Baekhyun didn’t know when Park Chanyeol first appeared in his life. There wasn’t a time when he came up to Baekhyun and introduced himself, or when they accidentally bumped into each other in the quad as Baekhyun was hurrying from class to class. All he could remember was Chanyeol slowly creeping his way into Baekhyun’s daily life, like how the beginnings of a dream slowly emerge when you close your eyes at night.

He guesses Chanyeol just started as a familiar face, one he would vaguely see across campus as he rushed to his next class. But Baekhyun began to notice a new kid sitting in his psych class, the same boy that now passed him on his way to lunch.

He learned his name when his roommate would talk about Chanyeol, mention how this new close friend came out of the blue. Kyungsoo was surprised when Chanyeol mentioned knowing Baekhyun through the class they shared. Baekhyun was surprised Chanyeol knew his name, let alone that he was Kyungsoo’s roommate.

The shivers down his spine started when he began to feel the stares. They were heavy on his skin as he sat through lecture, piercing through this soul as he ate his lunch. His nightly walks back from classes turned into sprints, the feeling dancing across his spine more and more often making him wary. Yet whenever he looked around he saw no one watching him. Maybe all of the caffeine was going to his head. Maybe he was even in the first stages of insanity. Baekhyun tried to convince himself of these feeble excuses as he tried to fall asleep, the feeling still lingering on his skin.

He was presenting his report in front of his psych class one day when the horrible chill ran down his spine again. When he looked up, however, he actually met someone’s gaze. The person sat behind Baekhyun’s desk, a tiny smirk making its way across the boy’s face. Baekhyun stuttered as he continued to speak. The boy’s smirk widened as he leaned back lazily in his seat. His dark gaze looked excited, and it never left Baekhyun. He still felt it even after he stumbled back to his seat, his other classmates now presenting.

Every time after that when Baekhyun looked, he met Chanyeol’s gaze. His smirk never changed, painted on his face like a clown’s red smile, but with every glance his eyes looked darker, more menacing. Baekhyun thought he was going crazy before, but now he could actually feel his sanity slowly unwinding, slipping away the more he met those dark eyes- those dark eyes he became more frighteningly captivated, more disgustingly controlled by the more he gazed into them. Kyungsoo asked why he’s been so jumpy recently. Baekhyun was too gone by then to answer.

The game they played, of running and chasing and pushing and pulling, became more dangerous with each passing day. Baekhyun knew the inevitable would eventually come.

He was the last to walk out of his afternoon class when he was grabbed from behind. The day was beginning to end, the sun beginning to set, but Baekhyun had never seen Chanyeol’s eyes so alive. His back met the wall, Chanyeol’s body caging him in.

“I can see it in your eyes,” Chanyeol whispered after a moment’s silence, pushing Baekhyun into the wall as he moved his body closer.

Baekhyun’s breath hitched at the deepness of his voice, the possessiveness in his tone. His dark eyes sparked with fire, raging to burn everything he gazed upon. Baekhyun could feel the flames burning painfully in his chest. He felt like he was suffocating, being pulled into darkness as his breaths intermingled with Chanyeol’s.

“Can see what?” he asked, and damn he wished he could scream. The atmosphere weighed heavy on his chest as his whispered words hit Chanyeol’s lips. It was too much. Baekhyun held his breath, silently gasping as Chanyeol leaned in and whispered into his ear.

“That you’ve already fallen for me.”

Chanyeol pulled back slightly, smirk still in place as his eyes moved down Baekhyun’s body. He chuckled before speaking.

“I’m going crazy because of you, you know that?” he whispered, his words sending that familiar, disgustingly craved chill down Baekhyun’s spine as a hand slowly ran up his thigh.

The hand settled on his hip as the atmosphere deepened, making it harder and harder to breathe. Baekhyun let out a stuttered breath.

“I hate you,” Chanyeol mused, whispered breaths hitting Baekhyun’s face as he moved closer, “because I want you so badly.”

“And now I’m gonna break you down, play with you however I want,” Chanyeol leaned in, his other hand snaking through Baekhyun’s dark locks. His breath hitched as Chanyeol yanked his head back, mouth hovering on top of Baekhyun’s.

“I’m gonna mess you up,” Chanyeol whispered. His smirk grew wider as it formed into a smile, small and filled with malice, possession, excitement. It was the smile of a predator who caught his prey, who was about to go in for the kill. “Just like you did to me.”

The next thing Baekhyun knew, Chanyeol’s lips were on his and he was drowning.