There are a million and one score sheets littered across Chanyeol's bedroom, all over his bed, on his desk, a few even scrunched up in balls at various points between him and the garbage can on the floor. It's time for midterms, and that means Chanyeol's focused on one thing and one thing only - getting a song out of his system that is good enough to get him and Kyungsoo (who will be writing the lyrics and singing along) an amazing grade for the practical exam.

He's narrowed his choices down to two, which he knows both need work, but they seem to have the most potential out of the rest of the melodies he'd scrapped before. He grabs his guitar from its spot beside his bed and rests it in his lap, then he picks up his ancient phone and punches in Kyungsoo's number. His best friend picks up almost immediately; he'd probably been waiting by his own phone just for this call.

"Hey," he greets, and Chanyeol runs his fingers along the neck of his guitar, getting his hands into position so he's ready to start playing.

"Hey," he replies. "I have two songs I think we could use. I'm going a bit crazy because they're not perfect but - "

"Just let me hear it," Kyungsoo says, and Chanyeol doesn't say anything else, just pulls the nearest of the two sheets towards himself and starts to play along to the melody. Kyungsoo is completely silent on the other end, so Chanyeol just keeps playing right through to the end, closing his eyes about halfway through and losing himself to the music he'd created. He thinks of a bright smile, small eyes crinkling endearingly in the corners; soft, pretty fingers curled tightly around his own; a big, navy blue rain coat that -

"Okay, Chanyeol, stop." Kyungsoo cuts off his line of thought and he sets his guitar down in front of him, trying to catch up on breaths he wasn't entirely sure he'd lost until now. "Do I even need to hear the second one? Not perfect - someone is probably going to offer you a pretty penny for this one after we perform it."

"Ehh," Chanyeol looks down at the sheet and frowns. "But - it's inconsistent, I thought. And it's too simple, you know how they don't like simple..."

"Sometimes less is more," Kyungsoo's voice sounds weirdly strained. "It's funny, I think. How you can always tell when an artist is in love."

Chanyeol feels his cheeks heat up, and he buries his face in his free hand, even though he's very aware Kyungsoo can't see him. "Is it okay?" he asks, and Kyungsoo doesn't reply for a long time. Chanyeol has to take his phone from his ear to make sure his friend hasn't hung up on him.

"It's... it's not that I miss us or anything," Kyungsoo says eventually, obviously treading carefully around his words. "It's just that you never wrote a song like that when you were with me. I don't want to sound bitter, but... I guess I just thought there was more to us than there actually was? I guess this is why you dumped me, huh..."

"'soo," Chanyeol mumbles, not sure what to say.

"It's okay. It's not like I loved you either,"

Chanyeol laughs quietly into the receiver. "You don't sound so sure of that,"

"I thought I did, when you broke up with me," Kyungsoo says, voice a lot lighter now. Chanyeol allows himself to smile properly, then. "But I think I know what love actually feels like now? And... whatever we had was not that."

"Ooooh," Chanyeol perks up in his spot. "Is this about your 'friend'?" He asks, smirking. "The one who lived around here?"

"No," Kyungsoo chuckles. "No. He turned out to be a two faced jerk. It's...someone else."

"You're burning through dudes pretty fast, aren't you?" Chanyeol says. "So where'd you meet this one? Choir practice?"

"No!" Kyungsoo replies, exasperated. "It's no one new.  I'd tell you if you weren't such a jerk - "

"Is it Jongdae?" Chanyeol cuts him off. "Or... oh my god it's Kris, isn't it? Everyone thinks they're in love with him at some point, regardless of their ual orientation. Let me tell you, though. That guy is a total prude, no matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to get into his pants."

"That's good to know, Chanyeol, but it's not Kris. Or Jongdae."

"Hahahaha... well I'll get this out of you eventually - hang on a second."  He hears a knock at the door so he kicks the scrapped score sheets out of the way and slips out of his bed, padding over across his room and then opening it to see his mother there, hand raised as if she planned to knock again. He holds his phone against his shoulder and looks at her curiously. "'sup, ma?" He asks.

"Have you spoken to Baekhyun? His grandfather was just here looking for him, says he went out to the store a few hours ago and never came home."

"Huh?" A rock drops in Chanyeol's gut and he glances over at his clock - 11pm. "Has he checked at the river and the elementary school?"

"Yeah, he's checked everywhere."

"'Soo, I have to go," Chanyeol doesn't wait for an answer before he hangs up the phone and immediately pushes past his mother and sprints down the stairs to the kitchen, where he grabs the flashlight from the drawer and then he hurries over to the entry way to slip on his boots and jacket. It's cold and rainy outside, and at this hour, even without the feeling of discomfort settling at the pit of his stomach, Chanyeol knows this is something to worry about. This is not like Baekhyun at all.

"Ma! I'm going to look for him." He calls to his mother and then he runs outside, glancing up and down the gravel road for Baekhyun's grandfather, who thankfully hasn't gotten very far.

The rain is like tiny, icy bullets hitting his face as he races down the road to catch up with him, but Chanyeol doesn't let that slow him down. "Hey," he says breathlessly when he finally catches up, and Baekhyun's grandfather turns to look at him, surprised. "I'm here to help. I - this isn't like Baekkie."

"I know," his frail features are alive with worry and Chanyeol bites down on his lip, thinking hard. The buses don't run on sundays, so there isn't a chance that Baekhyun has gotten too far out of the village, if he's even left it. "Check the - check the elementary school again. I'm going to look around the shops, he might have fallen there, or something..." his voice trails off. "If you find him, please tell my mother. She'll call me."

"Okay," Baekhyun's grandfather agrees and they go in their separate directions.

Chanyeol walks slowly but purposefully, making sure he doesn't miss a single alley or doorway with his flashlight. "Baekhyun?" He calls out tentatively, every time he goes far enough that he deems it necessary, and every time he doesn't get a response, his stomach aches even more.

He gets a call around an hour later, and he answers it quickly, eagerly, hoping it's his mother telling him Baekhyun has been found and is now safe and sound, at home. But instead, it's Kyungsoo's voice that greets him on the other end of the line.

"Have you guys found him yet?" he asks, sounding breathless.

"No," Chanyeol says solemnly in reply, slowing to a stop and staring down at the gravel below his feet. "I'm so scared, 'soo, what if he's - "

"Don't think about it, Chan." Kyungsoo cuts him off, voice firm. "Just keep looking. Jongin and I are on our way, we'll be there soon to help."

"You're coming?" Chanyeol asks, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Yeah I... we want to make sure he's safe. He's important to you."

"Thank you," he breathes out.

"Don't mention it. I'll call again when we're there," the line clicks shut and Chanyeol closes his phone, looking around desperately, trying to think of where Baekhyun could have possibly gone. Or even why, at least - that would have given him something solid to guess on.

He sighs sadly and starts taking slow steps again, turning down the path that leads him to their rather pathetic sized city hall. He calls Baekhyun's name more frequently now, and it makes him feel better, even though he's partially aware that it doesn't make a difference in the slightest.

There's a large notice pasted to the side of the city halls supply closet, and Chanyeol normally would have ignored it, but something has him doing a double take to go back and read it. He shines his flashlight over the letters, but once he lets the words written sink in, it falls from his hand with a deafening clatter, and then floods the path with light.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION - RIVER CONCRETING PROJECT BEGINS SPRING 2003

"No," Chanyeol all but yells, shaking his head in denial. "No. No they can't." They've done so much work to keep the river clean - to make sure the fireflies had a habitat they could thrive in. How could they do this now?

He backs away from the sign and bolts down the path, leaving his flashlight there, forgotten. He knows exactly where Baekhyun is, now.

-

bloody hell I at cliffhangers LOLll but whatever :(

it's been over a month I know, I'm sorry ;___; I'm not gonna make any more promises about timely updates but I'm just gonna hope I can! writing is so hard ugh I rewrote this chapter like four times (I'd show you the scraps as proof but omg they're terrible fjsoigjs)

but yeah

yeah

hi guys!

I got a lot of new readers over the past 24 hours uh o_O why!!! I'm curious is all!  but welcome~ hahaha