The three boys sat around the large wooden table in the centre of Baekhyun's kitchen. It was still fairly early and they had about an hour before they had to be at school. Suho and Kyungsoo had arrived fifteen minutes before and the three of them were going over their plans for the day. 
"No, he has to be more subtle than that." Suho tried to reason, but Kyungsoo was having none of it.
"Screw subtlety, just go up and touch him!" Kyungsoo exclaimed. Baekhyun and Suho had been planning a way in which Baekhyun could touch Chanyeol without seeming weird and Baekhyun could tell that Kyungsoo thought it was pointless. 
Baekhyun sighed, "What would you think if someone just came up and started touching you Kyungie?" Baekhyun asked, Kyungsoo just grinned. "Especially if it was your competition partner." 
"Kai? Lucky me." Kyungsoo laughed and then shook his head, "Okay fine, how do you want to do it then?"

That seemed to stump them all. Baekhyun was sat with his head cradled in his hands, his elbows resting leisurely on the table top, head tilted to one side as he thought. 
"What about if you give something to him and 'accidentally' brush his hand." Suho suggested, air quoting the word accidentally. His expression looked hopeful and his puppy dog eyes were wide. 
"But what would he give? Chocolates? A diamond ring?" Kyungsoo laughed but stopped when Suho gave him a 'be serious' look. "Fine, how about something that he'll need for the performance?" 
Baekhyun sat up a little bit higher, "That's not a bad idea actually." he said, then began to muse the possibilities of what he might need to give Chanyeol for their performance. "What about my lucky pick? You know that one I found when I was little." Baekhyun suddenly exclaimed. Suho and Kyungsoo tilted their heads in consideration and then smiled, agreeing that that would work well. 

"He should be by his locker like usual" Kyungsoo said to Baekhyun whilst he gave him a light shove down the hallway. "Good luck Hyunnie. Touch the hell out of his hand!" passing students stared at Kyungsoo but he just replied with a 'what?' look. Baekhyun giggled and clenched his fists in a 'fighting' motion at Suho and Kyungsoo, before rounding the corner of the corridor and leaving. As he to the corridor where Chanyeol's locker was he saw the tall orange haired boy stood with two of his friends, Kai and Sehun. All three of them were tall and good looking which intimidated the hell out of Baekhyun, but he knew he had to test his hypothesis. He was about to walk up to the trio when he heard Chanyeol's ringtone blare into the hallway. He watched as Chanyeol dug his phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear. Baekhyun decided to wait until he was finished, and noticed that it was a good sign that he wasn't freaking out yet. 

After only a minute or two Chanyeol said goodbye and replaced his phone to his pocket. Baekhyun took a deep breath and walked confidently up to Chanyeol. He tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention, even though he had seen Kai motioning that he was there. When Chanyeol turned around his expression was a stony mask, the only aspect of his perfect face that gave away any emotion were his large caramel streaked eyes that were ever so slightly moist. Baekhyun shook of this observation and thought that maybe there was something in his eye. He noticed Chanyeol starting to take a step away, mouth moving as if to make an excuse, "Hey wait, I have something for you, I am hoping that it will improve out chances of getting through." Chanyeol stopped his scurrying movements and looked at Baekhyun, eyebrows raised. Baekhyun smiled again, lighting up his handsome features. Baekhyun held his breath as he reached down and took Chanyeol's hand, opening it up to place the old wooden pick in it. The pick was a pale, honey coloured, faded wood with a slight engraving in the front of a lion. Baekhyun closed Chanyeol's hand around it and squeezed gently before letting go. He noted that his heart rate only increased a little and his breathing remained constant. He smiled gently at Chanyeol and said, "I found it when I was little and I don't know why I've always kept it. But I figure that if you use it, it might bring us some luck...so....yeah." he trailed off blushing lightly. 

Baekhyun looked up as Chanyeol smiled tightly, "Thanks." his voice was curt and sharp, "I have to go, bye." With that he hiked his bag higher up on his shoulders and fled the conversation, speeding down the corridor. Baekhyun's brows knitted together as he looked after him. He turned back to Kai and Sehun and saw the two looking equally confused. "I don't know what's wrong with him." Kai shook his head. He then smiled at Baekhyun, "Don't mind him. He's been acting weird all week, it'll pass." Baekhyun nodded again, smiling and turned to leave.

"Oh wait!" Kai called, gripping his wrist before he could leave. Baekhyun turned to find Kai's face rather close to his own. Inspecting his features close up Baekhyun could see why Kyungsoo was so attracted to him. His dark smooth skin, thick heart shaped lips and his heavy eyebrows topping his round, dark chocolate eyes all came together to make a gorgeous face. Luckily Baekhyun liked Chanyeol, otherwise he and Kyungsoo might have had to fight over who got Kai. Not that either of them thought that they ever stood a chance, they were both sure that their loves were straight anyway. Kai blinked suddenly and stepped away, coughing he said, "You're friends with Kyungsoo right?" 
Baekhyun smiled, flashing his pearly whites, "Yeah I am, and he’s your partner isn't he? D you need me to pass on a message?" relief and appreciation flooded Kai's features at the thought that he wouldn't have to ask first. 
"Yeah that would be great. Could you tell him to meet me at our practice room at lunch?" 
Baekhyun nodded and smiled and was about to leave for the second time when he was once again stopped. "Could you altho athk Thuho to meet me at our practithe room at lunch?" Asked Sehun, a hopeful expression on his face. Baekhyun smiled at his lisp, imagining how Suho would probably be fanning himself and his lips if he were here now. "Sure I will." he said. He bowed and then walked away. He glanced at his watch and saw that he had three minutes to get to first period.

Baekhyun sank into his chair at the back of the class. He was overjoyed to find that his hypothesis seemed to be correct, however there was still something nagging at the back of his mind. He didn't like how Chanyeol had looked, even though his face had been an emotionless mask, his eyes had almost seemed...sad. And coupled with his weird reaction and sudden dismissal Baekhyun was sure that there was something wrong. He just wasn't sure what. 

Baekhyun twirled his noodles around his chop sticks, not really paying attention to or eating his food. His gaze was focused on the back wall of the lunch hall but his mind was blank and unfocused. He smiled as he remembered Kyungsoo and Suho's reactions when he had told them at break that they had to meet their partners at lunch. Suho had clutched his heart and leaned against his locker sighing what sounded to Baekhyun like, "His tongue...". Whereas Kyungsoo had grabbed hold of Baekhyun's arms and clung to them tightly, his usually wide eyes as large as luminescent orbs, protruding from his face. "Jeongmal?" he had asked over and over again. Repeating until he finally let go with an enormous grin, spreading happiness through his eyes. Baekhyun suddenly stopped twirling his noodles and slammed his chopsticks down on the table, one clattering to the floor. He had suddenly realised how much there was to discuss about the performance on Monday, and it was already Wednesday. He shoved his books into his bag and hastily grabbed up his tray. He dumped the condense of his tray and fled the lunch hall, walking to Kyungsoo and Kai's practice room. 

He arrived slightly out of breath as he pushed open the door and stuck his head through the gap. "Sorry to disturb you guys." he began as Kyungsoo and Kai looked up shocked, from the piece of paper they had been studying. "Kai, do you know where Chanyeol is? I need to talk to him." Baekhyun asked. 
"Sorry Baekhyun-ah." Baekhyun saw Kyungsoo frown at the friendly way that Kai spoke to him. "He left a little while ago, said something urgent came up."
"Oh, okay," Baekhyun frowned, wondering where he could have gone, "Sorry to have disturbed you, work hard you two, fighting!" With that he left, closing the door gently behind him. 

Over the next two days Baekhyun tried to talk to Chanyeol but the was always met with one of two problems. Either Chanyeol would quickly abandon the conversation, telling Baekhyun that he should just sort it out himself, or he would not be in school at all. Over those two days Baekhyun found himself talking to Kai regularly and also seeing a little more of Sehun too. He began t feel comfortable around Kai and felt that the two were beginning to become friends. On Friday at lunch Baekhyun had been chatting with Kai after being informed that once again, Chanyeol was not around. He was laughing at Kai's joke when he was yanked harshly on the arm, he turned, surprised, to see Kyungsoo. "C'mon Baekhyun, we have chemistry." his expression was cold and distant and he didn't look Baekhyun in the eye as he usually would. Confused and worried for his friend he bade Kai goodbye and followed behind him, wondering what was wrong. When he asked Kyungsoo what the matter was a few minutes later he just replied curtly that it was nothing. 

Saturday continued without word from Chanyeol and Baekhyun began to worry that even though they both knew the song that the visuals wouldn't be up to scratch. Or that they hadn't practiced enough and would make mistakes. He had spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after school and most of Saturday deciding on what they would wear, how they would sit to perform etc. he especially made sure to note down all of Chanyeol's riffs in his notebook so that he wouldn't be surprised and distracted in the performance. 

By Sunday morning he was more worried about Chanyeol himself than the performance. He had barely seen him over the last few days and every-time he did see him it seemed that the bags under his eyes had gotten larger and his shoulders had become more hunched. By 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, Baekhyun had been sat, unmoving for 3 hours, riddled with worry. He groaned at the stress and stepped out the house. He needed to stretch and move to try to distract himself. About 10 minutes after he left the house the clouds above him thickened and darkened, rolling threateningly overhead. He strolled across the road and took a seat in the bus shelter, hoping that he could sit out the inevitable rain. He had not brought a coat or an umbrella. Rain started pattering down, just a light drizzle to start with, snaking it's way down the walls of the bus shelter. In a matter of seconds the light drizzle had become thick, heavy sheets of rain, crashing down to the ground and splashing around his ankles. He looked up when he saw movement and saw a figure walking across the pavement opposite his own. The figure was hunched and walking quickly though the rain. It was difficult to see through the, by this point sleet, crashing down, but after a moment of squinting one feature became discernible. The usually fluffy orange hair, now plastered to the tall boys face, of Chanyeol. Before he could even think about what he was doing, Baekhyun got up to follow him, walking out into the cold rain.