It's said that nail biting is a sign of insecurity. Same goes for when you're frantically peeling at the skin of your lips—which Baekhyun is apparently doing at the moment—and a lot more.

 

Chanyeol is obviously distracted as he taps his ballpoint pen on the study table, strays his attention away from the open book he's apparently studying, and looks over at Baekhyun who's seated at a close proximity. Their tables are stuck to the front, after all. 

 

Chanyeol notices that faraway look in Baekhyun's eyes, so he looks over his back to glance at whatever Baekhyun is interestingly staring at and finds nothing really of interest in a shelf full of books (they're in a library, after all). But then again, Chanyeol can't help but look at how Baekhyun is trying to literally distort the suppleness and the smoothness of his lips by peeling at its skin. 

 

This seems to actually make Chanyeol disgruntled as he's now prying Baekhyun's hands off the latter's lips and taking hold of his wrist in a firm grip.

 

"Can you stop doing that?" 

 

And when Chanyeol says that, he immediately gets Baekhyun's attention with wide light brown eyes hovering over his in a beat.

 

"I—I can't," Baekhyun protests. "It's a habit."

 

"It's what Jongin thinks about you, though, isn't it?" 

 

When Chanyeol asks that, he recalls himself signing up for the honesty policy in line with being Baekhyun's boyfriend. He's actually got more unwritten policies scribbled on the curves and pinks of his brain too many to mention—just that he remembers all too clearly the words Jongin uttered that Baekhyun is. It goes along the lines of being weird and being very introvert and it's not like Baekhyun's to blame for his attitude either. Yes, you choose what you should be and how you act, but surely Baekhyun and everyone else concerned didn't willingly sign up for a heck load of insecurities to be stuck in their mind for a painstakingly long time.

 

It's not that he wanted Jongin to look bad in front of Baekhyun and not that what Jongin had previously said were that bad either, but it's just Baekhyun wanted so much to know what Jongin felt about him being Chanyeol's boyfriend because he's one hell of an intimidating boy. 

 

On the other hand, he didn't need to ask to actually get Kyungsoo's thoughts about the matter as well, because the psychology student had practically told him. Baekhyun just wanted to understand and face his fear of criticism, if anything. He thinks that maybe knowing Jongin's thoughts will be his first step in reducing his unwanted insecurities.

 

But when Baekhyun looks up at Chanyeol with wider eyes, probably because he's been found out that it is indeed Jongin, he goes onto say, "Well, not really. It's just because he's your friend and what if he actually thinks I'm not good enough for you?"

 

"Why aren't you good enough for me?!" Chanyeol asks with a creased forehead this time and actually angry. 

 

Baekhyun for a moment is startled and doesn't say anything when he notes that Chanyeol is mad.

 

So Chanyeol continues with, "You know Jongin will never say that! You know Kyungsoo actually thinks you got my weird and that we fit perfectly together." calmer and with an assuring tone this time. 

 

Baekhyun smiles at that and Chanyeol is slightly relieved.

 

For a few minutes, they just find comfort in not saying anything at all but snorting and plainly looking over each other's crescent eyes because of their unstoppable happiness. It happens a lot when one of them smiles and the other smiles back and sometimes it's never ending.

 

But somehow Baekhyun manages to say, "I challenge you to come up with an idea to make me stop then!" in a challenging tone matched with a beam, his hand itching to pry at his lips again. But then Chanyeol's grip is firm and it's not like he can do anything to get the other's hands off so easily. 

 

"That's easy," Chanyeol snorts, before standing just a little from his seat and leaning in to press a soft kiss on Baekhyun's lips.

 

"You didn't just—we're in a library, Yeol!"

 

This time Chanyeol smirks saying, "And so?" 

 

He then leans on the table with half his weight and presses his elbows smack on top before pressing a couple more soft kisses on Baekhyun's slightly chapped lips.

 

After which when Chanyeol sits back down again, Baekhyun finds himself covering his face with his hands. He doesn't even know how he managed to break free from Chanyeol's hold, just that he knows he's blushing so hard and for some reason doesn't want for Chanyeol to see.

 

"How 'bout if I never stop being insecure then?" Baekhyun asks muffled, mouth pressing not so tight on his arms with his head slightly tilted up to look up at Chanyeol.

 

"Then I'd just have to forever press my mouth on yours," Chanyeol says flatly, "and maybe I could work on shoving my tongue down your throat, too."

 

With that, Baekhyun retreats his head back down, suppressing the ever growing blush gracing his cheeks.

 

"As for your hands, there are better things for it to touch," and when that sentence comes out of Chanyeol's mouth, Baekhyun immediately shots his head up and looks up at Chanyeol with wide eyes, blushing and clutching so hard on Chanyeol's shoulder now because how could Chanyeol say it so innocently—"like my hands."

 

"Oh," Baekhyun gasps in embarrassment, biting his lower just because. He thinks that whatever's happening is actually getting too much to take that he just goes onto thinking that maybe getting embarrassed by Chanyeol could work as a solution, too, just to reduce the embarrassment and the pinking of his cheeks if at all possible.

 

"What were you thinking?" Chanyeol asks this with a sly grin, acting all innocent pretending not to know what Baekhyun just thought of. He retracts the idea of laughing at the back of his mind, because he thinks Baekhyun's been embarrassed enough for the day. He just goes onto reaching his hand over the table and finally clasping Baekhyun's small hands in his larger ones.

 

And of course Chanyeol doesn't say that he thinks it can that be, too, but at least Baekhyun's not ruining his perfect pink lips anymore. Even for a while, and past the insecurities.