The first thing Baekhyun noticed  was that the hanging lamp was shaking.

Its gentle light was warm, but fluttering, causing Baekhyun's vision to go dark for a moment before lighting up again, bathing the room in warm orange light. He mentally took down a note to remind himself to get it checked later.

But it was shaking.

He reached out as he sat up on the carpeted floor, pressing his palm gingerly on the thick carpet which was decorated by classical ornaments that Baekhyun had always found intriguing. He closed his eyes and felt.

Yes, even through the thick carpet, he could feel the shaking of the ground. He chuckled, his hollow laugh sardonic as he shook his head at the rampant absurdity of the situation, waiting for fear and worry to kick into his system.

He rubbed his eyes, his hand reaching behind him and bumping into the warm body of Chanyeol, immediately feeling safety coursing through his veins when his fingers curled around Chanyeol's shirt.

"Chanyeol," He said, worry seeping through his tone as he shook his roommate's body, turning to face the boy next to him.

On the floor, tangled in the mess of his own pile of clothes, Chanyeol groaned and stirred, throwing an arm across his eyes to shield the light away and he rolled over, mumbling something incoherent.

"Chanyeol, I think you need to wake up. I think we need to wake up," Baekhyun urged, getting to his feet as he shook Chanyeol again, grabbing his phone with his free hand.

The shaking was intensifying. The stack of DVDs messily piled up was banging against the TV slightly and the swinging of the lamp was starting to scare Baekhyun.

Chanyeol's eyelids fluttered open, bleary and tired as he took in Baekhyun's face, beautiful as usual but filled with panic that he could not comprehend.

"What's up, Baek?" He asked, checking his watch and pouting when he realised that it was only 2 in the morning,"Nightmare? Chased by zombies?"

"Chanyeol," Baekhyun seemed not to have heard what his roommate had said as he hurriedly grabbed Chanyeol's phone from the kitchen counter. The screen lit up for a few seconds, showing a few messages from Jinah but Baekhyun turned the screen off, forcing himself to focus on the thundering footsteps of the neighbours, bombing into his ears and he listened intently to what they were shouting as he called towards the living room,  "I think it's an earthquake! Now get up, now, we are leaving."

Chanyeol's reaction was comical, his widened eyes filled with such ridiculed anguish as he stared at Baekhyun for a moment, mouth agape. Baekhyun would have taken a picture of him in any other situation but this.

Chanyeol scrambled to his feet, banging his head against the shelves before he held himself upright. Baekhyun silently handed him his phone, his feet already leading the both of them towards the door as he calmed himself. He could feel Chanyeol's palm shaking as he took his phone, and Baekhyun's wrist was soon held tightly by the taller boy but he did not turn to meet those wide eyes he knew were filled with fear.

Baekhyun knew he could not bear to see Chanyeol in fear. 

And so he gripped Chanyeol's warm palm in his own without looking at his roommate as he pulled him out the door and down the two flights of stairs, Chanyeol's shuddering more intense than that of the ground.

There were people rushing down the stairs, their yells so loud that their words were hard to be understood as they squeezed past the pair, pushing Baekhyun's face sideways onto the old, crippled wall. Chanyeol growled, reaching out to massage his palm against Baekhyun's cheek.

His palm was wet, Baekhyun noted. Sweaty, but still warm, and that thought brought a smile onto his lips.

When the pair exited the building, the sky was a shade of pitch-black, and there were no stars.  There were a bunch of people already standing outside of the building, and they were speaking too quickly that Baekhyun couldn't quite catch their words. In the state of panic, it seemed that his ability in Japanese has been lowered, and he could only catch brief words like 'not serious' and 'scared'.

Chanyeol's hand was still shaking as he panted. Baekhyun met his eyes, and although wide with fright, Baekhyun could see the unspoken question inside those chocolate orbs.

"No, I don't think the building will be collapsing," He started lowly, his legs standing stable and still as the ground continued to shake subtly, but rapid enough for him to feel it,"The books didn't even fall off the shelves, and the streetlights are still on. I think we'd be fine."

He reached up and patted Chanyeol's cheek and as the taller boy's eyelids fluttered close, Baekhyun's lips curled upwards, ignoring the butterflies that took off in his stomach.

"I was scared," Chanyeol confessed after a moment, his eyes flying open and staring intently into the smaller male's. 

Baekhyun had to remind himself to breathe. He gulped down a deep breath and looked away before smiling, "I could tell."

"I'm sorry Baek, I know I was slow and all that. I was just... really scared," Chanyeol repeated as if to emphasise his point, and Baekhyun clapped his shoulder as he laughed it off, "You think that's the first time I've seen you during an earthquake? Don't worry about it."

It was then that Baekhyun realised that the ground had stopped shaking. He tugged at Chanyeol's coat, lacing his fingers through the taller boy's carefully and tenderly, guarding his reaction.

Chanyeol didn't flinch away. Instead, he softly locked his fingers with Baekhyun's, and Baekhyun concluded that he was probably still too scared that he couldn't think straight, because Chanyeol couldn't possibly want to hold his hand, could he? The last time Chanyeol has held anyone's hand, according to Baekhyun's memory, was definitely Jinah's, and to clear things up, Jinah was a girl.

Baekhyun smiled bitterly. He was a boy.

 

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xoxo,

gorgeous313