Title: Pictures Of You (oneshot)

 

Pairing: Chanyeol/Baekhyun

 

Rating: K

 

Length: 3,000+ words

 

Summary:

 

                Chanyeol's life is all but ed up. He is like Cinderalla - minus the glass slipper, while Baekhyun is his Prince that he can't remember.

 

                When the clock strikes midnight, he burns it all.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The park was his favourite spot for the afternoons. He enjoyed the way the water glistened as the turquoise water. The liquid reflected the light away from it, creating the many shades of the rainbow on the surface of the pond. Chanyeol pulled out a note, chews on his gum before scrunching it back into his pocket again. A mysterious note he found this morning on his bedside table, but shakes all the thought away.

 

Chanyeol smiled as he inhaled the afternoon scent. He always sat at the park bench in front of the pond, taking the many hundreds of captures of his surroundings.  And this was like no other day to him. Sitting on the bench while fiddling with his camera had became a natural habit to the male. Even to the simplest subjects of his many photos, it meant the world to him.

 

 

                It was his life.

 

 

The photographer saw the world through his lens. And only through there would he see the importance of everything. For as long as he remembered, and it wasn't that much, it was his only companion. It was his only way of capturing his life in the one frame. From the trees, to the ducks, to the Monarch butterfly sitting on the yellow flowers, even to the many people walking past him, it all meant something to him.

 

 

                It meant that he was alive.

 

 

Searching around for the perfect shot through his camera, he saw a male standing under the tree next to his bench feeding the ducks in the pond. Being fascinated by his milky visual aspect somehow drew him in. The photographer looked through his lens, twisting the nozzle of the camera; he zoomed in for the perfect angle of his face. He snapped one picture, then another and then another. Click, click, click, click, click, click. Each shot taken, the latter was set to be the main focus of each photo, blurring out his background was how the male saw it with his own eyes.

 

                “Can you stop?” Chanyeol saw the latter looking at him with furrowed eyebrows.

He lowered the camera with a sheepish grin, “Sorry about that.” Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck in sheer embarrassment.

 

Drawing his focus back to the camera, he checked his recent captures of the male. Not surprisingly at all, he looked beautiful in each portrait shot. From the close up to the long shots, in his eyes the latter stood out the most. Well it was expected; after all, he had set the beautiful stranger to be his subject. By staring at the photos ever more, he wanted the latter to be the subject to his life forever. Now that was an odd thought to have, and he immediately shut them out.

 

                “You are very good.” A voice complimented from behind him, which made Chanyeol jump.

He turned around the see the same male in his photos arching behind him and peering down at the photos. “Th-thanks.” Chanyeol nodded before turning around again.

 

He felt the chair shift, turning to his right he saw the male sitting down beside him, smiling like a cute little child while holding out his hand. Chanyeol looked at it, tilting his head in confusion.

                “I’m Baekhyun, pleasure to meet you.” He still held out his hand waiting for him to shake it.

Chanyeol tried to swallow his laughter because he was sure he heard the word bacon. “The name is Chanyeol, pleasure to meet you too… what was that again?” He firmly grasped onto the boy’s hand.

                “Baek.Hyun.” He said.

The male’s mouth turned into an ‘o’ shape. Baekhyun started laughing, nearly falling off the chair in the process. “I knew you misheard my name as bacon.” Chanyeol couldn’t help hide the blush that appeared on his face. “Don’t worry, everyone who I first introduce myself to always seemed to mishear it.” He reassured with a small smile.

                “I promise I’ll never forget it.” Chanyeol promised.

“You said the same thing to as someone I knew a while ago.” A glint of sadness washed over the latter.

 

A slight tug pulled on his heartstring. The male in front of him didn’t suit a frown. He deserved a smile.

 

 

                He deserved the world.

 

 

Okay, now that was just a weird thought to have, Chanyeol scolded himself. He didn’t know this boy. He was sure he never met him before, but why did he seem so familiar? Why was it that his heart was beating so fast? It just didn’t make sense. He ignored any further thoughts that invaded his mind about the god sending angel in front of him.

 

                “I always keep my promise.” The male grinned, baring his white teeth.

Baekhyun giggled, “I hope you do, or I’ll be very sad.”

 

Without a second thought, immediately Chanyeol lifted up the camera and snapped another photo of the latter. The way his lips perked up on his very childlike face instantly made his hands move up to snap a picture. Chanyeol thought he was breathtaking. And he was. Young, beautiful and carefree was what he saw through the lens. He saw an angel with feathered white wings and a golden halo.

 

 

                “You really like to take pictures don’t you?” Baekhyun asked, smiling.

“I take anything that I see in my life.” Chanyeol curtly gifted a smile back.

                “Why do you do that?” He cocked his head to the side, cheeks blown up slightly.

“It shows that I’m still living.” The male replied. "It shows that I've been here."

                “You make it sound like you are going to die…” Baekhyun pouted as he kicked the dirt away.

A smile tugged on the corners of Chanyeol’s lips. “I will soon.”

Baekhyun eyed him quizzically. “Don’t lie.”

A roar of laughter boomed through the air. “You seriously believe that for a second didn’t you? Aw, damn. I forgot to take a picture.”

                “I’m not going to show that face again because you said that stupid joke.”

“There, there, Bacon.” Chanyeol playfully winked, and took a shot of Baekhyun’s angry face.

                “Are you hungry?” Baekhyun asked as he got off the seat to stretch his arms.

“Actually, I am.” He grinned.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Chanyeol didn’t know how it happened but they ended up on a beach under the sunset that was setting in the horizon after eating. The black and orange that mixed with the sky felt nostalgic. The silence was calming, peaceful in fact. They hadn’t muttered a single word since they sat done on the grainy shore, which was an hour ago. Silence was enough to fill them with content.

 

The photographer reached up his camera and took a picture of the sunset, the vast ocean painted in orange and seagulls flying home. He turned his camera towards Baekhyun, and got a startled shock when Baekhyun was looking at him through the lens.             

 

                “Will you come home with me tonight?” Baekhyun looked away and fidgeted with the rims of his shirt.

“But we just met?” Chanyeol nervously eyed the latter as he lowered the camera.

                “Just come home with me tonight.” He pleaded. “Hold me tonight because I’m lonely.”

 

Chanyeol bit down on his lips and slowly nodded. He really wasn’t sure why he agreed. The male never usually slept with anymore on their first meeting. Somehow he just couldn’t resist Baekhyun, for some strange reason. Baekhyun just magically drew him in, just like how he drew the camera his way. He was made for it. Just like Chanyeol was made for him, maybe?

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

As we reached his house, the shorter male opened the door to let Chanyeol in. Baekhyun hastily grabbed Chanyeol by the wrist. He pulled him up the stairs and into the room on the end of the hallway. Chanyeol just followed, silent and confused, heart beating through his rib cage. His head was pounding painfully, and his mouth was dry.

 

Baekhyun pushed him onto the bed, and sat across his stomach. The latter cupped his face and leant down to place a quick and sloppy kiss. The way their lips met sent jolts down Chanyeol’s spine. He grinned onto Baekhyun's lips and so did Baekhyun to Chanyeol's. Once the kiss became more natural to them, it was passionate, it was warm, and it was filled with love, or lust.

 

In all of Chanyeol’s life, he hasn’t felt like this before.  What is love? Was it the way Baekhyun’s smile made him feel all giddy inside? Was it this moment where Baekhyun is sitting on top of him? Was it the way his heart was throbbing and pounding excitedly at the same time for Baekhyun? Or was it a bit of everything? All he knew right this instant was that Baekhyun was love.

 

The male felt a tongue his bottom lip. As he moaned, mouth parting slightly, the latter plunged his tongue into Chanyeol’s cavern. Their tongues played knots with each other. His tongue explored every part of the latter’s mouth, claiming it its own. Baekhyun tasted like lemons. Chanyeol liked lemons.

 

A hand s down to Chanyeol’s buckles. Panic mode started to kick in every nerve of his body. His eyes shot up into wide saucers. This was wrong. His gut was telling him this was all ed up. Being the gentleman he is, he couldn’t sleep with someone who he hardly knew and would probably never contact again – though a large part of him wanted to meet Baekhyun again. As gently as he could, he firmed held Baekhyun’s waist and lifted him off of his stomach.

 

                “I’m so sorry…” Chanyeol apologetically whispered, looking up the ceiling with the biggest regret of his life.

 

It felt like he just murdered a child, an innocent beautiful child. He shouldn’t have accepted. They shouldn’t have met, was what his mind was telling him. This really was all ed up.

 

Baekhyun airily chuckled, “You’re still the same old Chanyeol.”

“What? We’ve met before?” Chanyeol turned his head to the side to look at Baekhyun in confusion.

                “We’ve met roughly 1394 times before, if I have counted right. Every time I invited you over, you always reject me. I’m hurt…”

“How come I do not remember?” He asked, confused.

                “You never remember anything after a day, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

“Oh…”

 

Of course! How could he forget his illness? Even he has forgotten the name of it. Typical, he thought. He did place a large bolded printed paper against the wall of his bed that told him he took a picture of himself in the hospital when he woke up and wrote it down, but he probably misplaced it somewhere and can’t remember…

 

This was just crazy and ed up, he thought mildly.

 

                “It is, isn’t it,” And it didn’t come out as a question.

 

For a second, Chanyeol thought Baekhyun could read his mind. Or maybe they had the same conversation over and over again. That could be a factor, it was possible. 1394 different scenarios that Baekhyun had came across with him. 1394 different beginnings and possibly all the same endings.

 

                “Why though?” Chanyeol questioned.

“Why, what?” Baekhyun asked.

                “What haven’t you left me? Why do you keep coming back?” This, Chanyeol, can’t understand. Why come back to a sick person, a person that could only live 24 hours of his life.

Baekhyun shrugged. “I’d like to know why too. Maybe it’s because I love you very much.”

Chanyeol winced, pain and guilt riled up through his nerves. “Why love someone who can’t remember you?”

                “That’s because it’s you.” Baekhyun reached out and tightly grasped Chanyeol’s hand. “It’s because it’s you Chanyeol that I can’t run away.”

 

He turned to find a clock. 10.39 p.m. Chanyeol knew time was limited to them both. The grains were running low. An hour and 21 minutes – 20 minutes now – left for him to remember Baekhyun. He was like Cinderella – just without the glass slipper and memories. Once the clock strikes midnight, the magic would disappear.

 

                His memory would disappear.

 

Chanyeol cupped the latter’s face, “When the hours of today end and the beginning of the future starts, forget me, Baekhyun. Forget all of me and what I was yesterday and today.”

                “How can I forget when all I know are the past?” Baekhyun body quivered as he began  to sob. He too knew the magic was soon to end.

“Because there is no future for us, Baekhyun. I live only on today and that is where my life begins and ends.” Chanyeol admitted sadly with a smile.

                “You are cruel.” Baekhyun chokes.

“I was already since the beginning.” He airily chuckled.

                “That I can’t argue with,” The boy strained a laugh.

“Go to sleep. It’s getting late.” Chanyeol caressed his cheeks, wiping away the bitter tears.

                “Will you stay with me till I fall asleep?” He requested, eyes looking at him from under his long eyelashes.

“I will.” Chanyeol grinned.

                “Don’t forget me.” The boy murmured. “I’ll make sure of it each day.”

 

As he promised, Chanyeol stayed, holding the angel’s hand, till he fell asleep. The male leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. The sleeping beauty whimpered and Chanyeol chuckled.

 

                “Forget me, and all of me.” Chanyeol whispered before he left.

 

Chanyeol stepped out of the house and let the cold winter’s night air slap him in the face. He hauled a taxi and went home, alone and pained. Did he feel like this every time they met? He wished he could at least remember.

 

                He prayed he could remember everything.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Reaching home, he immediately headed to the darkroom. The male pulled out his camera and removed the films inside the body. He, one by one, printed the photos of today. After the photographer was done printing them off, he collected the hundred photos of Baekhyun and stared at each one. A smile crept on his face.

 

Even if Chanyeol forgets everything in his life, there would always be one thing that stuck with him that could never be washed out by this illness. The very thing that he cherished and loved the most will be forgotten, but his heart will remember, won’t it? He will remember this love; he will remember Baekhyun because he fits perfectly in his life in all aspect.

 

 

                Chanyeol’s heart would never forget Baekhyun till the day he dies.

 

 

But for Baekhyun happiness, for his smile, for his laugh, he leaves because now, it was time for Baekhyun to do the same. It was his turn to do the same thing Chanyeol had down for many times before.

 

 

                It was time for Baekhyun to forget his existence.

 

 

                Chanyeol was only a whimsical mirage, a dream and no more.

 

 

With a click of the lighter, he sets the photo into a blazing mess. He burns the newly printed photos of Baekhyun. He burns away the memories of him, along with his confession, “I love you, Baekhyun.”

 

 

                Chanyeol burns it all.

 

 

The male was pretty sure he had done this daily routine for roughly 1394 times before, if Baekhyun’s counting was accurate. Throwing the photos into the bin to smoulder into black ashes, he walked out of the darkroom.

 

He lied on the bed, and sighed. Deep in his mind he knew he was going to forget. It was fact. Chanyeol was going to forget Baekhyun all over again like he had done so 1394 times before. His heart squeezed and his head ached. Chanyeol closed his eyes and dreamed. He dreamt of Baekhyun and their forever. Forever was a subjective word for him. To Chanyeol, forever only meant one day, but to Baekhyun it meant his whole life. The male didn’t have a life, he only had a day. It was sad, a very sad reality. A tear streaked down the side of his temple. He bit down onto his bottom lip till he felt the salty iron taste.

 

 

                Tonight Chanyeol cried.

 

 

                Tonight Chanyeol dreamt.

 

 

                Tonight Chanyeol forgot.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

The park was his favourite spot for the afternoons. He enjoyed the way the water glistened as the turquoise water. The liquid reflected the light away from it, creating the many shades of the rainbow on the surface of the pond. Chanyeol pulled out a note, chews on his gum before scrunching it back into his pocket again. A mysterious note he found this morning on his bedside table, he reads it: “Never forget.” With the small initials B.B written at the very bottom corner. Chanyeol scrunched it up and shoved it back into his jean pockets. What was he forgetting, or who was it that he was forgetting? But he shakes all the thought away.

 

 

The photographer looked through his lens, twisting the nozzle of the camera; he zoomed in for the perfect angle of a male’s face that stood under the flared branches of the tree next to his bench. He snapped one picture, then another and then another. Click, click, click, click, click, click. The latter looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. Crap, caught red-handed, he cussed.

 

The latter’s face softened and he walked up to him. Smiling like a cute little child while holding out his hand, he waited for the male to grasp onto his hand. Chanyeol welcomely extended a hand out. They shook tightly, and an odd electric current pulsed through him. Chanyeol stared up at the younger looking male with a perfect white complexion and a smile that blinded.

 

                “I’m Byun Baekhyun, pleasure to meet you.” He grinned along with his eyes that were outlined with thick black eyeliner.

 

Byun Baekhyun, the name rolled around in his head. Byun Baekhyun, he chanted. B.B. Byun Baekhyun. Could they possibly be the same person? But Chanyeol can't remember him at all. He didn’t know this boy. He was sure he never met him before, but why did he seem so familiar? Why was it that his heart was beating so fast? It just didn’t make sense.

 

                “The name is Chanyeol, pleasure to meet you too.” He greeted, and cocked his head. “You look familiar, do I know you?”

 

The corners of Baekhyun’s lip tugged up into a smile. To Chanyeol, it seemed nostalgic, like he had seen it before – if he ever had.  In the back of his head, his brain was telling him it was something he’d been missing in his life. Why though? Why him? Have they clearly met before? Chanyeol can’t remember. He prayed that he could remember.

 

 

 

 

                “No. I think you have the wrong person.”

 

 

********************

[A/N] : I was inspired by Anterograde Tomorrow. Damn, if you haven't read it yet, you should do so now!

The saddest and most painful story of my life.

This story doesn't even come close to Anterograde Tomorrow. ; _____ ; Anterograde was a masterpiece and this is garbage.

 

Anyways, starting to write up SuLay and Taoris oneshot, and hopefully going to make it . I chickened out for Baekyeol... OTL

Thank you all my lovely commentors and subscribers. ^^

* Photos are credited to the owners *