pairing: BaekChen
length: 1864 words

Even after they arrived home, Baekhyun clung to Jongdae.

None of them said anything as they trudged through the dorm. Junmyeon and Chanyeol both sat on the living room couch, looking through their phones together. They were both typing while deep in thought, Chanyeol occasionally turning to show Junmyeon what he had written and Junmyeon reaching over to edit Chanyeol’s notes. Meanwhile, Sehun and Jongin sat at the dining table, hungry but too listless and upset to actively search for any food in the kitchen.

Jongdae made his way to his bedroom while Baekhyun followed him, arms carefully wrapped around the younger male.

Once the door was closed, Jongdae finally murmured, “You can let go of me now, Baek. I’m okay.”

The older male reluctantly relinquished his hold on the other EXO member before anxiously hovering over Jongdae. “Does it still hurt? Do you need an ice pack? Would a massage help instead?”

“I just stumbled a bit. It isn’t the end of the world,” Jongdae said with a short, dry laugh.

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Can we rest for a bit?” the younger male tiredly cut in before Baekhyun could continue fussing over him. “Just, y’know, lay on the bed for a few minutes?”

The older EXO member nodded. They settled atop the thick duvet, Baekhyun carefully lowering Jongdae first even though the younger vocalist protested against being helped for something so minor. Luckily, the light was dim, since Baekhyun had only flipped on one switch when they had entered Jongdae’s bedroom earlier, so they could look at the ceiling without worrying about accidentally blinding themselves with the overhead light.

When Baekhyun turned to look at his best friend, he could see how dark the circles were under Jongdae’s eyes, contrasting heavily against the younger male’s pale skin. Granted, he knew he didn’t look much better, considering how little sleep he was getting each night. But he also wasn’t getting mercilessly shoved around in crowded spaces, without any regard for his safety.

Without warning, Baekhyun blurted out, “I’m sorry.”

Jongdae curiously looked at the older EXO member as he asked, “What are you apologizing for?”

“It was my fan who hurt you and if she hadn’t been trying to film me earlier, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt when she pushed you. It’s my fault you got hurt today and I’m really sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I should’ve been walking with you from the start. Nothing like that would’ve happened then," Baekhyun explained with a guilty expression.

“Oh, that. You don’t need to apologize, Baek. Really, I’m fine,” Jongdae insisted while wearing a lopsided smile. “What happened today was an accident—”

“No, it wasn’t! I saw how hard she elbowed you! Multiple times too! It happened right in front of me!”

“—and we can’t change that it did happen.”

“But that doesn’t mean you should be constantly disrespected like this,” Baekhyun staunchly countered. His fists were tightly balled at his side, making large indentations in the blanket. All of the frustration and anger that he had repressed earlier was now spilling out of him. It wasn’t fair that someone so kind and good was continuously treated so badly.

Jongdae sent his best friend a tight-lipped smile, knowing that he meant well but also not wanting to think about the incident any longer. He just wanted to leave the memory of it in September, so he could start fresh once October arrived. Yawning loudly while stretching his arms over his head, the younger EXO member said, “I think I’m going to wash up and get ready for bed now.”

“You’re going to sleep now?” Baekhyun pouted. “But don’t you want to stay up to watch your new music video?”

“I can always watch it later. It’s no big deal,” Jongdae impassively replied.

But Baekhyun knew that was a lie. When “Beautiful Goodbye” had been released six months ago, Jongdae had been a nervous bundle of energy as they waited for midnight to arrive. Once the clock had hit twelve on the dot, they had eagerly refreshed until the music video popped up on screen and watched it with bated breaths.

Within minutes, both of them had tears streaming down their faces, overwhelmed with joy and relief that the video had been produced so well.

In the days leading up to the release of “Shall We?” and the rest of the “Dear My Dear” album, Jongdae had excitedly participated in various shoots for the music video and the album photo book, and he came home with a giant smile on his face every single time. Without fail, his infectious happiness had spread to Baekhyun whenever the older male listened to his best friend recount the day’s work in preparation for his first solo comeback.

This was an important moment for Jongdae and seeing how unenthusiastic he was right now about everything caused a new wave of anger to surge within Baekhyun at what had transpired earlier that day.

But instead of ranting again, since he knew it would upset the younger male even more, Baekhyun mentally squashed his fury before beginning to lightly bounce on the bed, causing Jongdae to yelp in surprise. The older male then cheerfully said, “Well, I’m going to stay up for the music video premiere, so you should stay up with me! Let’s watch it together!”

“But, Baek, you and Jongin have so much to do this week. You need every minute of sleep you can get,” Jongdae sensibly pointed out.

“You’re always worth sacrificing sleep for,” Baekhyun declared at once. He then latched onto the younger EXO member again and said, “Besides, I’m leaving for Los Angeles in two days. Don’t you want to spend as much time with me as you can before I leave?”

“Well, now that you bring it up, it’ll be nice for me to have some alone time while you’re gone,” Jongdae joked, briefly reverting back to his normal upbeat self.

“Dae!” Baekhyun whined, imitating his best friend whenever Jongdae complained in his high-pitched voice that never failed to annoy the other members in the best way possible.

“Are you sure you’re actually trying to convince me to stay up or go to sleep now? I honestly can’t tell,” the younger male said, his lips starting to curl up in a playful smirk.

“Why do I even bother?” Baekhyun dramatically cried as his upper body toppled onto the bed. This elicited a few chuckles from the younger male as he tugged Baekhyun back up and the older EXO member looked quite satisfied with his successful antics. His expression then turned more somber as he continued, “But seriously, we should celebrate this milestone in your career. And neither of us has seen the music video yet, so it’ll be a new way to experience your new song.”

“Alright, alright, you’ve convinced me,” Jongdae relented, half-smiling because he had the most amazing best friend in the entire world but said best friend also really needed to get some rest as well. He knew Baekhyun and Jongin were running themselves thin with double group promotions, and the older male’s body was in terrible condition right now due to lack of proper rest. Instead of Baekhyun fussing over Jongdae’s slight mishap, it should have been Jongdae worrying about his best friend’s almost nonexistent sleep schedule and irregular meals. “But once the video is over, we’re going straight to sleep,” the younger male firmly added as he grabbed his laptop from his desk and brought it back to the bed, where Baekhyun was arranging the pillows so that they could use them as backrests.

“Okay!” The two then quickly washed up so that they would feel clean and refreshed. Once they were dressed in their sleepwear, Baekhyun beamed brightly as they both settled on Jongdae’s bed, leaning against each other with the laptop resting on the duvet that was over their legs.

They sat in companionable silence, watching as the clock ticked minute by minute to midnight.

When it finally struck twelve, Baekhyun reached over to click the refresh button and soon the music video was playing on the laptop screen. Not a word was said as they watched soloist Chen sing his heart out while a young couple gradually and deeply fell in love with each other. Warmth bloomed from their chests and spread throughout their bodies as the two males both imagined experiencing such a pure, unadulterated form of love.

After the music video ended, they continued sitting in silence, their hearts tender and full from the uplifting song. A few minutes passed before Baekhyun finally said in a breathless voice, “That was beautiful.”

“The producing director did a great job,” Jongdae agreed as he thought back the exhilarating moment of singing on the rooftop during golden hour.

“Everyone will love it. I know it,” the older EXO member confidently stated.

“I hope so.”

It was silent for several moments again before Baekhyun said, “I’m sorry I won’t be able to MC for your press conference again,” while staring at the laptop screen in sadness. “You came to MC mine, but I still haven’t done the same for you.” He noisily sighed in frustration before adding, “The timing is just never right.”

“Baek, you don’t have to apologize for everything, especially since the schedule conflicts were out of your control,” Jongdae gently replied. “I know you’re busy. We’re all busy. That’s why I’m planning on doing the press conference myself this time. I can take care of myself.”

“But I want to be there with you when you show off your new album to the public. I want to see their reactions, to see if they’ll feel the same way I did when I first listened to the album.” The older EXO member snuggled his head in the crook of Jongdae’s neck. “It made me really happy,” he murmured, so softly that Jongdae almost didn’t catch his words.

The younger male smiled serenely as he gently leaned his head over Baekhyun’s. “That makes me really happy to hear. Thank you for always being here for me, Baek. You’re my rock. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’re mine too, Dae. I just wish I could do more for you, because you deserve it.”

Jongdae lifted his head and turned so that he could poke his best friend’s soft cheek. “Okay, enough cheesiness for tonight. Let’s go to sleep.”

Baekhyun nodded and took the younger EXO member’s laptop back to his desk before climbing into bed again. He immediately wrapped his arms around Jongdae, keeping him close. “Sleep well, sleep well, on this night. I wish for you to have good dreams. Sleep well, sleep well, on this night. At least that much in your dreams, I wish for you to have no worries. I wish for you to be smiling, like time has stopped,” he quietly sang, causing Jongdae to smile gratefully when he heard the lyrics of “Good Night” in the older male’s warm tone.

“Sleep well, sleep well, on this night,” Jongdae finished singing as he also held Baekhyun before they fell fast asleep, taking comfort in each other’s presence.

♈♈♈

A/N: As much as I love our fandom, I also really dislike how some people take things too far. After interacting with Chinese EXO-Ls and Korean EXO-Ls, I've witnessed firsthand how intense some of them can be, especially when it comes to taking pictures and videos of the boys at airports and after their schedules. It's also very blatant how much some of them disrespect the members they don't stan. While I'm fine with not everyone loving my biases since people have different preferences, I'm NOT okay with people hurting them over something as dumb as a shaky fancam in an environment where the boys are tired from performing and traveling. Jongdae, in particular, has been mistreated so many times by several EXO-Ls who solo stan other members. He has gotten pushed and shoved so many times at airports, just so these fans can get better fancams of the other members. Behavior like this is unacceptable and so upsetting to Jongdae stans, especially since this happened on the eve of his solo comeback that we've been excitedly preparing for ever since he talked about it in April and confirmed it in June. We're not asking for much. We just want Jongdae to be treated with kindness and respect by other people in our fandom.

If you ever decide to see EXO at an airport, please remember to treat them with respect and be mindful of their personal space! And please remind other fans to do the same! Our idols' safety and happiness should be prioritized over a few videos and pictures. And please support Jongdae's solo comeback! The album is another solid masterpiece, just like his debut album, and we want him to know that he is loved and appreciated by everyone! My favorite songs on the album are "My Dear" and "Good Night" (but I honestly love every single track ^^). Let me know your favorite track(s) in the comments section below!