Baekhyun flicks on the light switch as he enters his apartment unit. He throws down the plastic bags full of food and other groceries and makes his way straight into the bedroom. After changing into more comfortable clothes, he powers on his laptop and starts to mentally prepare himself to attack this damn dissertation proposal once and for all.

Just as Baekhyun settles into working, he hears an uncanny sound of guitar strums. The soft strumming of the guitar swells into louder, heavier music, with the booming of bass reverberating through the ceiling of Baekhyun’s apartment.

He groans to himself loudly. His new neighbor has barely been here a month, but this is the third time this week they’ve been playing music too loudly. This kind of distraction will not get his proposal finished.

Deciding enough is enough, he shuts his laptop and shuffles into his house slippers, remembering to lock his door as he leaves. He takes the stairs rather than the elevator, stomping on each step with purpose.

If his unit is 515, then the noisy neighbor is 615 and he takes a moment to remind himself what he’s going to say before knocking. Just politely let them know they’re being a little loud and then leave. Two quick raps on the door and Baekhyun softly clearing his throat when he hears the telltale click of the lock.

At first, all he sees are tufts of curly, brown hair sticking out from under a black beanie, then he notices a pair of soft eyes looking curiously back at him. It’s only after a few heartbeats that those eyes widen in recognition and Baekhyun feels his own eyes widening in response.

His brain short-circuits while his heart stutters because this can’t quite possibly be happening right now. A million and one thoughts are running through Baekhyun’s mind, but they all come to a halt when the other male in front of him releases the biggest grin he’s ever seen, twin dimples adorning his face and an excited yet breathless,

“Baekhyun-ah!”

Zhang Yixing, aka the Chinese transfer student from second year in high school, the boy who stole Baekhyun’s breath with one disarming smile and ran away with his heart after college graduation; the one who Baekhyun once called his best friend (out loud) and his first love (not out loud) was standing right in front of him, hand still holding open the door, and looking more beautiful than the day he last saw him.

“Oh my god….Y-Yixing-hyung?”

The older man steps over the threshold to come closer towards him, “Yes, it’s me! It’s been so long, oh my goodness!” Yixing grabs Baekhyun’s hand and squeezes it, dispelling any doubt that Baekhyun might have had that this is probably all a dream.

“I-it has, what are you doing here? You’re back in Seoul?” He can’t quite keep the incredulity out of his voice, just as he can’t quite believe Yixing is actually standing in front of him, in the flesh.

“Yes! I just moved back about a month ago. It’s so good to see you, I missed you so much!” Without warning, he grabs Baekhyun by the shoulders and presses him into a warm hug. Baekhyun, still not over the initial shock, barely has half a mind to reciprocate.

“Wait,” Yixing lets go of Baekhyun to look him dead in the eye, “How did you know I was here? I haven’t gotten in touch with anyone while settling in.”

Baekhyun gets over his shock to finally give him a response. “I knew someone moved up here because I kept hearing loud music from my apartment downstairs. I’ve been trying to work on my dissertation for grad school but kept getting distracted. That’s actually why I’m here, haha…” He finishes off with a nervous laugh.

Immediately, Yixing lets out a loud gasp, hands flying up to cover his mouth and eyes growing wide as saucers, “Oh my god, has my music been disturbing you? I’m so sorry! I totally hadn’t even realized other people could hear. I’m so used to soundproof walls and such, I’ll definitely be sure to keep it down!”

During Yixing’s rant, Baekhyun takes a quick peek behind his shoulder inside the other’s apartment and goes into shock again. Rather than a typical living room arrangement with a couch and table, the whole area seems to be set up like a music studio.

“Hyung...you’re doing music now?”

“What? Oh, yeah, I’m a producer now!” Yixing laughs. “That’s actually why I moved back to Seoul, there are a lot more opportunities for freelancers and more of a chance I can get a record deal too.”

Baekhyun feels a tinge of pride at his words; he’s always known that Yixing dreamed of being a music producer and to see him actually fulfilling those dreams draws a small smile on his face.

“Wow, where are my manners? We’ve been standing outside this whole time. come in and we can catch up some more!” Yixing says, pushing the door open wider to make room for Baekhyun, but the latter stops short.

“Uh, actually, I think it’s better if I go back to finish my work now, hyung. Maybe next time?”

Yixing face falls and Baekhyun starts to regret his words. He’s about to take it all back when Yixing responds. “Alright, that’s okay Baekhyunnie. Next time for sure!”

At the sound of his old pet name, Baekhyun smiles at Yixing, “It was really good to see you though, hyung.”

Yixing smiles widely, showing off his dimples that make Baekhyun weak at the knees, “Yeah, I’ve missed hearing you call me hyung.”

Baekhyun feels his face getting warm and turns around to leave before he can embarrass himself any further. He mumbles a ‘see you later’ and goes down the hall. Once he’s in the safe haven of his own home, Baekhyun feels himself hyperventilating.

Yixing is actually back. Not only that, but he lives right above him. Something tells him nothing will be the same from here on out.

 

Baekhyun really hadn’t expected to be dealing with all of these feelings out of nowhere. Harboring a crush on your best friend is painful as it is, and in the years following Yixing’s absence, Baekhyun would randomly think about him and everything that he tried to keep pushed away would constrict him, pushing him down until he couldn’t breathe and his chest felt like it might explode.

The days after meeting Yixing again, Baekhyun has yet to hear any disturbing music coming from the upstairs unit. It touches him how considerate Yixing is being towards him despite not having any contact for years. It seems so easy how Yixing walked right back into Baekhyun’s life as he never left. As if he hadn’t taken Baekhyun’s heart with him.

He shakes his head at his distracting thoughts. It’s a mere, cruel coincidence that he met Yixing again, and he just so happens to live right above him. But it’s fine, because Baekhyun is used to denying his feelings, and in due time they will disappear. He hopes that day comes soon.

Baekhyun managed to turn in his dissertation proposal on time, and the good thing is now he has a few months to complete his first draft. He thinks he deserves some time off now and gets back into full productivity mode after recharging. Part of said recharging is to do everything in his power to not run into Yixing again.

He’s on his way home from the convenience store, swinging around his bag full of beer cans and instant ramen and snack cakes. He’s busy minding his own business, humming to himself and walking with a light spring in his step. He almost doesn’t notice Yixing approaching the entrance to the apartment building until the other stops at the sight of him.

“Hi, Baekhyun,” Yixing greets. Baekhyun forgets he’s supposed to be avoiding him and holds up a hand in response, but immediately withdraws upon realizing what he’s done. Yixing seems to notice the other’s action as tension swirls around them. Yixing breaks the silence first,

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Baekhyun fidgets a bit in his spot, trying to avoid Yixing’s eyes and instead looks down to see him holding a similar plastic bag.

“Uh, no, not really actually. I’m not that hungry--” Baekhyun’s stomach decides to grumble at that exact moment. Yixing laughs at him, a clear and bright sound in the otherwise quiet evening.

“I’m cooking, come have dinner with me?” He asks nonchalantly, holding up the plastic bag.

“Uhm…” Baekhyun looks at him uncertainly and then down to his own bag full of rather unhealthy life choices.

“We can split the beer at the end of the night and catch up?” Yixing offers.

“I, I don’t know…” But it seems Yixing has already made up his mind and physically pulls Baekhyun by the hand into the building.

Entering Yixing’s house sends Baekhyun close to hyperventilating again, but he wills himself to calm down and control his breathing. Instead, he focuses on how he has a better look at Yixing’s apartment now.

The living room has a big flat-screen is mounted on the wall, with cables connecting to a soundboard set on top of a desk and surround speakers hanging off the walls, guitars lined against the wall.

There’s a couch pushed against the wall and the coffee table is littered with sheet music and other papers. One guitar rests on the couch, indicating Yixing must have used it earlier. It opens up as a big room leading to the kitchen.

He stares openly in awe for a few moments before he hears a soft chuckle behind him, “Impressive, huh?” Yixing says with an amused lilt to his voice.

“Yeah, it is. It's like a real studio,” Baekhyun replies breathlessly, whether it's from how fast his heart is racing or from awe he doesn't know.

Yixing moves to place the grocery bags on the kitchen counter. “It was either work in the company's dingy closet-turned-studio or work from home, so I chose the latter.”

Baekhyun walks over to him, standing awkwardly by the counter. “Sit, sit!” Yixing exclaims, motioning for him to sit on one of the barstools. “Make yourself at home.”

He doesn't let himself think about the implications of the words and instead says “Can I help with something?”

“No way, you're a guest! Just sit and enjoy,” Yixing says with a dimpled smile.

“I feel awkward just being here while you cook, let me do something at least,” Baekhyun says with a small smile. Yixing laughs lightly, “Okay, I guess you can help cut the vegetables? I don't have any safety knives though.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at the lame insult, “I can work a knife just fine,” but there's no real bite to it. Yixing just laughs again.

They work in comfortable silence, the only sound coming from the knife hitting the board and the pot boiling on the stove. Baekhyun muses at the domesticity of the whole scene, how easily they developed a rhythm that's not awkward and it's really...nice.

He pushes away the treacherous thoughts; Baekhyun really needs to get a grip on himself. He distracts himself by breaking the silence between them, “How is it being back in Seoul after so long?”

Yixing takes a moment to answer. “It’s just as how I remember it. Nothing has changed too dramatically.” Baekhyun wants to ask him about why he left so suddenly to begin with, and more importantly why he never bothered to keep in contact after, but he keeps mum about his feelings and instead hums in acknowledgment.

Dinner is finally ready and they make small talk while plating the dishes and eating at Yixing’s small dining table.

“So what are you studying in grad school?”

“I’m just doing a business degree. I don’t have anything else i want to do and school keeps me occupied besides work,” Baekhyun replies with a shrug. Yixing makes a noise of understanding.

“It’s too bad, you had always dreamed of one day becoming a singer.” He smiles wistfully at him.
Baekhyun looks away, finding that the japchae is more interesting to look at. “Yeah, well you know, life doesn’t always go the way you expect.”

After that, they eat in silence. Baekhyun glances at Yixing every once in awhile, his face downturned and he’d probably best describe it as guilty. He wants to ask him what’s on his mind, and he so desperately wants to learn his secrets. Instead, he avoids the other man’s gaze and berates himself for being so cowardly.

By the time they start winding down with dinner, Baekhyun rises and offers to help clear the dishes.
“Nah, just leave them. We can just chill on the couch,” Yixing says, grabbing the plastic bag of beer cans Baekhyun bought previously. He cracks one open while sitting down, handing another over to Baekhyun.

He takes a few sips and allows the warmth of the alcohol to settle his shaky nerves. Feeling a little more comfortable, he turns to Yixing,

“So, have you been working on anything new recently?”

Immediately, Yixing's face lights up with excitement. “Yes! Let me show you some stuff.” He opens up his laptop from the coffee table. Baekhyun settles himself comfortably on the couch, beer can in hand and allows the tunes and rhythm to swarm him. There are no lyrics, but he still enjoys the music, tapping his finger against the can.

He notices a notebook amongst the random papers and recognizes it as sheet music. “Oh wow, you compose too?”

Yixing smiles. “Yeah, it's mainly guitar chords for acoustic pieces but I can pretty much translate them into any instrument.”

Baekhyun has now opened a second can of beer and feels the previous nervousness completely gone now. He openly looks up to Yixing and regards the guitar on his side.

“Do you...think you could play something?” He asks expectantly. Yixing bites his lip in thought while looking at Baekhyun for a moment. He pauses the laptop and pulls the guitar to his lap. He adjusts the knobs and picks up a seemingly random piece of paper.

He strums lightly, the soft music a pleasant background noise, with the alcohol buzzing in his system creating an overall environment Baekhyun can't help but indulge himself in.

Yixing is focused on reading the sheet music, placing his fingers expertly on the strings and Baekhyun notices the way his bridge of his nose scrunches up in concentration, his curly brown hair sticking out from under his beanie making his chest constrict unnaturally.

He moves the sheet paper so he can also read the lines and sees small words written underneath. He realizes it's lyrics written in Korean; without realizing, he's singing the words softly under his breath to the tune of the guitar chords.

Soon, the strumming swells louder which prompts Baekhyun to sing louder. The room fills with the sweet music of acoustic guitar and Baekhyun's tender vocals. The strings eventually fade out and he takes account of what just occurred. He blushes, trying hard not to look at Yixing. But he doesn't need to see, he can just feel Yixing's eyes on him.

He chances a glance and, , there's this odd expression on his face that he can't quite point out but doesn't stop the butterflies from swarming in his stomach.

He takes an internal deep breath and clears his throat to dispel the awkward air around them now. He nervously takes a sip of his beer, avoiding Yixing's gaze; the latter seems to have snapped out of whatever trance he was in, moving to put away his guitar.

Not wanting to make the moment any more awkward, Baekhyun stands abruptly from the couch, Yixing following suit a few moments later.

“It's getting pretty late and I have an early class tomorrow morning…”

Yixing puts his hands in pockets allowing a small smile, “Sure. We should do this again sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Baekhyun smiles also. “See you, hyung.” He turns to walk out of the apartment, trying not to give one last look to Yixing. He hopes his last words are wrong.

 

Sure enough, Baekhyun was wrong.

He and Yixing keep seeing more and more of each other than he expected. Whether it was in the laundry room of their apartment complex, the mailroom, the convenience store -- he was constantly surrounded by his presence.

Baekhyun can’t help but freak out a little on the inside; Yixing has walked into his life so naturally, and he let him do it. But a part of him isn’t mad about it either; he’s just scared about what all this might mean.

He doesn’t even know if Yixing shares the same feelings as him or if he’s just happy to reconnect with an old friend. Don’t get him wrong, of course, he’s glad to have one of his best friends back in his life, but he’s constantly reminded of his unrequited feelings and it just hurts him more than helps him.

Even if he tries to ignore Yixing, the latter still finds a way to show up in front of him. He is currently back in Yixing's apartment, a place he's been frequenting quite often. They ate fried chicken and drank beer on his couch, enjoying the other's company.

Baekhyun still can't help the fluttering in his inside whenever he sees Yixing's dimples show on his face. They haven't been talking much despite seeing each other several times over the past few weeks, limiting their conversations to their daily lives.

However, Yixing takes a different turn to the conversation tonight. The two of them are sipping on their beers while music plays in the background -- some tracks Yixing created. He sighs contentedly, “I'm really happy to have something stable in my life after the past few years have been so rocky.”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun asks without meaning to and immediately regrets his words. Yixing simply smiles at him,

“I was wondering when you were going to ask.”

Baekhyun decides to throw caution to the wind and run with it, “I mean, you did disappear without a single word. For three whole years, there was nothing from you. And then all of a sudden you show up out of the blue. Did you ever even care how I felt?”

“Of course I care about you, Baek. You were my best friend, I still consider you one. But the circumstances at the time didn't let me say any goodbyes.”

Baekhyun couldn't help but keep a wounded look on his face yet he let Yixing continue.

“My grandma got really sick, and I had no choice but to fly out that day. I didn't expect to completely leave but after the fact, I had to work things out with my family because they couldn't support me, so I started working part-time back home in Beijing and eventually just dropped out of school.”

“I lost all contact with my friends in Seoul so I literally had nothing. I would just write songs in my spare time and post the stuff I made back in college. One day, I found out a track of mine got popular and received a call from a record label who wanted me to produce a song for them.”

“So I took their offer and that's how I ended up back in Korea. I was able to get in touch with Chanyeol who suggested me to move into this apartment….maybe it was because he knew you also live here?” He laughs. Baekhyun silently curses yet also thanks his friend for having the foresight to lead Yixing back to him.

“But you still had left...your disappearance had a really big impact on me, and I never talked about this to anyone,” he took a moment to compose himself before continuing.

“I thought I wasn’t good enough of a friend for you and I just felt really low...so I threw myself into studying and tried distracting myself with that and that’s how I’m here,” he said avoiding Yixing’s eyes. He knew the other was giving him a pitiful look and didn’t have the stomach to face it.

“I’m sorry I did that to you, Baek,” Yixing said softly.

“It’s okay, I mean I tried to find your contact and it was nearly impossible. It seems like fate that I found you again like this,” he confessed. Yixing is now smiling warmly at him and he finds one of his hands being covered and squeezed.

“I was just upset you left so suddenly...we were best friends and meant the world to me and I never heard from you again and….” Now he’s just a rambling mess, a mixture of high emotions and the alcohol. Yixing shushes him softly and he feels an arm wrapping around his shoulders to press him in close.

“I missed you a lot too, Baek. I’m sorry I left, I won’t do it again. Promise.”

Now Baekhyun is positively crying now, which he’s mostly embarrassed about but also can’t find it in himself to care. He wraps himself around Yixing and lets himself be engulfed by his warmth.

Yixing pulls away and caresses Baekhyun’s cheek with one hand, “You’ve always been the most important person in my life, Baekhyun. Thank you for waiting for me all this time.”

At that point, he wasn’t sure whether to blame it on the alcohol or his own sheer impulsiveness, but Baekhyun makes a split-second decision and runs with it. Surging forward, he presses his mouth to Yixing’s, closing his eyes and feeling the softness and warm feeling of pleasure run down his whole body. Before he can react, or regret his actions, Yixing moves his lips, electricity coursing all through his veins. All he can think is, finally and puts every ounce of emotion into the kiss.

Breaking away slightly, breath a little short and heart bursting at the seams, he’s a little afraid to see Yixing’s expression. But the other man splits his whole face into a grin, which Baekhyun returns. He feels even braver than before and crosses the last step of the bridge,

“I’ve liked you ever since you first came to Korea. You became my best friend, yes, but you were always more than that in my heart. I was always too scared to tell you and I waited too long for the right chance before you left. But….do you think it’s too late now?” He says breathlessly.

Yixing sweeps some tufts of Baekhyun’s hair behind his ear, caressing his cheek at the same time and looking at him with eyes so full of emotion.

“It’s never too late, Baekhyunnie.” He swoops in to capture his lips once again, and amidst the buzzing of alcohol and overstimulation of each other’s soft, yet insistent touches, Baekhyun can’t help but lose himself in the feeling.

 

It’s safe to say that Baekhyun’s life was not the same after that night.

Yixing’s apartment has become more of his home than his own place, choosing to study and work on his papers there. He finds it a much more peaceful environment, with Yixing working on his songs in the background, the soft, strumming of the guitar or piano keys. Even when Yixing thinks he’s being too loud, he wears headphones instead as to not disturb his boyfriend.

It’s finally spring break for Baekhyun, which means he can put away his graduate research to the side for a few days. He’s been helping Yixing with singing guides and even contributed some lyric ideas. Some days, they’d just pull up a guitar and have their own acoustic karaoke session that usually ends up in a makeout or two.

Yixing bounds into the living room after being away at his company studio’s all day. He plops next to Baekhyun on the couch and snuggles up close to him.

“I submitted my first ever song for the label, it’s actually going to be a title track for one of their artists,” he says excitedly.

“That’s great! Is it the one you’ve been showing me?” Baekhyun responds.

“Actually, this was a project I’ve been keeping secret….do you maybe want to hear the demo?”

He nods enthusiastically, so Yixing goes over to his computer and opens up a recent file. He waits with bated breath to hear his creation and just from the sound of the first chord, he’s blown away.

It’s a slower, acoustic-guided song, and the demo vocals are Yixing’s. At first, he can’t quite understand the lyrics because it talks about some abstract “lover” whom the singer has left. Upon letting the words sink into his brain, he realizes that Yixing is talking about him.

He stares at him with wide eyes, but Yixing simply silently tells him to keep listening. The whole song continues with Yixing regretting leaving him and how long he’s kept his feelings bottled, but now they’re finally together and it’s more than he could have asked for.

Baekhyun is positively crying now and he’s sure he probably looks ugly, face blotched with tears. Yet, Yixing still takes his face in his hands and presses a soft kiss to his forehead, enveloping him in his embrace. He mutters something softly to him in Mandarin and Baekhyun’s emotion-muddled brain doesn’t immediately translate it.

The song ends on an even softer note and everything just ties together so perfectly.
Soon, Baekhyun lifts his head slightly to brush his lips against Yixing’s ear, “I love you, too.”
Yixing looks at him and smiles; his heart is so warm and full, cuddled up into Yixing for a little while longer. They have forever left to go.