“Are you nervous?” Xiumin asked, gently gnawing on his lower lip as he addressed Baekhyun. The two were the last of the twelve boys still left to perform. The practice room, that had the hour before been filled to bursting point with rowdy teenage boys, was now quiet and calm. The odd plastic chair or two was strewn over the floor and there were a few crisp packets to be seen in a ring around the bin from the failed attempts of throwing them in. Chanyeol had left to perform his song about twenty minutes before, he was sixth, and Baekhyun had every confidence that he would do brilliantly; he couldn’t however say the same for himself.

“A little.” He said with a sigh, obsessively rubbing his fingers together in his lap.

“Don’t worry, you’ll do great. I’ve heard you sing and there’s nothing like it, so just do your best and I’m sure it’ll be good enough.” Xiumin said with a broad grin gracing his lips, his eyes crinkling adorably at the corners. Baekhyun couldn’t hold back his responding smile despite his nerves and ruffled the older boy’s hair out of affection. 

“I don’t know that I will but tha…” Baekhyun started to say before Minhee’s voice rung out through the room.

“Xiumin-ah, it’s time.” She called with an elegant smile as her head hung awkwardly around the door, as though it were floating and bodiless.

“I guess it’s time.” Xiumin uttered, clapping his hands together before him in an attempt to seem excited and ready. Baekhyun gave him a reassuring clap on the shoulder and grinned at him. Baekhyun couldn’t help but notice the slight hunch to his shoulders and the nervous fidgeting of his fingers as he walked across the room, carefully manoeuvring the strewn chairs.

“Good luck Baozi!”Baekhyun called with a final thumbs up as the elder slipped out of the door and to his fate.

It would only be five minutes or so until he himself would be called out to sing his song. He wasn’t sure where they had to perform their pieces or for that matter, who they had to perform them too. He knew that Minhyun would be there so it was only logical to assume that the other vocal coaches would be there too, that was six. He assumed that Minhee would watch and that a few of the company’s higher ups might watch. All in all it was a minimum of about ten people though it could be considerably more, Baekhyun wasn’t sure which was worse; a hall packed with people or a small room where you could clearly see each person’s face.

Baekhyun’s hands were beginning to go numb, turning a little red as he continued to nervously wring his fingers together, now without even the distraction of conversation to draw his mind away from his impending performance. He had never been so nervous, except maybe the first time he had spoken to Chanyeol, or spilt his coffee all over him, or gotten himself trapped in his own jumper in front of him….okay, so maybe he had been this nervous before, he admitted to himself grudgingly, his cheeks staining from his former embarrassment. But this was the most nervous he had ever been about singing, his heart was pounding loudly in his chest and his breaths were coming out short and ragged.

What felt like seconds later Minhee was once again leaning around the door with her usual bubbly smile.  “You’re up Baek.” Even her voice sounded like a babbling spring, cute and high to match her small physique and long blonde hair.

“A-ah, okay.” Baekhyun muttered as he lifted himself reluctantly out of his chair. He shuffled slowly to the door, trying to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. Minhee just shook her head with an understanding smile and strode over to him, linking his arm with hers and frog marching him from the room, her eyes alight with excitement. 

“Don’t you go floppy on me Baek, I’ve been looking forward to yours most.” She said, her words using the formality that should have accompanied them die to their work relationship status. “Don’t tell the others I said that.” She stage whispered with a slight wink before she looked forward once more. Baekhyun couldn’t hold back his giggle as he too looked at where they were going. They were walking down the spotlessly clean, white corridors, which he had now come to forever associate with sment, passing by glass door after glass door. “I’ll go in and introduce you, you’ll be able to see me from the door, so when I nod just come in and do yo thang…yeah?” She asked as he was drawn to a stop by another clear, sparkling door alike all of the others. Baekhyun just nodded and tried to smile brightly as she gave him a quick pat on the head before flouncing into the room in her usual bounding, bubbly demeanour.

Baekhyun pressed his nose up against the glass, peering into the brightly lit room. All he could see from where he was was Minhee talking into a microphone and the black corner of someone’s coat hanging on the back of another of the company’s plastic chairs. He craned his head around to try and get a glimpse of any of the spectators but his wriggling and stretching was in vein as his attempts were proved to be futile. He let out a sigh and focused on Minhee, waiting for the nod that would draw him into the room. The seconds seemed to stretch and it felt like ten minutes had passed before a graceful tilt of her head in Baekhyun’s direction told him to enter the room.

He pushed open the glass door and headed straight for the microphone. Once he was stood directly behind it he allowed himself a moment to glance up at the people before him. The first row was as he had expected, the six vocal coaches, including Minhyun who was sat with his legs crossed in a rather unmanly fashion and a large toothy grin accompanied with two thumbs up in his direction. As well as them there were four smartly dressed middle aged men and two young women, including Minhee, to complete the front row of officials. The twelve in the front row were however not what Baekhyun’s eyes were drawn to, the eleven boys sitting in the second and last row were much more interesting to him. They filled all but one chair that was sat empty on the end of the row.

Kris was sat at the far left, his face devoid of emotion as usual, beside him was the panda Tao who had his head resting on the blonde’s shoulder, his eyes shut tight, seemingly oblivious to the elder’s impassive expression. Beside them were Suho and Lay who were both smiling encouragingly at him. Baekhyun couldn’t help but notice their entwined fingers and felt his heart swell at the sight. He looked along the entire row and had to stifle a laugh that bubbled up to his throat as he noticed Kyungsoo biting on a finger and pulling ‘y’ faces to distract him. Kai reached up to cover his boyfriend’s face but pulled back with a disgusted grunt as Kyungsoo gave his fingers a long . One of the stuffy officials looked back at the noise with an unamused expression and Baekhyun swore that he had never seen Kyungsoo change from his upper lip with bedroom eyes to a straight backed goody goody so fast in his entire life. Pushing back his laughter his eyes finally fell upon the boy sat beside the empty chair. Thick orange hair and wide eyes were gazing into his own, Chanyeol. His smooth, pale skin, his dark molten eyes and long fluttering lashes, his thick, plush lips, the gently flick of his head to get his fringe from his eyes, all of his instilled a calm in Baekhyun.

He reached for the microphone and wrapped his fingers around the cold metal as the music began to play loud into the room. One final glance at his boyfriend and Baekhyun noticed that Chanyeol was mouthing something to him. He focused his gaze and managed to make out; remember what I told you last night…

Baekhyun thought back to Chanyeol’s inspiration, the way he had taken them to a quiet park as he showed him photos, photos of them, the ups and the downs, the things that make Baekhyun Baekhyun. It had made him realise what he had to sing for, but now that Chanyeol was here in front of him, he had nothing to think about, he had his inspiration all along, he just had to look a little closer at who was beside him all along, and who would always be beside him. He took a deep breath, the cue for him to start singing moments away, then he took another, and another. Three deep breaths and he was calm, sometimes that’s all it takes, a moment to pause, to think, to breathe, and the world will right itself on its own.

Baekhyun drew one last breath and let the words pour from his lips, his eyes never leaving those lucid charcoal and caramel ones he loved so much as he sang;

“Where you are, I will be there too
Where you go, I will go there too

I smile for you every day, I pray for you
With thoughts of you, I fall asleep - I open my eyes as I call for you
You protect me by my side and you embrace me
You are my heaven…”

As the small crowd erupted into cheers Baekhyun felt every ounce of nervousness slip away, like a cloak falling to the floor, lifting a weight from his shoulders that he hadn’t realised was so heavy. He looked to the ground, his cheeks rosy and hot as wolf whistles echoed through the room, courtesy of Chen, Kyungsoo and Kai. Baekhyun glanced up to see Chanyeol mouth one more thing as he clapped along with the others, I’m proud of you, I love you…

AN: It's been so long again! I am so sorry, I can't apologise enough, really I am sorry, and I'm sorry it's so short but yeah. My exams end next wednesday so hopefully I'll have more time to update then, forgive me?

I know not much really happened and it was a little boring but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Aren't you all so excited about the comeback!? I AM SO EXCITED...I CAN'T EVEN!!! :D