❝ChapterThree;

Somehow, in the midst of everything, Chanyeol had gotten himself a boyfriend. And it just so happened to be little baby Sehun, the youngest of the group, not Baekhyun. Now, Baekhyun knew about it, and he respected it, but it also made a ton of things change. Baekhyun couldn’t allow himself to get so lost in Chanyeol anymore. He had to pull away, to ignore the urge to throw his arms around the other’s neck when they were together, to resist the longing that crept into his heart whenever he saw Chanyeol and Sehun together.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, was a panicked little puppy. He loved Baekhyun, not Sehun. But Sehun was so in love with him, so head over heels, that nothing could be helped. Chanyeol was a people-pleaser, and he found himself caught in a situation where no matter what he chose, not everyone could be happy. But he couldn’t say no to Sehun, not when he gave him that helpless look. He knew it was wrong to play Sehun like that, but he figured that if he divulged himself enough in Sehun that he’d forget about Baekhyun and he would come to love Sehun.

Oh, if only he could’ve seen how wrong he was.

Baekhyun hated seeing Chanyeol put his hands on Sehun, hated seeing them kiss. He was jealous, more jealous than he ever felt in his entire life. Meanwhile, Chanyeol was doing all he could to get away from Sehun when he had the chance. Thus started Chanyeol’s drinking problem.

Almost every night, Chanyeol would be missing from his house. Baekhyun was concerned for the first few times, knocking on his door to get no answer, texting him and still getting no answer, even calling him a few times but the phone went straight to voicemail. After a while, Baekhyun stopped getting mildly concerned and began to get overly worried, panicking about everything. All of the bad scenarios popped up in his mind, only making his worry even worse.

He would’ve worried himself into a coma if he didn’t get a phone call one night as he sat outside Chanyeol’s house, waiting for him to come home.

“Hello?”

“Baek, Baekhyun where am I?”

The words shocked him, but Baekhyun tried to keep himself calm. “I don’t know, Chanyeol, where are you?”

“Baekhyun I don’t know. I don’t know where I am, I can’t.. I... Baekhyun... Baekhyun, come get me, I’m so lost. It’s loud. It’s dark. It’s scary. I’m all alone, Baekhyun, please, come save me.”

Chanyeol sounded so desperate on the other line, his voice cracking, hiccups forcing him to choke on his own words, breaking into coughing fits. “Chanyeol, describe to me what you see,” And then Baekhyun was off, jogging towards the center of town.

He kept Chanyeol on the phone as he ran down the streets, looking down every street as far as he could see, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. No stumbling drunkard with a phone to his ear, no crazy kid wandering the streets with nothing better to do. He looked down every street, around every corner, until he finally found what he was looking for. There was Chanyeol, curled up in a protective way, his hands covering his ears and tears streaming down his cheeks. He was pressed against a building in an alley, shadows hiding him from the eye.

Baekhyun ran over without hesitation and wrapped his arms around Chanyeol, shushing his sobs and rocking him gently. He reeked of alcohol, but Baekhyun didn’t care. He was safe and he was alive, and that was all he cared about. He pulled Chanyeol into a standing position, allowing him to lean on him as they walked, and then slowly made his way back to Chanyeol’s house. Baekhyun lead the way, keeping one arm firmly around Chanyeol’s waist while the other held the wrist that was hanging over his shoulder.

Once inside Chanyeol’s house, he gently sat him down on the couch. He seemed much more calm after the little fiasco, and walking home seemed to help bring him to his senses. His eyes weren’t as glazed over as they were when Baekhyun found him, and his speech was much more understandable than when they were talking on the phone. Baekhyun was going to pull away, but something stopped him.

Chanyeol had a firm grip on Baekhyun’s wrist, hindering him from moving away. He slowly brought his gaze to meet Chanyeol’s, and it was only a matter of seconds before he gave in. They were soon tangled on the couch, Baekhyun half and Chanyeol stripping his shirt. Their lips connected every chance they got, and soon their tongues joined the dance that only they knew. It was only when Chanyeol began to run his hand down Baekhyun’s side that Baekhyun was pulled out of his dreamy haze, forcing himself to say no. He pushed Chanyeol’s hand away, crawled out from under him, and with teary eyes, he began putting his clothes back on. Chanyeol just watched, sitting on the couch, straddling the air in which Baekhyun used to be. He handed Chanyeol back his shirt, biting his lip and fighting back tears, trembling slightly.

“Y-You have Sehun,” He said softly, looking at Chanyeol through blurry vision, watching as he slowly pulled his shirt back over his head.

“Who cares about Sehun?” Chanyeol muttered, much to Baekhyun’s surprise.

In a frenzy, Baekhyun put his hand over his heart and burst, the words flying from his mouth. “You do! You should! sHouldn’t you? Don’t you?”

Chanyeol stayed silent his eyes locked on the ground, as if the carpet could give him an answer.

“Goodbye, Chanyeol...”

“Bye, Baek.”

“Take care.”

“Come back tomorrow.”

“Don’t count on it.”

“I know.”

As much as he didn’t ant to come back the next day, Baekhyun knew he would. He would pass it off as a drunken episode, giving the excuse that Chanyeol was drunk and had no idea what he was doing. He wasn’t going to be able to keep himself away from Chanyeol. Because as much as it hurt him to be kissed and touched by Chanyeol, he longed for those kisses and touches. And deep down inside of him, somewhere, a mischievous part of him wanted to stick around and be there whenever Chanyeol snapped like that, so he could be there to receive the affection from the one person he loved the most.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Baekhyun muttered as he left Chanyeol’s house, stalking off towards his own, tears finally spilling over onto his cheeks and down them, falling soundlessly on the pavement.

;End❞