pairing: BaekLay
length: 3282 words

It wasn’t a surprise to Baekhyun when he groggily woke up with a parched throat and an overwhelming migraine. Staying up a few extra hours after going to his favorite K-Pop girl group’s concert was definitely not a smart idea and he was now paying for his foolish decision. He rolled around in bed, about to fall back asleep since he didn’t have work today, when his cell phone suddenly beeped after receiving a text message from his best friend.

Amber Liu
You’d better be awake by now! We need to get our butts to the airport ASAP! You’d better not forgotten that Zhang Yixing is flying in today for the Grammy’s! I swear to God, if you forgot, I will disown you as my best friend. Hurry up and reply so I know you’re up, because I will drag you out of bed and to the airport terminal, even if you’re not presentable!

Upon reading the message, Baekhyun tumbled out of bed and hurriedly switched his clothing for something much more presentable than gray-striped pajamas. He couldn’t believe that he had almost forgotten—Amber was to never know this tidibit though—that the love of his life, Zhang Yixing, Lay Zhang, the King of China, Mando-Pop and K-Pop superstar, was flying into Los Angeles today to attend the Grammy Awards.

Post-concert depression really messed with his head.

He and Amber had made plans several weeks prior, when Lay’s Chinese studio had announced that the idol would be attending the prestigious music awards show, to go to the airport to welcome Lay to the City of Angels. It was Baekhyun’s idea in the first place, but because he had never done this before, he had roped Amber into coming with him. Luckily, she was Zhang Yixing’s second biggest fan—Baekhyun was obviously his first biggest fan—and she would never pass up an opportunity to see her idol up close if she could help it.

So here they were, Amber on her way to pick up Baekhyun and take him to the airport while the Korean boy got himself properly dressed and washed up at the speed of light. Things were going swimmingly so far, despite the rocky start. The knowledge that Lay Zhang would soon be breathing the same air as him propelled Baekhyun to flit around the house as he prepared himself for this momentous event.

With the sealed envelope containing his ten-page fan letter safely nestled in his coat pocket, Baekhyun ran out of his house and into Amber’s car.

“You ready?”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out of him. He tried again, his lips forming the words, but there was nothing once again.

“Oh god, you lost your voice after last night, didn’t you.” Amber shook her head in exasperation as her best friend tried, very unsuccessfully, to speak again. “I told you not to scream so much!”

The Korean boy mustered up as much spittle as he could to coat his dehydrated throat before managing to croak out, “Of course I was going to cheer for Kang Seulgi! She deserves the world, okay?” However, those two sentences were too much of a strain on his throat and he began coughing violently while Amber groaned from the driver’s seat.

“Well, yeah, that’s true, but did you forget about today?!”

Baekhyun vehemently shook his head, but a second later, his face turned paper white. “Oh no,” he whispered scratchily, even though he knew it would make his throat even worse. “We’re seeing Lay today and my voice is basically gone! I sound like I regularly smoke fifty packs of cigarettes a day! He can’t talk to me like this!”

“You can’t talk to him at all,” Amber stated flatly. “We’ve got musical rehearsals coming up and Professor Lu is going to destroy us if we aren’t in tip-top condition this Tuesday.”

His heart sank to the bottom of his stomach upon hearing his best friend’s infuriatingly correct statement. As the lead character in their university’s theater department’s biggest musical of the year, there was no way that Baekhyun would be allowed to skip rehearsals, especially when he should’ve been properly taking care of his voice the entire time. This was a disaster.

“It’s fine. We’ll make it work somehow. Just don’t say anything if you can help it, okay? We’ll still go to the airport and deliver our gifts to Zhang Yixing. We probably won’t be able to say anything to him anyway, since there’ll be hordes of fans there as well,” Amber sensibly pointed out in an attempt to alleviate her best friend’s self-inflicted pain. “You good with that?”

Baekhyun pursed his lips together in a thin line and slowly nodded, knowing that he didn’t have any other choice.

“Okay, drink some water and rest your voice while I get us to the airport at sonic speed!”

The Korean boy closed his eyes and silently prayed to whatever higher power existed as he buckled up and tightly gripped the arms of the passenger seat.

He needed all of the luck he could get.

--

There was already a mass of fans milling around the arrival lobby, causing Amber to shoot Baekhyun an exasperated look. Most wore sheep hats or were adorned with sheep accessories as they clutched their colorful banners spelled with various iterations of “ZHANG YIXING” or “LAY ZHANG” in English, Chinese, and Korean.

He glanced at the electronic display that listed the arrival times of various flights and saw that the one departing from Beijing had already landed in the Los Angeles International Airport. “We didn’t miss him yet, right?” he whisper-croaked to Amber. As soon as the words left his mouth, Baekhyun cringed at how disgusting his virtually non-existent voice sounded.

“Definitely not,” she murmured back as she grabbed his wrist and began pulling him into the crowd. “If he did, I would’ve gotten a bunch of Tweets about it. And all of these fans wouldn’t be here.” Amber then glanced down at her phone screen, which had the arrivals listed in real-time, before adding, “He’s probably exiting the aircraft right now and grabbing his luggage.”

Baekhyun nodded, trusting that his best friend’s deduction was accurate. The back of his neck was beginning to sweat and his hold on the fan letter he had written for Lay tightened even more, lest someone accidentally jostled it out of his hands. Now that he didn’t have a voice—or one that he wanted the love of his life to hear—the Korean male’s only chance of communicating with Lay was through this precious fan letter that he had spent days painstakingly crafting to perfection. At the very least, his written sentiments would be properly expressed to his idol, now that he had no chance to verbally express how much Lay and his music meant to Baekhyun.

Suddenly, the pair of best friends was shoved in all directions as the sea of fans rushed forward and earsplitting screams filled the air.

“Oh my god, he’s here!” Amber pulled Baekhyun against her so that they could navigate through the crowd more easily. After a minute of shoving their way past other equally zealous fans, the two of them found themselves at the front of the crowd and with a perfect view of Zhang Yixing, Lay Zhang, the King of China, Mando-Pop and K-Pop superstar, walking into the lobby.

He was flanked by two bodyguards—both of them well over six feet tall—and a white face mask was covering the bottom half of his peach-toned face. The screams drastically increased in volume, Amber cheering along while Baekhyun awkwardly pretended that he was, as Lay waved to the crowd. The Chinese idol then pulled his face mask down to his chin so that he could speak and, in perfect English, he thanked everyone for greeting him so warmly in Los Angeles, despite the rainy weather.

“I'd travel through a blizzard to see you, Yixing!” a girl from the back screamed at the top of her lungs.

“It’s a good thing there are no blizzards in Los Angeles then,” Lay said in amusement. “Thank you for the love. You guys are my inspiration. Let’s keep working hard and making our dreams come true.”

The fans all screamed again and began holding out their gifts for Lay to take. A group of female staff members from Lay’s studio started collecting the banners, flowers, and sheep plushies, much to the vocal disappointment of the fans who were gifting them, while the lucky fans who were closest to the Chinese idol handed their letters and presents to him directly.

Despite the chaos, Lay tried to spend at least half a minute talking to each fan who gave him something, as if it were a fan sign. When Amber handed him an oil painting she had done of him, inspired by the cover art of his Sheep album, the Chinese idol marveled over it and briefly spoke to her in Mandarin to better convey his gratitude.

Finally, it was Baekhyun’s turn. It was almost too surreal when he found himself staring directly at Lay’s beautiful, chiseled face. His heart seemed to stop as all of the background noise faded away into silence. In this space, it was only Baekhyun Byun and Lay Zhang. No one else but them—

A fan girl standing to the right of Baekhyun violently elbowed him as she tried to hand her bouquet of lavender flowers to the Chinese idol. With that, the short male was jolted out of his mini fantasy and he hastily his fan letter at Lay, who graciously accepted it with two hands. “Thank you for—” Baekhyun immediately cut himself off when he heard his scratchy voice and instead smiled as brightly as he could while his heart thumped loudly against his chest.

Lay slightly tilted his head to the right, staring curiously at the Korean male. “Is everything okay? You didn’t finish your sentence.”

Baekhyun just smiled and nodded, cursing his voice for failing him today. Oh god, this was too embarrassing.

“Are you sure? You came all this way to see me and I want to make sure that I make it worthwhile for you.”

This man was too good to be true. Baekhyun wanted to sink to his knees and bow down to the King of China, because no other celebrity treated his fans as well as Lay Zhang did. But all Baekhyun could do was point at his throat and then cross his arms in an X in front of him.

The realization that the younger male couldn’t speak finally dawned on Lay and he smiled sympathetically as he said, “Ah, I see, I see. Then I’ll make sure to pay extra attention to your letter, okay?”

Baekhyun vigorously nodded, hoping he didn’t look too crazy as he did—but also not really caring, because when would he ever get to see Lay Zhang up close and personal like this again?

The Chinese idol sent him one last smile before moving onto the next fan.

Now that it was over, Baekhyun let out the breath he hadn’t known he had been holding before reaching for Amber’s hand and firmly squeezing it. They gradually allowed other fans to push in front of them, although still making sure that no one would get hurt from the rowdiness of some people, and watched Lay interact with a few more fans from afar.

It wasn’t long before his managers began shooing people away from the Chinese idol and guiding him to the van that was waiting outside for him. Lay waved to the crowd of fans again after getting into the vehicle and sitting down in the left seat, causing everyone to scream once more. Baekhyun did his best to wave as fast as he could, refusing to stop until the door closed completely and the van drove away.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Amber breathed, slightly subdued now that Zhang Yixing was gone. “I can’t believe all of that just happened.”

Baekhyun softly hummed in agreement.

“Okay, let’s get out of here and go back to your place. There’s going to be so much traffic if we don’t leave now and we can’t miss any second of the awards show tonight!”

The Korean male nodded and allowed himself to be pulled by Amber, who expertly wove through the crowd on their way to the parking lot. His mind was too busy replaying those few seconds of direct eye contact for him to fear for his life due to his best friend’s tendency to speed while driving.

After all, he had finally met Lay Zhang, the love of his life. What more could he accomplish in life?

--

“And the Grammy for Album of the Year goes to…Lay Zhang!”

Thunderous applause erupted both on-screen and in Baekhyun’s living room as the two best friends jumped up to hug each other.

Even though he knew it would further ruin his throat, Baekhyun couldn’t help but cheer, “He did it!” with Amber as they danced around.

The camera panned to a completely dumbfounded Lay, who was staring wide-eyed at the stage while the people sitting next to him began earnestly congratulating him for his monumental win. It took a moment for the Chinese idol to register that he had actually won a Grammy Award and he shakily stood up to walk to the stage where the presenters were waiting with his golden gramophone trophy.

When he arrived on the stage and accepted the plaque, the camera zoomed into his face, close enough for the audience to see the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. Both Baekhyun and Amber settled down, cross-legged on the carpeted floor, with their eyes glued to the television screen.

“I—I’m honestly still in so much shock that this is happening,” Lay started, noticeably blinking as he gazed around the room while bombarded by a handful of spotlights. “I never would have imagined that this tremendous honor would be given to me. The other nominees are amazing and all of them are people I highly respect, so that makes this win even more surprising. I’ve dreamed of performing at the Grammys ever since I decided I would become a musician and to finally stand on this stage with one of the most prestigious awards one can receive is…absolutely a dream come true.

“Even being a nominee for this category was a huge surprise and honor. That all of the songs I painstakingly composed, recorded, and produced were viewed as a holistic success means the world to me, and this recognition drives me to create even better music for the world to enjoy. In this age of social media, where people from all over the world can listen to music from artists that come from anywhere, I am extremely grateful to everyone who gave me a chance and checked out this album. It was a labor of love, like my other albums are, and I can never thank you all enough for bestowing this award to me.”

Baekhyun could feel himself tearing up as well as he listened to Lay’s speech. Even though the singer was clearly becoming emotional, he was holding himself well and his voice never wavered throughout the speech.

“Thank you to all of the producers, songwriters, mixers, and audio engineers who collaborated with me to birth this album into existence. This award not only belongs to me, but to all of us for staying up late almost every night to ensure that this album would be perfect. Thank you to all of my staff members, my stylists, and my manager for helping me carry out my schedules every single day. I would be a mess without all of you taking care of me.

“Thank you to my agency, SM Entertainment, for taking a chance on the awkward seventeen-year-old boy from Changsha who had big dreams and making them come true by giving me the opportunities to display my capabilities in a foreign country. Thank you to my personal studio, Zhang Yixing Studio, for helping me grow as an artist in my home country and for allowing my vision of Mando-Pop to become a global sensation like K-Pop to be realized.

“Thank you to my friends for always supporting me, no matter where we are in life. Thank you to my family for being my rock and showing me that home will always be there for me. I know I don’t visit very often, but I’m always thinking about you all every single day. And last but not least, thank you to my XingMis. You guys are the best fans in the entire universe. I’ve been in this industry for more than twenty years now and you guys have stuck by me through thick and thin. I would not be the Lay Zhang that I am today without your unconditional love and support. You guys continuously inspire me to reach even greater heights than before and even when I can’t physically hear your voice, I can still hear your heart.”

Baekhyun’s eyes suddenly bulged when Lay pulled out some folded sheets of paper and waved them on screen, because that was his fan letter. Amber also recognized the stationery and she immediately turned to her best friend, mouth open with incredulity written all over her face.

“This is merely the beginning of another chapter for all of us. I have so much that I want to share with you guys and I hope we can continue walking on this flower-filled road together. Thank you again for this award and I hope you all have a wonderful year!”

Applause roared once Lay finished speaking, but Baekhyun couldn’t hear anything. All he could focus on was the light blue, cartoon sheep-trimmed pages that were still nestled between the Chinese idol’s fingers.

The love of his life, the brightest star in the sky, the one who lit his heart on fire, was carrying around Baekhyun’s fan letter like it was his most prized possession. And the reference in his speech to Baekhyun’s inability to speak today… It was too much of a coincidence for it to not be purposeful.

Did that mean Lay remembered him, despite the thousands of fans who bombarded him on social media on a daily basis? Did that mean he had made enough of an impression, enough for Lay to carry the fan letter with him while on national television?

This was all too much for the Korean male to handle and if it weren’t for Amber suddenly shoving his phone into his hands, Baekhyun didn’t know what he would do with himself.

“You need to shoot your shot! Direct message him on Instagram or Twitter!” she exclaimed, flailing her arms wildly.

“I can’t do that!” Baekhyun hoarsely screeched before finding himself in a coughing fit. “He probably gets flooded with hundreds of messages from random people every day!”

“Then tag him in a post so he can message you!”

Baekhyun hesitated. Would Lay even see it? Especially since most people would be tagging him in posts after his successful win tonight.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Amber pressed.

Another handful of seconds passed before Baekhyun finally nodded and tapped on the Twitter icon. It took him a few minutes to compose the short Tweet, especially since Amber kept trying to edit the message.

But he soon sent it out into the world, hoping that Lay would at least read it, even if he didn’t respond to the mention.

--

New message from @layzhang
I remember you! You’re the boy with no voice, right?

♈♈♈

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! It’s my third anniversary of being an EXO-L, so I’ve finally returned with a triple update! I know it’s been radio silence on my end for the past few months and I sincerely apologize for it. You guys are so wonderful for being patient with me and I am so grateful to have readers like you. I’ve been going through a lot these past few months, because of sensitive family issues and a big life change. I did do NaNoWriMo last November, but I will admit that I did not prioritize this collection. I'm trying to squeeze in as much writing as I can whenever I have free time and at the very least, there will be the standard triple update for EXO’s seventh anniversary!

And in case you haven't noticed, I have a crowdfund set up! It's a new feature that Jason (Nichiren) is implementing and I was luckily chosen as a beta tester. It helps out writers like me and allows our readers to support us monetarily, if they'd like, since we do spend hours upon hours writing these stories. If you'd like to support me, please join my crowdfund! Every bit of support helps keep me fueled as a writer and you'll also get special perks, such as early access to chapters, the ability to seamlessly read 1+1=3 in one webpage, and downloadable PDFs! I've also created an invite-only thread for my crowdfund supporters where I write and post requested scenarios as a thank you! As a reader, if you're interested in supporting me through my crowdfund, the available tiers are AIR ($1 tier), WATER ($3 tier), EARTH ($5 tier), and FIRE ($10 tier). I'd appreciate any bit of support you can give me!

Also, BIG SHOUT-OUT to Drops_Rocks for being my first crowdfund supporter! You’re amazing, and I’m so honored and thankful that you like my writing enough to monetarily support me! It really helps, especially as I go through this big life change, and I’ll do my very best to keep pumping out quality content!

Don't worry about this collection going behind a paywall. It won't! You don't need to join my crowdfund to read my stories. They will still be unlocked and open to the public, like they've always been. You'll just get bonus perks if you do. I still appreciate all of my readers, whether you choose to join my crowdfund or not. This is just another way of showing your support if you have the financial means to do so. If you have any questions about the crowdfund, please feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my abilities or convey the question to Jason so that he can help answer it instead! Subscribe, comment, and/or upvote if you're enjoying these fun little short stories! See you soon with the next update!