It was planned long before either boy was even born that their fates were to be intertwined like a pair of lovers’ legs on a sandy beach. The Park’s wanted their son, for that’s what they’d decided they would adopt when the time came, to marry above his status and knew that their wealthy friends, the Byun, would be more than happy to help them achieve that. 

 

 

 

So when Chanyeol was born his two fathers pressed on Baekhyun’s two mothers to have their own son before the between the two boys could grow so far as to be unbridgeable by friendship. 

 

 

 

Sure enough, two years later by means of a donor, little Byun Baekhyun was born. 

 

 

 

The two boys soon grew to be inseparable, sharing many happy memories together. Chanyeol was there when Baekhyun said his first word, which just so happen to be a gleeful cry of “Channie”, and Baekhyun was waving the older boy off on his first day of school. They both wore matching suits to the wedding of the two girls across the street and when Chanyeol caught one of the bouquets he ever-so-graciously gave it to Baekhyun, just as his father had told him to. When Baekhyun got beaten up at school Chanyeol, one of the least violent people known to mankind, always made sure that the bullies paid double in their own blood. 

 

 

 

The four adults watched and encouraged, eagerly awaiting the day when the two boys fell for each other like they were destined to. The Park would often pressure Chanyeol to have Baekhyun sleep over and the Byun were just as bad, forcing Baekhyun to wear clothes designed to seduce that made him squirm and feel horribly insecure. It all went over the boys’ heads though; they were perfectly content with just being best friends. 

 

 

 

Their parents, however, were not. 

 

 

 

The more intimidating of the Park men took his son into the study and pretty much spelt it out to him, to which Chanyeol just nodded, wincing when his father struck him across the face in a fit of rage, insisting that they’d end up on the streets if the two families were not joined by marriage. For Chanyeol’s part, the idea of marrying Baekhyun filled him with a warm tingling feeling; the kind that he read about princesses getting when their Queens came to rescue them from their towers or whenever a knight slayed a dragon to get to his prince. 

 

 

 

Of course Chanyeol was gay, everyone was and those who weren’t never declared it openly, and Baekhyun was the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. 

 

 

 

Thinking about it that way, the idea of not marring Baekhyun seemed stupid. 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Our parents want us to marry.” Chanyeol murmurs lazily, laying back on the dewy grass and gazing up into the stars, Baekhyun lying next to him like he always does when they go stargazing.

 

 

 

He feels Baekhyun tense up next to him, in a breath of the icy air, and so looks to see what his companion is thinking; Chanyeol just sees blankness on Baekhyun’s face, a lack of willing to give anything away. That in itself makes Chanyeol feel uneasy, just the idea of not being able to read Baekhyuns feeling sickly and unnatural. He moves to wrap an arm around his younger companion, wondering if the sudden stiffness is cold-born, and lets out an audible sigh of relief when Baekhyun doesn’t wriggle away. Baekhyun does quite the opposite; he snuggles in, savoring the warmth of his twenty-five-year-old best friend and should-be lover. 

 

 

 

He’s not stupid, he knows that he’s meant to be getting ed by Chanyeol on a nightly basis by now. The idea just, well, if Baekhyun’s being completely honest, it frightens him. Maybe even makes him feel ever so slightly nauseated. He’s known for almost a year now what their parents want, he’s come so close to telling Chanyeol yet he just can’t; Chanyeol’s his best friend, nothing more and certainly nothing less.

 

 

 

But now Chanyeol knows. And Baekhyun’s trapped. 

 

 

 

“I know.” He swallows, hating himself for sounding so cold towards the one person who has only ever shown him warmth. “I know what they ing want.”

 

 

 

Chanyeol just blinks at the twenty-three-year-old. He doesn’t know what to do, what to feel at that kind of response. He feels hurt and angry and miserable and maybe a tiny bit relieved all at once. The main emotion is hurt though because, in all honesty, Chanyeol’s gotten quite used to the idea of Baekhyun being his since the conversation with his father in the study a few months ago. He’s gotten more than just used to it, he wants it; lusts for it, for Baekhyun. 

 

 

 

The younger of the two squirms, hiding his face in Chanyeol’s shoulder through want of shelter from the expression of inner-turmoil on his best friend’s face. The last thing Baekhyun wanted was to say something like that, something that could offer a hint as to his true view on this. He likes Chanyeol, he really honestly does, but he just can’t get his head around the idea of liking Chanyeol like that, like everyone expects him to. He just can’t. 

 

 

 

Chanyeol, unsure of what to do, just pats Baekhyun on the back, holding him close and hoping that the contact is welcomed as a kind of romantic gesture. Even if it isn’t, at the very least it’s giving Baekhyun some sort of comfort and that’s all Chanyeol really wants; just for Baekhyun to be happy. 

 

 

 

“You don’t sound too thrilled about it, Baek.” Chanyeol presses a kiss into Baekhyun’s hair, hoping for it to be felt as something amorous but knowing deep down that it’s intended as a purely friendly gesture. “I, um. I think it’d be nice. Y’know. Being together. I mean, you’re cute and I can protect you from everything, you know I can. And I like hugging you. I think we, as a couple, could be amazing.” Chanyeol winces a little, the words tasting like fire in his mouth; he sounds like who his dads want him to sound, not how he knows he should sound. He shouldn’t be pressuring Baekhyun like this, confronting him with such an idea with no way to escape but, as his dads say, he has to; he has no choice. “We’re meant to be together.”

 

 

 

Chanyeol is sure, although he wishes to God that he wasn’t, that he can feel Baekhyun trying to hold in a sob. So he cradles the boy tighter, presses more kisses into his hair, starts humming all those silly little songs from the video games that they often spend days on end playing. He didn’t want this, didn’t want to cause his best friend so much distress, but, well, it had to be done. 

 

 

 

He didn’t have a choice.

 

 

 

After a few minutes of deafeningly cruel silence Chanyeol feels Baekhyun nod against him, followed by the sight of a very blotchy-looking Baekhyun ungluing himself and offering Chanyeol his best, also most pitiful Chanyeol notes, attempt at a smile. Baekhyun has to be strong, he knows that, has to accept his fate. Besides, it’s not like Chanyeol’s ugly or an or someone who would let Baekhyun need or want for anything. 

 

 

 

“Yeah, Yeol.” He whispers after a while of staring, looking at his best friend with brand new eyes. “We are.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Aw, you two are the cutest!” A boy by the name of Kim Minseok coos, grinning wildly at the two sat snuggled on his living room sofa. “Seriously, you’d be enough to turn any girl straight!”

 

 

 

Minseok and Chanyeol start laughing, loud chuckles of hearty amusement. Baekhyun doesn’t. He just stutters out a choked sound of something that might have been meant to represent a giggle. Instead it sounds like suffering, like the dying cries of laughter. 

 

 

 

“Maybe not me, but I know my Baek definitely could.” Chanyeol smiles down proudly at his new boyfriend, squeezing him around the waist to reinforce his adoration for the boy. He doesn’t understand why it needs to be reinforced; only that it obviously does, for Baekhyun’s good more than anyone else’s. “You’re so beautiful, Baby.”

 

 

 

Baby.

 

 

 

Baekhyun wants to shudder at the nickname which once would have been something like ‘Giant Derp Yeol’, yet he can’t; he is Chanyeol’s Baby now, he doesn’t have choice in the matter. Their parents did all the choosing for him and now here he is, acting like he’s madly in love with his best friend. 

 

 

 

He does love Chanyeol, just not in the way that he’s supposed to; he loves Chanyeol like a brother and, let’s face it, what kind of messed-up weirdo wants to their own brother? Certainly not Baekhyun. All he wants, what he cries himself to sleep at night longing for, is for his best friend to come back to him; to stop being so fake all the time, to stop calling him goddamned ‘Baby’ and to just treat Baekhyun like he used to, back before last week’s stargazing session. 

 

 

 

Baekhyun realizes that his eyes are wet when Minseok and Chanyeol start staring, both with looks of concern on their faces. The three have been friends since primary school; one of them hurts, they all hurt together. Chanyeol, just doing what any good boyfriend would, rubs his hand over Baekhyun’s shoulder. 

 

 

 

He pretends not to notice when Baekhyun tries to escape the contact. 

 

 

 

“Sorry, just got lost in thought.” Baekhyun mutters, looking away from the prying eyes and out of the window, favoring the sight of the crying skies over that of his two closest buddies. Chanyeol just nods, accepting that he’ll never understand, like he has been doing a lot these past few days. “Anyway, how’s Yixing doing?”

 

 

 

Now it’s Minseoks’ turn to look like the visual definition of misery, his hands clenching at his kneecaps and eyes darting around the room like a pair of hyperactive minnows. Baekhyun feels a pang of guilt at that, for making his friend suffer in his place like he knew the question would.

 

 

 

“Honestly? Not so great. The kids at his college found him out and they’ve been little s about it.” He runs a hand through his hair, worry for his own metaphorical brother painfully blatant on his face. “It makes me ing sick! So what if he’s straight? Just because he’s different it shouldn’t make it okay for people to beat him up.”

 

 

 

“I know it , Minseok. Just make sure he knows that not everyone out there is like that, that we’ll always like him no matter who he loves.” Chanyeol replies, the words making Baekhyun sting all over for reasons that he doesn’t want to be able to understand. But he does. Oh God, he does. “Right, Baek?”

 

 

 

Baekhyun fidgets awkwardly, the pressure shifting back onto him again like a cross on a sinner’s sun-baked back. He thinks that he’s going to be sick; the way Chanyeol’s arm is wrapped around his waist making him feel all tight and constricted. This is so far away from right that it bypassed being wrong long ago, and it makes Chanyeol feel like he just wants to die. 

 

 

 

Not that he’d ever tell Chanyeol that. 

 

 

 

Or maybe he would have, back before last week’s stargazing incident. Back when they were still just best friends. No. There was never anything ‘just’ about their friendship. There’s nothing ‘just’ about a bond that strong, a bond that kept Baekhyun alive through times when he thought it’d simply be easier to die. Like right now, for example. 

 

 

 

Right now, dying sounds nice. 

 

 

 

“Uh, sure.” Baekhyun shakes his head, scattering his thoughts throughout his crowded mind. “Yixing’s awesome. Actually, I admire him for coming out. It takes a lot of guts.”

 

 

 

Baekhyun almost adds on a ‘trust me, I would know’ but he doesn’t. 

 

 

 

He can’t.

 

 

 

***

 

 

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