Chanyeol had only been engaged in a fitful slumber for about half an hour when he was suddenly jolted back to consciousness.

He heard a soft click that indicated the shutting of a door, and as he lifted his head from his pillow half an inch or so, eyes closer to being shut than open caught a glimpse of what had awakened him.

“Baekhyun?” His mind-to-mouth processor snapped into action without his permission; he was far too groggy to screen his words before they were spoken.

The called male faltered in his steps towards his own bed once he realized that his destination was where the voice had originated.

“Yeol?”

Chanyeol only grunted in affirmation, face already squished against Baekhyun’s pillow as it had been before the smaller male’s arrival.

Baekhyun blinked repeatedly in bewilderment before phrasing a second question.

“Why are you in my bed?”

There was a lengthy moment of silence, longer than warranted, and Baekhyun was just about to attribute the reason behind it to Chanyeol having passed out when a belated response was provided, albeit close to unintelligible.

“Ahmisschu.”

He heaved a compunctious sigh, voice far softer than before. 

“That doesn’t explain why you’re in my bed.”

The younger mumbled something incoherent, shifting in position underneath the covers.

“Channie…” Baekhyun sighed again, considering the possibility of just sleeping in a different bed than his own.

“Comesleepwithmeh.”

“Wait, wha—”

The blankets were shoved off of Chanyeol’s body, enabling him to sit up and outstretch his arms towards the wide-eyed boy only a few feet away, all too suddenly wide awake.

“Just c’mere.”

There was only half a second of hesitation before Baekhyun mindlessly closed the residual distance between them, slowly climbing up onto the mattress and remaining at its edge, maintaining a bit of space between him and the younger male.

He only lingered there for a moment, however, because he was soon pulled into a gentle embrace; against Chanyeol’s chest.

Baekhyun squirmed slightly under his best friend’s hold, but that only caused Chanyeol to tighten it.

He gradually acquiesced, muscles relaxing and head coming to rest over approximately the place where Chanyeol’s heart was located.

The steady beating filled his ears like a melody, except it wasn’t long before it accelerated in pace and became arrhythmic.

Baekhyun lifted one of the hands previously curled against his clavicles, experimentally resting it over Chanyeol’s right pectoral muscle and smiling softly once he heard the younger’s heart jump a beat and pick up in pace yet again.

He was too tired himself to dwell on the implications such a thing entailed, all he knew at that moment in time was that it brought him a sense of comfort, and it took mere moments for both of them to fall off the edge of reality and into darkness.

~

It was the light of the sun permeating through the windows that brought him awake this time around, wrapping around him and filtering past shut eyelids before dragging them open to reveal irises b with content rather than regret for once.

For, this morning, he opened his eyes only to be met with the sight of the one he loved, still deep in slumber himself.

Baekhyun had seemed to shift upwards during the night, his face now nearer to Chanyeol’s own instead of his chest, and Chanyeol’s tongue darted across his lips as he stared, entranced, at Baekhyun’s own pair, contemplating a rather daring but persistent urge that bloomed within him.

He delayed for several seconds, carefully observing the older male and awaiting any indication of alertness. When he received none, he lowered his head, narrowing in on Baekhyun’s mouth before veering off at the last possible second and pecking his nose instead, as a test of reactivity.

He was barely able to conceal his grin when the older instantaneously crinkled his nose and hid his face in his shirt, but he gingerly tipped Baekhyun’s chin up to meet his lips this time, barely applying any pressure but also barely resisting from kissing him more intensely.

It was guilt at stealing a kiss while the other slept that forced him to break away, and just in time, too, because Baekhyun emitted a pitiful whimper that resembled that of a puppy’s before his eyes slowly fluttered open in confusion.

Heat almost immediately radiated from his cheeks, an action that Baekhyun mimicked after recalling that they had slept together (in the platonic sense) and that their faces were now separated by only a few centimeters.

He hastily turned his head to the side, shame leading him to bury his face in Baekhyun’s pillow, and as he did so, he murmured, “Good morning…”

“Morning…” Baekhyun whispered shyly, still feeling a bit disoriented.

Chanyeol cleared his throat in discomfort, longing to kiss his best friend for real, with response, and just barely refraining from doing such a thing by avoiding his eyes.

“Um. I should— go take a shower—” Chanyeol offered up the first excuse to depart that he could think of, rapidly disentangling their legs and in the process of unwinding his arms from Baekhyun’s waist when the older stopped him with a hand on his bicep.

“Hm? What is it, Baek?”

Baekhyun only snuggled closer to him, silently indicating that he didn’t want him to leave just yet, and Chanyeol conceded, delightedly drawing Baekhyun against him once more.

“Still sleepy?”

Baekhyun hummed lowly-which could be taken as agreement- but truly, he just wanted to be awake and aware of their close proximity; he wanted to feel Chanyeol’s body against his in consciousness rather than in slumber.

Chanyeol rested his chin atop Baekhyun’s head and sighed softly, thinking dreamily to himself of how he longed to hold Baekhyun like this for the remainder of his life, and it was in that moment that he decided he was going confess…

That day.

He couldn’t handle this push and pull, both the crossing and watching of lines, the never-ending wondering of whether he could or couldn’t or should or shouldn’t do something. He couldn’t handle knowing that there were instances where they could cuddle, and be affectionate with each other, but it wasn’t a constant thing, and by no means could he engage him in a kiss even half as often as he wished, let alone partake in acts of a far more intimate nature.

Chanyeol needed to have more- what he had was no longer enough for him. After having had a taste of his sweet lips, after having realized the gravity of his feelings for the older male… he needed Baekhyun in every single way possible; he needed to know that Baekhyun was his and his only; he just needed.

He needed him.

“Baekhyun—”

The grating sound of something being whacked against a pan instantly silenced him- not to mention causing Baekhyun to do his little whole-body vibrating thing that always made an appearance whenever he was startled- the preamble for another intrusive undertaking.

Their door was flung open, Junmyeon manifesting out of nowhere, adorning a backpack of alarming size paired with hiking boots and khaki shorts.

“Rise and shine, campers! It’s time to go on an adventure!”

Chanyeol’s lips formulated a sound of displeasure, and he raised his head to glare mercilessly at the invader.

“We’re not camping,” He pointed out, sounding unimaginably bored as well as slightly offended.

“Where’s the enthusiasm?” Junmyeon frowned, appearing rather baffled with the fact that not everybody was as accepting of such a disturbance. “We’re gonna go on a hike!”

Chanyeol glanced down at the pouting boy in his arms before raising his gaze and meeting Junmyeon’s once more.

“…Yeah… I’ll think we’ll pass.”

Junmyeon’s frown deepened. “But Kyungsoo organized everythi-“

Baekhyun wiggled out of Chanyeol’s grasp and sat up as quickly as he could manage.

“Kyungsoo wants us to?”

Junmyeon nodded repeatedly, appearing appeased and marginally more ecstatic at Baekhyun’s display of willingness.

“’Kay, let’s go Channie!” Baekhyun exclaimed, proffering a hand to a very reluctant giant still burrowed within his blanket.

“But—”

“Puh-leeeeeease?” Baekhyun entreated, features twisting to form an expression that could be defined as mischievous. “I thought you said you missed me~”

Chanyeol’s eyelids flickered open and shut as he blinked rapidly, reaching for recollection of having said such a thing.

But once the memory resurfaced, a flush claimed his cheeks, and he clumsily rose to his feet after sliding Baekhyun’s hand into his.

“Okay, we’ll go on a lame hike, if that’s what you want...”

Junmyeon’s lips puckered