chanyeol didn't say anything else but he didn't need to. Baekhyun blinked. Would he really have died?

Thump....thump....thump..

Baekhyun listened to the steady beating of Chanyeol's heart. He could feel he warmth radiating from the other male's body and it was quite overwhelming, as he was much shorter.

"Oh.." was all that came out of his mouth. He didn't know what to say. Had Chanyeol just willingly protected him?

The spell was beginning to wear off, as Chanyeol could now move his head slightly and his grip around Baekhyun loosened. If Chanyeol's arm hadn't been wrapped around his shoulder, he could have shimmied his way out.

"Then-" Baekhyun stopped mid-sentence and his eyes widened. He felt something crawl up his leg and before Baekhyun even knew what he was doing, he buried his head into Chanyeol's chest and let out the loudest yelp. If there was one thing he hated, it was creatures crawling on his leg. This was even worse because he couldn't run away, nor did he know what was crawling on him.

"Oh my god, oh my god!-I'm going to die today, I'm going to be eaten alive I swear-!!"

"Calm down, will you?" Chanyeol says and Baekhyun opened his eyes, realizing that he was pressed up against the taller male's body. He immediately attempted to push himself away but realized that they were still stuck. Red reached his cheeks and his ears as he begged that Chanyeol couldn't see.

The crawling begun again and Baekhyun let out a scream for real.

Chanyeol only laughed when Baekhyun hid his face in his chest once more. "You sound like a girl..Look, it's just the salamander I caught earlier. I must have climbed out of my pocket"

Baekhyun shook his head, kicking his feet in all directions with hopes that he would fall off.

"S-Shut up! It attacked me!"

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. "Attacked you, my ."

The ringing of a cell phone followed and Baekhyun attempted to reach into his pocket to pull out the vibrating device. There was no space to hold the device between the giant and himself so he decided to extend his arm out and looked at the caller ID.

"Yixing!" Baekhyun cried out in relief as he slid the answer button. He pressed his thumb to the speakerphone button.

"Baekhyun? Where are you?" Yixing asks with a concerned tone.

"I'm stuck somewhere in the woods with Chanyeol."

There was a silence and a few rustling sounds. "Chanyeol?"

Baekhyun nodded and tried to find some information about their location. "Some kid paralyzed him."

Chanyeol scoffed as if he was saying 'And who exactly did I do this for?' but Baekhyun ignored it.

"Are you guys okay? The game just ended."

Chanyeol groaned in annoyance but by now, Baekhyun could care less for the scavenger hunt. All he wanted was to get out of the forest and have a good meal in the cafeteria.

"Xing! What are you doing?" a familiar voice asked on the other side of the call and Baekhyun listened carefully.

"Isn't that..Joonmyun hyung?"

"I called Baekhyun to see if he was okay." Yixng's voice was muffled, as if he covered the phone mic.

"You know Baekhyun?"

"Yixing hyung, you have to come hel-" Baekhyun tries to say.

"We're fine. We'll be back soon." Chanyeol says more defiantly and Baekhyun's eyes widen.

"Wha- No!"

Before Baekhyun could do anything, Chanyeol reached out and ended the call.

"Hey! I was talking to him-" Baekhyun freezes at looks up at Chanyeol.

"The spell is over?" Baekhyun exclaims, immediately walking back from the taller male. The cold wind blew against him and he breathed in the fresh air.

Chanyeol rolled his shoulders back and sighed in pain.

Baekhyun internally screamed for joy and began bouncing on his feet. "Finally!"

Chanyeol only rolled his eyes and began walking away to the exit of the forest. Baekhyun watched as he put his hand in his pocket and walked without another word.

"C-Chanyeol..!" Baekhyun calls out and jogs after him. Why did he always end up chasing after the other boy?

The said male didn't even turn his head but allowed Baekhyun to walk by his side. He didn't spare him a single glance at the other as they walked in silence.

"Thank you." Baekhyun mumbles, looking at Chanyeol from the corner of his eyes.

No response.

"I said, thank you. For protecting me and saving my life. I know I yelled at you before but you were really mean but I think I underestimated you so if anything, I shou-"

"Okay, I heard you the first time now stop rambling, yeah?" Chanyeol says and Baekhyun stares at him. Chanyeol wasn't scowling, nor was he angry.

"Sure." Baekhyun says, content that Chanyeol had somewhat accepted his gratitude.

They continued walking for another few minutes before Baekhyun decided to start a conversation. Maybe he should try to befriend Chanyeol. To a certain extent, he owed his life to Chanyeol but the best thing he could give the latter was his friendship.

"So..Chanyeol..you're a fire nova, right?" Baekhyun asked hesitantly.

"Mhm."

"And you're an elemental." Baekhyun continued.

"I guess so."

Baekhyun didn't really know what to say or ask. Chanyeol wasn't helping their conversation flow. In fact, he was killing it every time Baekhyun tried to initiate one.

"You don't seem to like me very much."

Chanyeol looked at him for a second before shrugging. "I don't like a lot of people."

Baekhyun can't help but feel rejected. His attempt to get closer to Chanyeol was failing before he even started.

"But I don't dislike them either."

"So why do you push people away?"

Chanyeol decides to not respond to that question but Baekhyun doesn't mind. He didn't expect the giant to open up to him that easily.

"To be honest..I thought you were a cold-hearted jerk when I first saw you, considering you never said hi or acknowledged my presence."

They continued to walk.

"But I think you're not a terrible person." Baekhyun finishes.

A soft laugh escaped Chanyeol's lips but it could barely be heard.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"You could say that."

It only occurred to Baekhyun now how tall Chanyeol really was. Standing beside him made his self confidence go down and quite frankly, the Chanyeol was intimidating on certain levels.

"Well, if you want something back..You're more stubborn annoying than I thought you'd be,"

Baekhyun frowned at his comment and opened his mouth to protest but Chanyeol wasn't done speaking.

"But you're good at climbing trees so I'll look over that."

"Yah!" Baekhyun exclaimed almost playfully and for the first time, Chanyeol actually laughed. It was a deep yet relaxing laughter that made you want to join in with him. Coming from someone as emotionless and independent as Chanyeol, Baekhyun could only watch with amazement.

"Just being honest." He says with a smirk and Baekhyun huffs.

"Good for nothing giant."

"Says the tiny tree climber."

Baekhyun sends a glare over at Chanyeol and Chanyeol glances at him from the corner of his eye. Before they knew it, they were at the edge of the forest where the starting point was. Kyungsoo stood there with Luhan and Baekhyun assumed they were waiting for him. He quickly ran up a head, leaving Chanyeol to walk on his own, and called out to his hyungs.

"Kyungsoo! Luhan!" He says out loud and the two males looked over at him with a relieved expression.

"Thank goodness you made it out alive!" Luhan says apologetically to Baekhyun but Kyungsoo noticed that his eyes would flicker over to a younger male student standing with a group of his friends a couple feet away.

"I heard from Yixing that you were with-"

"-Chanyeol. He's-" Baekhyun turned around, expecting to see the junior walking over but instead, he was walking away, back to the dorms. He couldn't help but feel a bit upset that Chanyeol had left without a good bye. Were they friends now? After what they just experienced, Baekhyun was even more confused about their undeclared relationship.

If anything, they were just two people who shared the same friend circle.

"I'm surprised he didn't win the scavenger hunt.." Luhan says, crossing his arms over his chest casually.

Baekhyun's expression drops.

"Well, who usually wins these games?"

Luhan puts a finger to his chin and thinks back to the past years. "If I remember clearly..Freshman year, it was a senior with a speed nova..Then these past two years....it's been Chanyeol."

Baekhyun's eyes widen. "Chanyeol?!"

Luhan nods a bit more positive about his answer. "He's really good at finding things, despite how much lack of emotion he usually shows. But the thing is, because he's the highest rank, he can't use his nova."

"Yet he still wins." Baekhyun says and Luhan sighs.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he won again today."

The thought strikes him like lightning.

Is it because of me? Was I the reason why Chanyeol couldn't win?

Kyungsoo noticed Baekhyun's tiny frown and pats his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he isn't angry about it."

Baekhyun looks down and blinks. There was a heavy rock that pulled his chest down. He felt uncomfortable and bothered, knowing that he had prevented Chanyeol from acheiving his third consecutie victory.

"It's not your fault." Luhan says a bit more cheerfully.

Baekhyun frowned. "But it is...If he hadn't- If I didn't put the basket down-"

"How did you end up with Chanyeol anyway? He usually insists on staying by himself.." Kyungsoo says.

"I just bumped into him after getting separated from Luhan. But someone stole our basket and we ended up getting paralyzed- or at least Chanyeol did."

Luhan laughed. "Chanyeol? I thought he would be more careful than that."

Baekhyun felt a hint of guilt, knowing that it was really his fault.

"Wel-"

"Hey guys!" Jongdae exclaims, jogging over with Minseok following closely behind.

"How was it, Baekhyun? Fun? How many did you find?"

Baekhyun nervously laughed. "It was alright.."

Minseok cocked his head  for them to leave, as many other students were doing. "Let's go get lunch. Joonmyun is already waiting for us."

-

"He knocked down the tree with only two fingers and BAM! We were able to get the Red Maple leaf! Clever, as expected of my Kyungie!" Jongin brags to everyone about his hunt with Kyungsoo. The said male cringes at the pet name and frowns at the younger male's over exaggeration.

"I don't belong to you." He says and Jongin only smiles at him affectionately.

"Not yet."

Jongdae and Luhan 'ooooo' at his comment, raising Jongin's confidence enough for him to wink at his crush. Kyungsoo glared at him in response and threatened to stab his eyeballs with his chopsticks.

"What about you, Luhan? You were with Baekhyun.." Jongin asked and looked at Luhan and Baekhyun expectantly. Baekhyun looked over at Chanyeol, who again, sat on the further end of the table. He didn't say a single word, nor did he look at Baekhyun. If anyone observed them, no one one have guessed that they had been stuck together for more than an hour in the forest.

"Actually, we got separated." Luhan says sheepishly and Baekhyun looks at him.

"Wait, why did you leave? Was the person okay?"

Luhan picks at his rice. "O-Oh..well-"

"Hyung!" Someone calls from behind them and they all turn around to see a tall brunet, probably as tall as Chanyeol, walk up to them. Or rather Luhan.

"S-Sehun-ah!" Luhan says with a smile and Jongdae raises his eyebrow.

"Sehun? As in Oh Sehun?" He asks.

"Sehunnie!" Jongin says brightly as the male approaches their table.

"You know him?" Kyungsoo asks and Jongin nods.

"He's my roommate."

"Do you want to sit with us?" Luhan offers but Sehun respectfully declines.

"No, it's fine. I'm sitting with my friends over there." He turns and points to a table further back, managing to balance his tray on one hand.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you around." Luhan says as Sehun bows to all of them before walking away.

"I'm guessing he's the reason." Jongdae says playfully and Luhan's cheeks turn pink.

"W-What?! No, I mean, kind of- maybe-"

"Chill, Lu. I only hinted that you were with him, not that you had a crush on him." Jongdae teased and Luhan's expression seemed to relax. "That, everyone can already see on your face."

Luhan scowled. "Yah! So what if I find him a little bit cute?"

Jongin patted Luhan's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm not judging. Everyone is scared of Kyungsoo's strength but in my case, there are times when it comes in handy- oh !"

Kyungsoo had punched his shoulder and Jongin doubled over in pain. Minseok scooted his chair over, away from Kyungsoo with a fearful expression.

"Language Jongin!" Kyungsoo scolds, causing Luhan and Jongdae to laugh. Baekhyun was still getting used to this group of strange but friendly students.

"Anyway," Joonmyun says. "I'm surprised you didn't win, Chanyeol."

Baekhyun freezes and glances over to Chanyeol, who just eats his rice casually.

"I guess I was just unlucky today." He says and Baekhyun frowned. Was Chanyeol talking about him? Was he saying that he was a burden?

They continued to eat their meal before Chanyeol stood up. Joonmyun looked at him before Chanyeol mumbled that he had to use the bathroom. Everyone didn't mind his absence and simply chattered amongst themselves. After the scavenger hunt, everyone was famished and tired.

Baekhyun thought to himself before he, too, stood up and said he needed to use the bathroom. No one payed much attention to him, thankfully.

He pushed open the bathroom door with the 'Male Restroom' sign and noticed Chanyeol zip up his pants at the urinal before going to wash his hands. The taler male's eyes barely flickered over to Baekhyun's figure standing at the doorway as he scrubbed with soap. Baekhyun cleared his throat.

"Chanyeol.."

The said male didn't respond but Baekhyun knew he was listening. They were the only two in the bathroom. Chanyeol the faucet to rinse off the soap. The sound of the running water coming to a stop made the bathroom quieter than Baekhyun would have liked.

"Look, if you're upset that you didn't win, I'm sorry. I know it's my fault that your basket was stolen and I feel really bad about. If there is anything I can do to make up for it, I will do it. I also kind of owe my life to you..not literally but.." Baekhyun watched as Chanyeol turned off the water and grabbed a paper towel from the counter before he looked at over him.

"Anything?" He asked, drying his hands. Chanyeol throws the towel into the trash can and leans on the wall beside Baekhyun. His face slowly came closer and closer to the shorter male until Chanyeol's lips were at Baekhyun's ear.

"Y-yeah.." Baekhyun stutters. Something felt off and he knew he was going to regret his words.

Chanyeol smirked. "Okay then. If you want to repay me, be my slave for a month."

Cheeky Chanyeol~

Leave a comment! What do you think Chanyeol thinks of Baekhyun? Anyone feeling the Hunhan? Why is Chanyeol doing this to Baekhyun??

Sorry for the late update! Thank you so much for being patient! <3 :)