But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you

"Better Together" by Jack Johnson

—

So Baekhyun loves Chanyeol.


Like really, really loves Chanyeol.


And Chanyeol just so happens to love him back.

They've been together for nearly a year already, having passed the long stages of denial and just embracing the fact that their feelings for one another are away from the friend zone.

You can say that their relationship is going pretty steady, but there is one thing that likes to pester Baekhyun at the back of his mind from time to time.

The lack of romance.

Baekhyun sometimes imagines himself living the life of a lead character in super clichéd and romantic novels—or really well written fanfiction that give him all kinds of feels. A fan's mind can be very interesting, to be completely honest, especially when they form super awesome alternate universes that Baekhyun would wish were his reality (minus the ones with character deaths regardless of how beautifully they're written and how he secretly sobs his life away under his bedsheets because of them, thank you very much).

He imagines Chanyeol being the typical Prince Charming that everyone wants but too bad so sad he's his and only his all rights reserved. The giant boy with an awfully large smile has not even a teaspoon of ridiculously romantic in him, just ridiculous. And Baekhyun really loves Chanyeol no doubt about it, but when you're surrounded by couples that do the cutest things together, he just wants to shrivel away in a corner and wonder why he had to fall in love with the non-epitome of romantic.

Say Exo-K's resident umma and appa, for example.

They're Baekhyun's definition of oh-so-disgustingly cute; probably the best example of a movie romance. Once you (or just Baekhyun, really) see them together you'll start barfing rainbows and llamas, not gross varieties of gut soup. Their relationship blossomed from the roots of handwritten confessions sealed in envelopes, shy smiles and hesitant eye contacts, and bouquets of roses given during the least expected.

Before Baekhyun and Chanyeol started dating, the latter presented him a plate of bacon saying "I really, really, really like bacon."

Baekhyun looked back and forth between Chanyeol's face and the plate of bacon for a good minute before realizing what the giant really meant. 

And then Baekhyun said he had a really funky mindset before kissing the soul out of him.

When the group is watching movies together, Baekhyun gets jealous of how Kyungsoo and Junmyeon can be all lovey-dovey with one another while the only thing Baekhyun can be lovey-dovey with is the bowl of popcorn (which, unless he's mistaken, is a really lonely thing to do) because Chanyeol is too busy slicing fruits in half on his phone.

Then there is Sehun and Luhan.

They have this whole Romeo and Juliet love story going on. Well actually they don't, and Baekhyun kind of really wants to bang his head on a desk for even bringing up a play that was a nightmare for him to read back in high school.

But anyway, Sehun and Luhan are more of a long-distance couple during promotional periods and just hearing that is romantic in it's own way considering how strong they are despite the number of miles that them. Luhan sends video messages to Sehun every other day talking about anything he can think of before ending it with an "I miss you, be safe, I love you!" and Sehun sometimes sneaks a handmade card into Luhan's luggage on days that Luhan goes back to China. The fact that Sehun's calm or unfazed demeanor evidently escapes the moment he's reunited with Luhan is simply one of the most precious things ever.

But Chanyeol is in the same sub-unit as Baekhyun, so there goes the cute video messages and handmade cards slid into luggages.

You can say Chanyeol had once worked on making a handmade card, but Baekhyun might or might not have thrown it away thinking that it was trash lying around the living room; to this day he he has yet to tell Chanyeol about what happened to the card.

Next is Kris and Tao.

Baekhyun finds this couple very interesting and really cheesy even. The fact that you wouldn't expect a typically stoic Kris to make romantic advances on Tao or vice versa is probably the root of why Baekhyun admires them as a pair.

The two don't voice their love for each other as openly as Luhan and Sehun, but they do speak through their actions. Kris holds Tao's hand as much as possible, brushing it off as a friendly gesture to the public eye while with Exo he admits to being possessive. And according to fanaccounts (from the trusty Chen), Tao sneaks into the bedroom in the morning to either wake up Kris or snuggle with him ("I hear them whispering the sappiest things ever, and it makes me want to kill myself because most of it is coming from Kris-hyung").

The closest to snuggling Baekhyun and Chanyeol has ever done is when the latter passed out on him after drinking one too many glasses of alcohol during a company party.

That night Baekhyun learned that Chanyeol's body twitches just as much as his eye, even when asleep. 


But at the end of each day, Baekhyun remembers why he also likes the lack of clichéd romance between them.

The absence of predictability.

Baekhyun likes how Chanyeol's actions are never really "in the book."

He doesn't give good morning or goodnight kisses every single day, but Baekhyun feels that it just makes the days where Chanyeol does do it extra special. Chanyeol doesn't make breakfast for him, but they both have a good time stealing a serving or two of food that Kyungsoo makes for Junmyeon. When Baekhyun is ready to knock out, the insomniac Chanyeol doesn't want him to sleep peacefully and instead goes off into a soliloquy in attempt to keep him awake; most of the time Baekhyun does go to sleep, but when he doesn't he can't help but chuckle at his boyfriend's childish look of victory.

Chanyeol does weird things—like playfully kicking Baekhyun's body away from him instead of cuddling when they're in bed, absentmindedly drumming his fingers on the top of Baekhyun's head because he can, and even burping in front of his face after eating a good serving of food.

But Baekhyun himself does weird things, too.

He pokes his fingers on Chanyeol's waist (and watches his stiff body make amusingly big flinches), bites on the area near his shoulder because that's as high as his mouth can go when they're standing, and burps right back at him.


So Baekhyun loves Chanyeol.

Like really, really loves Chanyeol.

And Chanyeol just so happens to love him back.

Baekhyun sometimes imagines himself living the life of a lead character in super clichéd and romantic novels—or really well written fanfiction that give him all kinds of feels. 

But he enjoys living his life as a member of Exo, as a boy whose light flickering has become viral much to his embarrassment. And he enjoys living a love life so close yet so far away from what's imprinted on the minds of fans. They'll never really know what goes on between Chanyeol and him, and if they're close to the truth, they still won't be certain of it.

He imagines Chanyeol being the typical Prince Charming that everyone wants but too bad so sad he's his and only his all rights reserved. 

But Baekhyun enjoys living his life with the reality of Park Chanyeol, the skyskraper member of Exo whose deep voice contradicts his baby face (which is both the creepiest and iest thing ever). He enjoys being in a relationship with Chanyeol, who teases Baekhyun about leaving him for a Girls' Generation member only because Baekhyun is ridiculously the biggest fanboy on earth and whines about not being best friends for life with them. He enjoys knowing that he's Chanyeol's first love, hoping that he'll also be his only love.

One love story is never exactly the same as the next, with Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's as no exception.

Because really, who else can say that their boyfriend confessed to them with a plate of bacon?