It's only half past five in the morning, which is earlier than Chanyeol has ever woken him up for school, and he is sitting in a car. It's a lot to process. 

He'd known what cars were since the first day he arrived -- had seen them on the street and figured out they were used to take people from place to place -- and knew that there were different types. But he and Chanyeol walked to school since they were so close; he'd never ridden in one. 

Until this morning. 

It was the Saturday they'd told Minseok that they'd come and meet him, and Chanyeol had woken him up a little before five in order to make it across the entire country by midday. Mrs. Park had allowed to let Chanyeol take her car without knowing the real reason -- they'd fibbed and said that they needed to go down south, towards the beach, to collect samples for a school project. 

He looks over blearily, taking in the image of Chanyeol in the driver's seat, big coat on and one hand resting on the wheel. Baekhyun isn't sure if this always happens when someone drives, but being behind the wheel makes him so attractive. Baekhyun can't stop watching the way his eyes focus on the road, the way he his lips with concentration. 

"Hungry?" Chanyeol asks, his voice still rough from sleep. Baekhyun snaps out of his trance to nod almost instinctively. He notes the way Chanyeol's eyes change at the question, as if indicating that he's hungry, too. 

"Yeah. And tired." 

Chanyeol looks over then, for a split second, and Baekhyun catches the worried look in his eyes. Warmth blossoms in his chest and he can feel his cheeks heat up slightly. It's such a silly thing to blush about, but he can't believe Chanyeol is so concerned about him. 

"Eat first and then sleep. I'm getting coffee so I can stay awake to drive," Chanyeol explains in that tired voice. Baekhyun turns away, nodding in silent agreement, trying to ignore the faint pink he could see on Chanyeol's cheeks.

He drifts off for a few minutes, waking up only when Chanyeol's warm hand is touching his, shaking his wrist. He shakes his head out of embarrassment. I'm meeting someone else like me today. I should be excited. I should be scared to have never been in a car before. I shouldn't be able to sleep. 

"Baekhyun, wake up, we're at a drive-thru. What do you want?" 

Baekhyun is dumbfounded looking at the giant menu. It's all brightly lit, too bright for such a dark time of the day, he thinks, and the options are endless and foreign. 

"Whatever you get, I guess." 

Chanyeol nods and pulls forward, ordering two of some kind of breakfast sandwich. In his haze of sleepiness, he recognizes a soft look that Chanyeol gives him. It brings a warmth to his heart and suddenly he's dozing off again, knowing that he's safe. 

A warm, rough hand pulls him back into reality. Chanyeol is holding his hand, albeit softly, whispering, "You need to eat."

Baekhyun nods and sits up for real this time, determined to stay awake. A few minutes later, with a paper bag full of food and Chanyeol drinking an iced americano, the pair officially set off. Baekhyun watches as the faintest pink tints the horizon. It's then he realizes he's never stayed awake to see a sunrise on Earth, never knew that this is what he'd been missing out on. 

"Does it always look like that?" Baekhyun asks faintly, transfixed. Chanyeol laughs a little before taking a sip of his coffee, wincing slightly at the bitterness.

"Sometimes it's only grey, if it's cloudy or rainy. Sometimes it looks more orange. Sometimes yellow. Depends on the day, I guess," he answers, only now realizing that Baekhyun had seemed so amazed because he'd never seen one at all. "It's always pretty, though. The sun will come soon." 

Baekhyun swivels in his seat, looking out the window expectantly. He starts to get a little dizzy because the car is going by so fast and so is the landscape and, god, what would happen if they hit something right now? He turns again, overwhelmed, and refocuses on the food Chanyeol had bought. 

"Can you really drive?" Baekhyun asks around his sandwich. "It looks hard. We're going so fast." 

Chanyeol lets a boisterous laugh slip out at the smaller boy's comment, eyes crinkling in a fond way. He knows that it's all so new to Baekhyun, but he can't help but to be amused when he's so cute. 

"I took a driver's education course a year ago. I have a license," he reassures, reaching out to touch Baekhyun's shoulder softly. "And there's no one else on the roads -- it's not even six yet. Don't worry." 

Baekhyun leans into the hand on his shoulder, suddenly sleepy again. Chanyeol has that effect on him: makes him comfortable, allows him to relax. As soon as it came, the touch is gone and Baekhyun is left wanting. He finishes eating soon after and shifts in the seat, trying to get comfortable.

He really wants to to take a nap, but he doesn't want Chanyeol to be lonely and tired. 

"Baek, sleep," Chanyeol chides when he finally notices the smaller boy fighting his fluttering eyelids. Baekhyun makes a whiny noise, feeling guilty, and he shakes his head. 

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Baekhyun insists, despite his body's protests. It registers slowly somewhere in Chanyeol's mind that he'd said Baek, not Baekhyun, and he cringes a little at how he'd let it slip. It seems so intimate and so, so couple-y. He has to remind himself softly that Baekhyun will leave soon.

"I'll be fine, too. I have coffee and I'm about to connect my phone so I have music. I'll focus on driving, you focus on resting up," Chanyeol punctuates his sentence by picking up his phone, moving to plug in the aux cord.

Baekhyun listens as the first quiet strum of a guitar filters through the car. He doesn't recognize any songs, much less this one, but he knows that something about it is very Chanyeol. "Now, sleep. You can't be sleepy when we meet with Minseok and his wife later, right?" 

Baekhyun nods reluctantly, shifting to get into a more comfortable position. He finds out soon enough that this is a hard feat to accomplish and so he reaches out for one thing he knows will bring comfort -- Chanyeol's hand. 

He doesn't know when it started happening, but recently he's only been able to sleep well if Chanyeol holds his hand. Despite the distance, forcibly placed by Baekhyun, between them, he would still reach out to feel for the taller's rough hand. It brought him a peace he didn't know fingertips could exhibit. 

Chanyeol allows him to take his free hand, fingers twining together naturally, and gulps hard, determined to focus on the road. 

Baekhyun's eyes shut, finally, and he's snoring softly within minutes. Chanyeol stretches his neck but doesn't remove his hand from Baekhyun's. The song changes from a ballad to slow indie rock and Chanyeol sighs, apprehensive but excited. 

He can't wait for Baekhyun to meet another star. To ask questions. To share experiences. 

But no matter how happy he is for Baekhyun, there is some deep place inside his heart that aches at the thought of the boy getting what he wants: to go home. He decides to ignore it for Baekhyun's happiness. He nods slowly, eyes raking over the smaller boy's relaxed face and soft fingers, realizing that he'd do anything for Baekhyun.

It comes then, the sudden realization that he is in love with Baekhyun. 

--

Minseok's orphanage is beautiful. It's near the sea, with only a two minute walk down to the beach, and the entire yard is covered in different types of flowers and bushes. Baekhyun examines them carefully, fascinated, as the pair pull up on the gravel driveway. It's only eleven and the sun is shining brightly despite the freezing weather. Baekhyun feels like he's living a dream. 

"I'm nervous," he admits, eyes meeting Chanyeol's as the taller walks around from the driver's side. The taller boy wraps his arm around Baekhyun for a split second, giving his arm a gentle squeeze, before he retracts it. Baekhyun wishes it would've stayed there; Chanyeol wishes he had enough self control to avoid touching Baekhyun. 

"I'm sure they'll love you," Chanyeol reassures. 

I love you. I'm in love with you. He keeps the second half of his sentence internalized, too scared to think of Baekhyun leaving him after he'd finally admitted it. What if he wasn't enough? Or worse, what if he was enough and Baekhyun did stay, but the boy was never truly happy?

When they knock on the door, Baekhyun steels himself for an awkward encounter, a rejection. He's so scared. He'd never talked to a star that wasn't Jongdae, much less interacted with one in life. He's suddenly self-conscious, worried about whether his hair is flat or if he looks ridiculous in Chanyeol's coat, three sizes too big for him. 

"Hello?" the door is opened by a pretty woman, a few inches shorter than Baekhyun. She smiles immediately, obviously excited, before turning away from the pair on her porch to scream at her husband. "Honey! They're here!" 

Chanyeol can hear not one pair of feet but many sprinting towards the door. He turns to look down at Baekhyun, obviously confused, and is given the same face back. Now he's nervous too. 

"Hello," Minseok greets breathlessly once he finally makes it to the doorframe. He's a little bit shorter than Baekhyun, with a tiny smile and expressive eyes. His wife registers, finally, that it's extremely cold outside and ushers them in. 

Chanyeol has been an only child for the last thirteen years of his life and Baekhyun has never been around a child. But now, they're surrounded by eight kids. It has Baekhyun scooting closer to the taller boy, shifting uncomfortably, as if he doesn't know what to do with their big eyes looking at him like that. 

"These are the kids," Minseok says, gesturing to the group of children looking up at them. Chanyeol gives them a big, goofy smile in exchange for a greeting and Baekhyun follows suit with the most sincere smile he can muster. 

"I'm Minseok, and this is --" 

"Heeyeon, his wife," she shoots the pair a giant smile and pushes them softly towards a room in the back of the house. They can only allow themselves to be led, giving each other confused glances. They settle onto a big couch in what the teenagers deduce to be a large living room connected to the kitchen.

"So, tell us everything. Everything," Heeyeon clarifies, her smile growing impossibly wider. Baekhyun thinks that she's pretty and nice and loud -- perfect for the more reserved man next to her. 

"Sweetie, they just met us, you can't expect them to tell us everything," Minseok corrects. Chanyeol doesn't fail to notice the suggestion the couple is making, as if discussing everything could lead to more inappropriate conversations. Chanyeol almost blushes, but he tries his best to control it. 

Baekhyun watches the tender way the couple interact and suddenly he's reminded of how he'd felt when Jongin held Kyungsoo. He wanted that. 

"Uhm, well," Baekhyun interjects, ending the silent war between the couple. "I fell here about a month ago, I guess. Early November?" 

Chanyeol feels all three pairs of eyes turning to focus on him and he nods dumbly. 

"Early November, yeah," Chanyeol agrees, feeling embarrassed from the curious looks Heeyeon is giving him. 

"And when I woke up, I was in the woods, a little bit away from his," his head turns to Chanyeol again, "school. So I started walking around and I saw him outside the school, talking to someone, and --" 

"And you knew?" Minseok interrupts. Baekhyun blushes deeply but nods anyway. Heeyeon flashes Chanyeol a proud smile, hand coming to rest on her husband's knee. 

"I mean, he just gave off like, warm vibes. If that makes any sense." 

Minseok nods enthusiastically, confidently. "I know exactly what you mean. I knew right away with Heeyeon, too." 

Baekhyun turns red at the suggestion that he and Chanyeol are comparable to a married couple. He hates how much he likes it. I need to go home. I can't keep burdening Chanyeol. That's why I came here.

"So? How did you meet him? Just go up and tell him? That's what Minseok did. He's so straight-forward that it's a little embarrassing." 

Minseok glares at his wife, turning away from her slightly, as if to signal that she shouldn't make fun of him. She giggles in response, rolling her eyes, and scoots closer to him lovingly. 

Chanyeol watches with wide eyes, fingers suddenly wanting to hold Baekhyun's hand and show that, yeah, they're close too. Instead, he focuses on the way Baekhyun's dark eyes are watching the couple. 

"I, uhm, I faked being a student at the school," Baekhyun sounds utterly embarrassed. His cheeks show it, turning the deepest shade of red Chanyeol's ever seen on a face. 

"Faked?" Heeyeon screeches and Minseok bursts into laughter. The two bounce off of each other, teary eyes making contact and leading them into another fit of giggles. 

"Yeah, faked," Baekhyun rubs the back of his neck with his long, pale fingers, and Chanyeol watches every move. "I went to the first teacher I saw and said that I just moved here. I said I'd forgotten my paper work and uniform when they asked for them -- and then I got put in Chanyeol's class." 

Minseok only nods for him to continue, eyes darting to Chanyeol for a split second. He notices the way the tall boy's eyes are focused, almost dreamily, on the shape of Baekhyun's mouth. 

"I actually, uh, followed him," Chanyeol confesses suddenly. He tears his eyes away from Baekhyun to look toward the couple. "He acted really weird at school. So one day I followed him. And I found him in the woods -- and of course I panicked and I took him back with me. My mom's really nice, so she let him stay with us." 

"Does your mom know?" Heeyeon questions.

"No. She knows that he has no family and that he doesn't have another place to go, but nothing about the moon or the sun or anything. I barely even know about that, really. I just found out recently. I'm in a little bit of shock." 

Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol with tender eyes. He reaches one finger out to wrap around Chanyeol's thumb, as if to reassure him. He doesn't know of what, but he's sure that he needs Chanyeol to be comfortable. Chanyeol accepts it gratefully; he'd been holding back the urge to hold Baekhyun's hand since they got out of the car. 

"How did you recognize him? What was the sign of Baekhyun, I mean," Heeyeon's voice is extremely curious. Chanyeol doesn't miss the way her eyes dart down to their fingers, but he chooses to ignore it in favor of answering the question. 

"Dreams. I dreamed about his face every night for about, uh, ten years." 

Baekhyun perks up then, shocked. "It didn't start a little bit before I came? Ten years?"

Minseok looks astonished, too.

"Heeyeon only heard my voice as her conscience in her head for a few months. That's why she noticed, because it had just recently changed when I came up and asked her to go on a walk with me. That's crazy, Chanyeol." 

Baekhyun's finger grips tighter, obviously shocked. Chanyeol shrugs nonchalantly, unable to process the fact that ten years was abnormal. 

"And now? Are you guys planning on living together with Chanyeol's mom once Chanyeol has graduated? Or will you move out?" Minseok asks casually, tilting his head in a way that's almost adorable. 

Baekhyun sputters, shaking his head, too flustered to answer. Minseok is implying that they're going to live together -- that they're an item. Chanyeol looks to the floor in mortification, the carpet suddenly fascinating. 

"We're not -- we're not together," Baekhyun's answer is soft and embarrassed, but clear. It rings through Chanyeol's ears and he remember that they really aren't. That Baekhyun came here to figure out how to go home. 

Minseok laughs a little, eyes forming crescent moons on his face. He looks to Heeyeon then, eyebrows raised, and she responds with a look that says something the teenagers will never understand. A pair of footsteps bolts into the room then, a little girl with soft hair and sweet eyes who whines at Heeyeon for something. 

Baekhyun watches, amazed, as Heeyeon scoops her up and leaves the room. He notices the other children playing a few feet away, screaming and giggling, and he thinks he knows why Minseok and Heeyeon chose this career. 

"Can we play with the tall hyung?" a little boy asks, maybe only five or six. Minseok laughs and looks to Chanyeol, asking for confirmation, and the tall boy nods back enthusiastically. 

"I'll be back," he says under his breath to Baekhyun, dislodging his finger from Baekhyun's soft hold. Baekhyun watches as he trots over to the boy and helps to lift him up, three more children jumping on his legs and vying for their chance to be held by Chanyeol. 

He feels warm watching it, his heart beating at a surprisingly steady rate. Lately, Chanyeol has only caused uncomfortable, too quick chest pain. But now, he's calm watching Chanyeol giggle with the kids. 

"You know, Baekhyun," Minseok starts. Baekhyun turns to him, startled, as if he'd forgotten Minseok was still on the couch. "I'm not sure if you've figured it out yet. But every pair I've ever met -- they've all fallen in love. I think that's why the sun and moon do this. I don't know if it'll prove true with you two, but I see the way he looks at you." 

Baekhyun chokes on nothing, eyes and cheeks burning, too overwhelmed at the thought. He hates himself for the way his heart jumps. He hates himself for almost forgetting that he visited Minseok to find a way to go home. And he especially hates himself for the way he looks at Chanyeol again, this time knowing that maybe he was meant for him, heart fluttering. 

------

hahahahhahaha this turned out rlly long oops . also i know hani (heeyeon) is a gay icon but i couldn't htink of any other gals that minseok has a funny relationship w sdlkjfsldfj 

ok so ! pcy has realized his feelings......................bbh has found out why the sun&moon do this...... ......what could happen next? ohohoho

comment upvote subscribe blah blah all that good stuff!!!! love u guys!!!!!!!! bye <33333