Baekhyun couldn't sleep.

It's strange for a fanboy like him to go to sleep at ten in the evening when he could be doing other stuff like going on to Twitter, reading fanfictions or watching re-runs of the EXO members' dramas or movies. But tonight, Baekhyun just wanted sleep. He wanted to forget about a lot of things - Chanyeol, his own uality, the kiss…

Oh god that ing kiss.

Baekhyun ing kissed a boy for the first time and he actually liked it. He could still feel the way Chanyeol's lips move against his, so light and soft, like he was coaxing a scared deer. The moment he had leaned away should have been the part where it all ends.

But no, it wasn't.

"Do you feel something?" Chanyeol had repeated his first question.

Baekhyun had wanted to deny it, like he always did. To push Chanyeol away and call him a mothering  and that he shouldn't ever talk to him again. But Baekhyun couldn't just do all that. He could, but the way Chanyeol stared at him so intently, demanding him nothing but the truth, he couldn't just say no.

"Yes…" Baekhyun uttered hesitantly.

And that's how Baekhyun found himself on top of Chanyeol's lap, whimpering helplessly as the older kissed him languidly with those wonderful and sinful lips that seemed to slowly bind him into a spell that is impossible to break away from. His large and calloused hands were splayed over his tan skin, touching him in ways Baekhyun didn't know would actually make him squirm and feel good. Their skins were burning against each other, wet and warm as their temperatures reached a high. The want and need was so evident that it's thick in the atmosphere that surrounded them. It was like a dome, thick enough that if Baekhyun just reached out, he would definitely be able to touch something solid.

The kiss went on for so many minutes. Baekhyun didn't want to stop, but it could only go for so long until they needed to catch their breaths and Baekhyun goes back to his senses.

"This is wrong…" Baekhyun uttered, panting hotly underneath Chanyeol's critical gaze. "Hyung, let's stop."

And just like that, everything went back to normal. Well, at least they tried to for the duration of their little trip. Indeed, nothing extremely out of the ordinary happens except for the occasional tension that suspends in between them during some moments. But nevertheless, they manage to thoroughly enjoy the trip until the end. It wasn't until Baekhyun goes back home that the memory of the kiss starts bugging him like a nightmare, haunting him both night and day. It's so vivid and detailed in his mind that he inches towards insanity a little bit everytime he remembers it.

And because of that, Baekhyun starts avoiding Chanyeol once they were back at school. It isn't intentional at first, since it was just a week until exams and he usually isolates himself and avoids stepping foot in the library, preferring to study at home instead. It's only when he was deep in thought and staring at Chanyeol from a distance away while some guys corner him up did he realize that he is intentionally avoiding him. Baekhyun didn't like this at all, finding Chanyeol's company quite enjoyable. But he's afraid that if he sees him, the kiss might come back to him more frequently and he might not be able to control himself.

Chanyeol is, of course, sensitive enough to realize that he hasn't been seeing Baekhyun anywhere around campus. Whenever he tries to ask Baekhyun's classmates where he is, they would say that he went somewhere or he has already gone home. He religiously calls him up and messages him but Baekhyun doesn't answer anything from him. He doesn't have the guts to do so.

From: Chanyeol
Why aren't you talking to me

From: Chanyeol
did i do something wrong

From: Chanyeol
im in front of your classroom we need to talk

From: Chanyeol
please answer my calls

From: Chanyeol
Hyunee pls talk to me

From: Chanyeol
it's been a week

From: Chanyeol
I miss you

Baekhyun feels extremely guilty because really, he misses Chanyeol too even if he wouldn't be caught alive admitting that.  All he wants is to see him again - hear his low voice as he teases or annoys him, see his elfish ears and the little dimple that he had only noticed recently. He wants to see him again so bad, but he fears his mental condition would deteriorate even more than it already is if he does.

And so, Baekhyun stubbornly continues to do what he had started even if it pains him to do so.

"Isn't that your friend?" Yixing says one day while they walked to a vendo machine. It is dismissals, and they were on their way out of the school.

"Who?" Baekhyun mindlessly asks, preoccupied by his phone.

"Chanyeol," Yixing answers as he raises his hand. "Chanyeol! Hi!"

Baekhyun's eyes widen once he comes back to his senses. He grabs hold of Yixing's arm to whisk him away with him to hide, like what he has been doing for the last few days.

But it is too late.

Baekhyun freezes on the spot when he sees Chanyeol walking up to them, eyebrows furrowed with a [y] frown on his face. His white hair has turned violet now and it looks so good on him. Baekhyun's veins are buzzing crazily - with nervousness or attraction, he had no idea. All he knows is he's rooted on the spot, motionless as his eyes lock into Chanyeol's.

"Mind if I steal Baekhyun for a bit?" Chanyeol asks, the question aimed for Yixing yet he is still staring straight into the brunette's eyes who in turn can't look away as well. In his mind, Baekhyun wishes that Yixing says no - but of course, being the good-natured man that he is, that won't happen.

"I guess you can have him, we're going home anyway," Yixing says. He taps Baekhyun's arm and says, "Sorry I can't wait for you, I have stuff to deal with. I'm sure Chanyeol will take care of you."

Baekhyun lets out a little helpless squeak as he watches Yixing walk away, leaving him alone with Chanyeol.

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol starts, letting his name roll over his tongue slowly, as if he is trying to make sense of every syllable. "How should I start this? I've got lots of things in mind."

"Chanyeol, exams are in a few days so I don't really appreciate you keeping me here when I could be at home studying now," Baekhyun utters in a pathetically small voice.

"Really…" Chanyeol mutters as he starts to take slow steps towards him. Baekhyun gulps down the anxiety forming in his throat as he takes a step back to keep the distance between them. To his horror, his back hits the wall and Chanyeol is still walking closer and closer towards him. Chanyeol only stops when he is just a few centimeters away, planting one hand next to Baekhyun's head to stop him from trying to escape. The tension between them is so thick that Baekhyun could barely even breathe now.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Chanyeol finally drops the bomb, glaring at the other who is just dumbly looking up at him with wide, scared eyes.

"I-I… I'm not avoiding you…"

Chanyeols set his lips into a thin line, unimpressed by his answer.

"I haven't seen you for a week since the trip, Baekhyun," Chanyeol says slowly. "I've called you and texted for thousands of times already, yet you never pick up or answer. I always check up on you in all of your classes yet you're never there. You always study in the library after classes yet you never went there for all those days. And you tell me you aren't avoiding me? If it's not obvious enough, I care a lot about you and you actually got me worried that you probably got sick or something."

Baekhyun huffs out a breath of air. This situation is stressing him out so much, he definitely needs a facial later.

"So what if I'm avoiding you? It's your fault anyway."

"That I made you realize that you're ing gay and you're attracted to me?"

Baekhyun chokes on his saliva at the frankness of Chanyeol's answer, completely forgeting how disarmingly straightforward he is.

"Maybe," Baekhyun says, tilting his chin up as he tries to keep his composure.

"You're so petty."

"Well what do you expect me to do?" Baekhyun retorts angrily. "First you treat me like a… like a brother you never had and then the next thing I know, you were kissing me and… oh god, I can't even begin to tell how much it has affected me. I couldn't even sleep because you keep penetrating my mind like a ing parasite or whatever."

Chanyeol smirks. "I affect you?"

"Is that the only thing you heard from what I said?" Baekhyun wails as he brings his hands up to massage his temples. "Oh god I have no idea how to handle you…"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I know I shouldn't have done that," Chanyeol sighs as he runs his fingers through his air. "I was just kind of curious if you really are, you know, straight? So I'm sorry, and please don't avoid me anymore."

Baekhyun gives him an uncertain look. There's no guarantee that Chanyeol would not do that again and if he does, Baekhyun didn't know what to do. But then again, he does miss Chanyeol's company and he does sound sincere with his apology.

"Okay," Baekhyun crosses his arms. "Apology accepted."

"Thank you Hyunee~" Chanyeol smiles warmly as he wraps his arms around the younger and pulls him against his chest, planting his chin on top of his head.

"What are you doing?"

"I missed you. Don't avoid me ever again. Also answer my calls and messages."

Baekhyun rolls his eyes.

"Okay."

"You promise?"

Baekhyun purses his lips, finding the older surprisingly cute.

"Yeah, I promise. Now get off me."

Chanyeol lets go of him and grins cheekily as he takes his hand.

"Come on, let me treat you out."

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow as he pulls his hand away and says, "No thanks, I've got stuff to study for."

Chanyeol swings his arm over Baekhyun's shoulder. "I'll help you, just come with me. Please?"

Baekhyun just can't say no to this person even if he wanted to.

Exams are just a few days away, yet Baekhyun finds himself frowning at his laptop screen while he is on the line with his two fandom friends.

"Can someone just link it to me?" Baekhyun grumbles through the line. "I just woke up and I'm kind of disoriented. I suddenly don't know to use modern technology."

"Gosh you old man, you're even worse than Kai," Kyungsoo giggles, joined in by Luhan. Baekhyun rolls his eyes. He receives a message from Luhan on Twitter a few moments later and clicks the link attached to the message.

EXO Loey, A Highschooler?

"What stupid is this?" Baekhyun grumbles.

"I don't know," Kyungsoo answers. "It's , but pretty interesting ."

Baekhyun scrolls down the page, squinting his eyes to make sense of the article but decides to reach for his glasses. Once he can see the words more properly, he starts to read the article, eyes slowly widening as he comprehends the whole thing.

"Rumours have circulated that EXO's front man and main vocalist Loey supposedly goes to a highschool outside of Seoul… what the actual ? Isn't Loey, like, already above twenty?"

"It's mentioned in the article," Luhan says. "Some artists actually fake their age to protect their identities and to make them more desirable to their target audiences according to an industry insider. They only reveal it once their old enough or if they retire. Sometimes never."

"Whoah, then how old do you think are the other members then?" Kyungsoo asks.

"I can't believe this at all," Baekhyun says, blinking his eyes with jaw dropped, still unable to comprehend what he just read. He's been stanning EXO for almost three years since debut, and these people are telling him that his idol is actually just his age range?

"I don't know what to feel finding out that Loey is probably just our age."

"You know what that means?"

"What?" Kyungsoo and Baekhyun asks.

"If Baekhyun decides to be a groupie and let Loey him, then the man won't get arrested! Hooray!"

"What the ?" Baekhyun blushes. "I'm not that low!"

"Don't pretend you're innocent," Luhan teases. "I know you read those smexy boy's love Loey x OC fics!"

"I do not!" Baekhyun denies, biting into his lip because in all honesty, he actually does and it's embarassing. Kyungsoo is a fic elitist and Luhan doesn't even read them. If they find out, they totally won't let him hear the end of it.

"But seriously, where do you think Loey goes to school?" Kyungsoo asks. "Wow, now I'm curious about Kai, too."

"Maybe in Bucheon," Luhan says with a suggestive tone to his voice. "In Baekhyun's school~"

"Oh gosh no," Baekhyun groans. "I still have exams, don't make me think up of these kinds of weird stuff."

"But really Baekhyun! Just imagine Loey in your school. You gotta have a sharp eye from now on and be alert. You may never know, he's just that nerdy boy in the corner who covers his face with bangs and glasses."

Baekhyun falls silent.

As their group chat come to an end, Baekhyun is left to contemplate about that possibility, studying for exams completely forgotten as his mind goes wild and with a suspicion forming at the back of his brain that he is afraid to acknowledge.