"Baekhyun confessed to me."

The older man only gives Chanyeol a pointed look before he reaches for his water bottle then continues on to write something in his notebook. Most likely jotting down ideas for new songs.

"Interesting," Yixing hums as he taps the tip of his pen on to a page. "You know, Baekhyun also told me about it."

Chanyeol perks up on his seat, leaning forward with curious eyes.

"What did he say?"

"Do I have to tell you how he was so embarrassingly happy about it?" Yixing murmurs with a chuckle. "I mean, why would he want to date you? You're basically a ing creep."

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and pouts. "I'm not a creep."

"You know he's a fanboy but you still keep on popping up and obsessively pining for him. That's creepy."

"I just really like him!" Chanyeol whines. "So what if he's a fanboy? I think that's even better! He's going to love me even if I'm an idol."

"You're so pure-hearted," Yixing sighs as he reaches out and pats Chanyeol's shoulder. "But then again, this is the first time you’ve really liked someone and did something about it, right?"

The idol rolls his eyes once again and slaps Yixing's hand away, who laughs in amusement.

"I sometimes wonder if you actually like beings friends with me or you just hang out with me because you're in a contract with the company."

"Don't be so stingy, I was just teasing you," Yixing pinches his cheek fondly. "I really do hope you and Baekhyun work out. You guys look perfect together. Dumb and dumber because Baekhyun still hasn't figured out that you're his precious Loey that he loves so much and because you know dating isn't allowed in the company yet you still want to do it, with a fan out of all possible people."

"Thanks a lot," Chanyeol sarcastically says but he smiles as he looks down at a stolen picture of Baekhyun shyly laughing at him as his lockscreen.

Baekhyun is restless during his morning classes, his mind drifting away to one certain crazy-colored senior. Is this even normal, having your mind being so preoccupied by someone you like so much that it doesn't allow you to focus on anything else?

"Ah ," he murmurs to himself as he cradles his head in his arms. Jongdae hears him, which prompts him to look to the side and give him a questioning look. He simply smiles and mouths 'Nothing' before looking away to drown himself in his thoughts once again.

He’s so terribly new at this, it’s not even funny. Genuinely liking someone a lot isn’t something to take lightly, he just discovered. It eats up your attention and keeps your mind so occupied that you cannot even focus on other more important things. Now he feels sorry for all the people who likes him.

This is even worse than his feelings towards Loey. At least Baekhyun knows his boundaries with his idol. He can only admire the man from afar and support him with everything that he can. He might sometimes act like a total man for Loey, but he isn’t really serious. Sometimes maybe when Loey’s being such a total able pieces of , but that’s beside the point.

But with Chanyeol… he’s at arm’s reach, his heart beats in sync with his and everything is possible between them.

Ah .

Talking about Chanyeol, how is Baekhyun even going to face him?

When he confessed yesterday, everything afterwards is strangely calm. Everything seems to have just brewed down to how they had been before they fell out, only with Chanyeol being more tender than usual. But it’s a new day today, and Baekhyun knows things will be different from how they were before. A sudden change of dynamics in relationships isn’t something new to Baekhyun - hell, he was close with this one girl before and actually became friends with her until she fell for him and he decides she’s good enough to entertain him until he gets bored. Baekhyun basically turned her, a ‘close’ friend, into a girlfriend he wouldn’t last with overnight. So yes, he’s used to it, but when it comes to Chanyeol, everything just feels so new.

Baekhyun is so clueless. They both share the same feelings, yet Chanyeol wants to take it slow. So does that mean he can’t be too touchy with him? But Chanyeol’s already too touchy even when they were just friends before. Does he want them to pretend like nothing had happened? How does this even work? All those past relationships are so meaningless, not one can prepare him for what he is going through right now. If he had just lessened being an and actually tried to commit to a relationship before, maybe he wouldn’t have any problem dealing with this one.

“Karma’s a , I guess,” Baekhyun whispers under his breath, inaudible so as not to attract attention. “It really does pay not to be a jerk sometimes.”

When classes dismiss that morning for lunch break, Baekhyun finds himself rooted on his chair, even after Jongdae and Yixing tells him that they are going to the cafeteria to grab lunch since they never bring their own. He suddenly feels scared - of facing Chanyeol or of Chanyeol himself, he has no idea. The thought of him also knowing about his feelings is suddenly too much, he doesn’t know how to cope with it.

As a few more minutes past, there’s finally no one left in the room except for him. Baekhyun wonders if he should go out and meet with his friends since he didn’t like eating alone, but that also meant potentially seeing Chanyeol.

In the end, Baekhyun decides it might be best if he stayed here and ate alone. At least he’s safe.

Or, that’s what he thought.

“Why aren’t you coming out?”

Baekhyun freezes halfway through opening his lunchbox. It was Chanyeol’s voice, but that can’t be possible. Why would he be here? Has Baekhyun finally gone mad?

Answering his silent questions, Chanyeol steps in front of his desk, towering over him with a dangerous, knowing smirk.

Fortunately, he’s not mad. But that only means he’s unfortunate, because the one person he was avoiding has now found him.

“Ch-Chanyeol-hyung, hey,” Baekhyun greets awkwardly as he avoids his gaze. Chanyeol has always had really pretty eyes, but they’re way too intense.

Chanyeol hums as he walks around the desk and plops down on the seat next to him. Baekhyun tries his best to remain calm, fighting against the sudden overwhelming effect Chanyeol’s presence has on him.

“I was hoping you might drop by at the library but you took too long so I thought you might be at the cafeteria. You weren't there too, so I was really worried. Good thing you were just here.”

Baekhyun purses his lips, finding Chanyeol’s voice so soothing. Has his voice always sounded that velvety and alluring? He has this sudden urge to tell him to just keep on talking.

“Hyunee, are you okay?”

The brunette yelps when Chanyeol suddenly pats his shoulder, his touch sending jolts of electricity through his body. This makes the taller give him a confused look.

“I-I’m fine!” Baekhyun stutters, giving him a nervous smile. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“You’re acting weird today,” Chanyeol observes as he leans forward and tilts his head to the side. His face is too close, making Baekhyun internally panic. Too close that he could just lean in a bit and he’d be able to kiss those plump, red lips–

“Baekhyun, am I making you uncomfortable?”

The slightly gloomy look on Chanyeol’s face and the lack of the endearing nickname seems to startle Baekhyun out of his jumbled thoughts. He didn’t like that expression on his face.

“N-No!” he exclaims. “You don’t make me uncomfortable, I’m just–”

“Do you regret confessing to me? Is this too hard for you?” Chanyeol softly asks as he looks down at his hands. “I know… I know you’ve never been with a man before and I’m probably the first one you have ever liked. It makes me happy that you reciprocate my feelings but I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Baekhyun purses his lips, feeling guilty. Hesitantly, he reaches out, hands cupping Chanyeol’s face. The taller’s face heats up at the sudden show of affection, and even Baekhyun is obviously flustered about this.

“I’m sorry…” Baekhyun murmurs. “I’m just clueless and really nervous, that’s all.”

Chanyeol takes Baekhyun’s hands off his face then holds them in his larger, warm ones.

“But why? It’s just me. We were okay yesterday.”

“See,” Baekhyun sighs. “You aren’t just the first male that I liked. You are the first person that I have ever liked. I have never felt this way to someone before, and it’s kind of disorienting for me. This is a new experience, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off the way you think I was. I like you a lot, but I’m just kind of really unsure about this.”

Chanyeol smiles fondly. “You really are cute, Hyunee.”

Scrunching his eyebrows together, Baekhyun’s face twists in annoyance as he pulls his hands away from Chanyeol.

“Shut up, I’m not cute.”

Chanyeol laughs as he scoots even closer to Baekhyun then places an arm over his shoulder.

“Now there you are,” he coos as he boops his nose. “Just be yourself, Baekhyun. Nothing is going to change between us. We’ll just be a lot closer than we already are.”

“Why does that sound kind of creepy coming from you?” Baekhyun chuckles as he shrugs his shoulders to get Chanyeol off of him. “I take it back, I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

Chanyeol smiles mischievously as he grabs Baekhyun’s waist and closes in on him. The younger’s spunk dies down again when he looks up at the taller.

“Really now? You don’t want anything to do with the first person who actually made this little pretty heart of yours feel things?” he murmurs, voice low.

“S-Stop being an i-idiot, this is harassment,” Baekhyun manages to stutter out as he pushes him away, but Chanyeol just keeps on sticking to him like glue.

“But you like it.”

“I don’t like it.”

“No you don’t, but you like me.”

Baekhyun’s last pillars finally break down and he slightly dies inside. He can’t do this, this is too much. Park Chanyeol is too much.

“I can’t deal with you,” he weakly says as he dips face down and leans his forehead against his desk.

“Hey, come back,” Chanyeol laughs, grabbing Baekhyun by the shoulders and pulls him back.

“Only if you leave.”

“Aww, come on. I promise I’ll behave. Just come back, you need to eat your lunch.”

Baekhyun suddenly straightens up.

“How about you? Did you eat your lunch yet?”

Chanyeol shakes his head, smiling apologetically.

“I don’t feel like it.”

Baekhyun scowls. “What do you mean you don’t feel like it, ?”

“N-Nothing, I just don’t feel like– hmpf!”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen in shock when Baekhyun had suddenly stuffed a sandwich into his mouth.

“Eat that,” Baekhyun says as he opens his box, revealing an elaborate layout of food inside. “I still have plenty more, we can share.”

In comfortable silence with only the occasional comment from them, Chanyeol enjoys through his sandwich and Baekhyun eats his lunch. When the taller finishes everything, he enjoys Baekhyun carefully feeding him with his food. A little smile crosses Baekhyun’s lips as he stares fondly at the other.

“Do you want to go out on a date later? I promised you one yesterday,” Chanyeol suddenly blurts out.

“After classes?”

“Yeah. We can watch a movie and eat somewhere for dinner.”

Baekhyun blushes a bit as it finally fully sinks in on him. He can’t believe it, he’s about to go on a proper date with someone, complete with the involvement of feelings and effort from both sides. It feels so surreal, but he nods anyway and comes into terms with the fact that this is his reality now.

“Sure,” Baekhyun says, looking up at him shyly.

“Great,” Chanyeol grins as he reaches out and tucks a stray lock of brown hair behind his ear. “I’ll pick you up later.”

Someone has finally managed to ensnare him. He’s not a coldhearted anymore.