"Do you want me to stay?" Baekhyun asks.

Chanyeol shakes his head, "No, no. You should go home, I really am fine."

"Okay..." Baekhyun pats Chanyeol's shoulder gently, then gets up from the bed and starts moving towards the door to go back home. He's in front of the door, hand already on the knob, when he halts.

"Chanyeol," he says in a small voice that is hidden with an amount of shame and regret.

"Hmm?"

Baekhyun turns slowly but does not look in Chanyeol's direction. He knows it's not an easy task to come out; he's been there. But he can only imagine how it must be even harder when someone makes you do it, when they push you into doing it. That's something he fortunately never experienced. But he just did that to his best friend.

Because of his stubbornness Chanyeol did something he didn't want to. Baekhyun put his best friend in an uncomfortable situation and made him confess his little secret that maybe Chanyeol had never meant to share.

"I-I'm sorry…" Baekhyun knows that these two words are not enough to express how truly sorry and regretful he is. "I'm so sorry for making you say it." he repeats. Maybe if he apologizes again Chanyeol will understand that he really means it. "You probably never even meant to tell me about it, but I just got it out of you with my nagging and I really hope you understand how bad I feel for-"

"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier." Chanyeol's voice is close, and Baekhyun then realizes his eyes were shut. He opens them slowly to see that Chanyeol is standing in front of him.

"I really looked up to you when you came out to me, because you know how much of a coward I am. I'm too scared for my own good." Chanyeol puts both hands on top of Baekhyun's shoulders and looks into the smaller's eyes.

"Your stubbornness is really annoying sometimes- I agree." he chuckles, "But thanks to it, today I got the chance to share my biggest secret with my best friend. You deserve to know it- and I really wanted to tell you this for a long time but again-" He takes a deep breath, eyes never leaving the smaller's. "I'm a coward."

"You're not."

"It doesn't matter," Chanyeol shakes his head. "I feel so relieved and free now that you know." Chanyeol closes his eyes with a smile on his face and breathes in, like he's on top of a big and high mountain where the air is clearer.  "So thank you." He opens his eyes and ruffles Baekhyun's hair.

Baekhyun doesn't know how to respond to that, to Chanyeol thanking him. He honestly thought the taller would be mad at him. He almost forgot how kind and good hearted his best friend is.

Baekhyun finds himself fighting tears he hadn’t felt coming. He throws himself at Chanyeol, hugging him.

"B-Baek?" Chanyeol asks, surprised. His arms are in the air but very quickly they find their way around the smaller's body.

"Yah, don't cry." He caresses Baekhyun's back. "Such a crybaby," he teases, a big smile spread on his face.

"Thank you for not being angry with me." Baekhyun says into Chanyeol's shirt, his voice muffled.

Chanyeol hits his friend's head lightly and jokingly. "Stop talking nonsense and stop crying, okay? It's embarrassing." Chanyeol says in a serious tone, but Baekhyun knows he's only teasing.

"I have a runny nose and I can easily wipe it on your shirt."

Chanyeol suddenly tries to break the hug but Baekhyun laughs and his hold around the taller's waist tightens. Chanyeol gives up. "I would make you it clean so think twice if you really want to do that."

"I'm not scared of you."

"You should be."

"I'm small. You can't hurt small things."

"Yes, but annoying small things is an exception." They both laugh and after a few moments Chanyeol breaks the hug and ruffles Baekhyun's hair one last time,  "Go home."

-

Baekhyun runs to the nearest bus station, barely making it to the bus on time. "Thank you," he pants to the driver and hands him a few coins.

It was already half past eight and his mother asked him to be home before eight o'clock.

He ignored her two phone calls when he was at Chanyeol's because he wanted all his focus to be on his friend. He takes his iPhone out of his jeans' back pocket and calls his mother as he sits down at the back row.

"Baekhyun? Where are you?" she asks worriedly  when she picks up.

"I was with Chanyeol. I had to stay with him for a bit. I'm on my way home." he explains. "The guests arrived already?"

"Yes." she answers, and just then Baekhyun can hear laughing and a few unfamiliar voices over the other side of the line. "Did something happen to Chanyeol?"

"No, everything's fine, don't worry."

"Okay, then. Come quickly, I want you to meet their son." Baekhyun can hear the smile on her face as she says these last words.

"Mom," he huffs. "I hope you're not trying to… pair me with him or anything."

His mother is silent and Baekhyun knows that that's exactly what she's trying to do. "Mom, please." he hisses.

"Baekhyun, I'm not putting a gun to your head and telling you to date him, it's just that I think he's very nice. He's tall- I know you like tall guys. And his mother already loves you from the stories I told her about you-"

"Mom!" he whines.

"They're moving here next week. Their new house is a 5 minute walk away. It's very convenient-"

"I'm not gonna date someone because he lives close to my house."

"I know. It's just a very big bonus, that's all I'm saying."

"Mom-" Baekhyun takes a deep breath and counts to 10, trying to calm himself down and stop himself from shouting at his mother how irrational she sounds right now. "Let's not have this conversation through the phone and when I'm on the bus."

"Okay, honey. We'll be waiting for you here." she says in a gentle voice and then the call ends.

Baekhyun locks his phone and puts it back in his pocket. He closes his eyes as he leans his forehead against the bus window.

He opens his eyes the next time the bus stops moving and he watches as a couple gets on the bus and pays the driver.

The bus has just started to move again when he turns to stare outside the window and suddenly sees two familiar figures walking side by side. He squints his eyes a little and immediately recognizes them.

Jongin and Kyungsoo.

-

Kyungsoo just got out of a quick cold shower when he hears three knocks on the door.

"Who is it?" he asks, quickly putting on his underwear and sweatpants that he randomly took out of his wardrobe as he goes to the door.

"It's me." He instantly recognizes Jongin's voice.

He opens the door, smiling. "What're you doing here?"

He sees that Jongin, for some reason, is having a hard time answering his question and notices that the other's eyes are lingering somewhere lower than his face. He looks down, having a mini heart attack when he sees he's still shirtless.

He flushes in embarrassment and mumbles a quiet "S-sorry." He runs back to his wardrobe and pulls on the first T-shirt he manages to reach.

"… It's okay." Jongin says as he follows and stands awkwardly in the middle of Kyungsoo's room. "I just came to check up on you."

"Oh, thank you." Kyungsoo smiles shyly and goes to sit on his bed. "I'm completely healed."

"I'm glad."

An awkward silence takes over the both of them, neither of them finding anything to say, Jongin still standing in the mid