May 3, 2001

Baekhyun swung his feet in light steps, cheerfully humming his favorite song from his favorite kids tv show in his tv cable. In his chubby palm, he held a bracelet; a handmade bracelet, actually. The very same one with the one he was wearing around his wrist.

This was the first day he was discharged from hospital after almost fifteen days hospitalized. He wasn’t really sure what happened to him until he should be hospitalized, but he knew it had something to do with the burn scar in his neck. The doctors and nurses didn’t tell him, his parents also didn’t tell him. He actually could ask his best friend, Chanyeol, what had had happened. But then, his stupid yet adorable best friend didn’t even come visit him at the hospital. Not even once.

Baekhyun was mad. Really mad that he almost wanted to cross Chanyeol’s name from his list of friend. His parents said that Chanyeol had been really busy. Baekhyun was very upset and disappointed, and had cried out loud on his mother’s chest that he hated Chanyeol so much.

But then Baekhyun was just an ordinary nine years old boy. He forgot easily. He forgave easily. He loved easily.

So instead of sulking in his room because of his number one friend didn’t pay him a visit, Baekhyun ran out of his house, holding a bracelet made by himself when he was at the hospital. In his free time at the hospital, Baekhyun had been hanging out at the children lounge and making different things. And Baekhyun decided that he wanted to make friendship bracelets for both him and Chanyeol.

The first thing he did when he and his parents arrived in front of his house was dashing out to Chanyeol’s house, which only located next to his own house. Without wasting any second, Baekhyun immediately punched the bell with his index finger, and waited for anyone inside the house to open the door; he hoped it would be Chanyeol.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t welcomed with the sight of his best friend. Standing tall in front of him, Chanyeol’s mother greeted him.

“Baekhyunnie?” Mrs.Park’s eyes widened in delight. “Oh my God, sweetheart, you’ve discharged already?” she asked as she kneeled down in front of the little boy, putting her hands on his shoulder. “How are you feeling, honey?”

Baekhyun grinned, showing her his beautiful smile, “I’m fine, Auntie Park. It’s just a burn scar. I’m perfectly okay.”

Mrs.Park’s face fell as she heard the words, and her eyes immediately landed on the left side of Baekhyun’s neck. It was bandaged, but it seemed fine.

“I’m relieved. You’re such a strong boy, Baekkie,” She ruffled the fluffy hair of his. “I’m sorry for only visiting you once. Auntie and uncle were so busy.”

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun beamed. “I want to meet Chanyeollie. Is he in his room?”

Chanyeol’s mother looked slightly shock. “Uhm…Chanyeol is…”

“I’m actually still mad of Yeollie not visiting me. But right now, I want to give him this. Look, Auntie Park, I made him a bracelet,” Baekhyun said as he raised his hand held the bracelet.

“It’s…beautiful,” Mrs.Park uttered after she saw the bracelet. It was a knitted bracelet with a word ‘CHAN’ on it. She tore his gaze from the bracelet he held to the bracelet he wore. It was the same bracelet but this one had a ‘BAEK’ on it. “Chanyeol will like it. He’s in his room, darling.”

Baekhyun quickly pecked the elder woman on the cheek before he bid the woman goodbye and ran to his best friend’s room. It had a very ‘crowded’ door. It was full with cartoon stickers and drawings. Most of the drawings were made by Baekhyun. He never let his best friend to take them down, that’s why the door now almost had no empty space.

Baekhyun knocked on the door with a similar rhythm he usually used when he knocked on Chanyeol’s door. It was kind of their password, letting the other to know that it was them who came.

“Chanyeollie, it’s me,” Baekhyun yelled from outside the room. “I came back from the hospital.”

Baekhyun waited for Chanyeol to open the door. But the door remained unmoving. Baekhyun didn’t even hear a single sound from inside the room.

“Yeollie?” Baekhyun called out. “I know you’re in there. Your mom told me.”

There was still no answer coming out from the other room.

Baekhyun gradually frowned, “Aren’t you gonna open the door for me? I bring something for you.”

Hearing no sound, Baekhyun blinked a few times before he turned his head around, and found Mrs.Park standing not too far from him, staring at him with sad eyes.

Baekhyun turned to face the door again, “You didn’t come to visit me at the hospital. Do you know that I was hospitalized, Chanyeollie?”

Baekhyun heard a sob come from behind him, and he thought it might be Auntie’s. But he didn’t turn around this time, and just stare at the door.

His smile gradually faltered, “You didn’t know, did you? Or maybe you were busy? Your parents and my parents said you were busy, was it true?”

Finally, there was a sound coming out from the room. It sounded like a thud, maybe Chanyeol just got down from his bed.

Baekhyun’s face immediately lit up again, “Yeol, I have a burn scar on my neck. It’s really cool. Do you want to see?”

Baekhyun thought the door would be finally opened. But it didn’t.

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun slowly whimpered.

There was a long pregnant silence before Baekhyun finally heard the voice of his best friend. But the words voiced out by it were far from his expectation.

“Go away, Baekhyun.”

~

May 9, 2001

Baekhyun knocked on the glass of Chanyeol’s window. It was late afternoon. Baekhyun was still on his school uniform, but he already threw his bag to his house then ran to his best friend’s house.

It was the first day he came back to school. All of his classmates and teachers came to him and hugged him because they were relieved that Baekhyun was finally back after a long absent.

But his own number one friend, Park Chanyeol, didn’t come to him at all. He had been avoiding him for days, and now even though he had back to school, Chanyeol still didn’t talk to him at all.

“Chanyeollie, I know you’re in there,” Baekhyun yelled as he jumped up and down, trying to reach the window because he was too small. He could easily go to inside Chanyeol’s house, and talked to him through the door. But it had been a week, the door didn’t do any good. So now he tried the window. “Why are you avoiding me today at school?”

There’s no sound from inside the room. But Baekhyun wasn’t stupid. He could heard the sound of fan from inside, so it meant Chanyeol was there. He was also sure that Chanyeol could hear him. The window wasn’t soundproof or anything.

“You’ve been avoiding me for a week,” Baekhyun whimpered. “Best friends don’t do that, Yeollie. They never ignoring each other. They never avoiding each other.”

Baekhyun pouted, trying not to cry.

“You also didn’t come to see me at my birthday three days ago. I hate you, Chanyeollie,” Baekhyun said as he wiped the bream of tears threatening to fall to his chubby cheeks. “But I saw you wearing our friendship bracelet today. I guessed Auntie had given you that. So I forgive you.”

Baekhyun sniffed and rid the snots away.

“Anyway, I should go home to do my homework. Don’t forget yours, okay?”

~

July 18, 2001

“Chanyeollie?” Baekhyun knocked on Chanyeol’s door. His face was rather red. The summer heat was really unbearable for a small body like Baekhyun. It was complicated for him. He can’t handle both cold and hot. “Could you open the door?”

Little Baekhyun knew that his best friend wasn’t going to open it for him. It had been three months, and never did once the door, or the window, had been opened for him.

“I want to return your handkerchief,” Baekhyun told him from outside the room. “Thank you for giving me this before when I fell. That stupid Jongdae, pushing me when I ran. But I’m really happy you immediately ran to me when you saw me fall,” Baekhyun giggled. “You should see the way you ran, Yeollie. Your belly was bouncing so much.”

The silence ensued, and Baekhyun could only hear the sound of Auntie Park cooking at the kitchen.

“You were really cute. I love your fatty belly,” Baekhyun continued. “But I’m sorry I dirtied your handkerchief with my blood, but I’ve tried hard to clean it,” Baekhyun pursed his lips into a cute pout. “I’ll leave your handkerchief here at the table near tv, okay? Good bye, Chanyeollie.”

~

February 24, 2002

Baekhyun bumped his on the dirt outside Chanyeol’s room. He leaned on the the wall with Chanyeol’s window on top of his head. Baekhyun sniffed loudly. His face was covered with his tears.

“Chan…yeollie..” Baekhyun sobbed as he hung his head low and his body shook. “I really don’t like…I don’t the new class arrangement,” he hiccupped a little before he continued. “This kid in my class…he…his name is Youngjae…he mocked the scar on my neck.”

Now Baekhyun was crying out loud. His mouth was opened really wide and his eyes was shut tight. He was a sobbing mess.

“Is it…” Baekhyun said in between his sob. “Is my neck really ugly, Yeollie? Is that why…you also avoid me?”

~

February 25, 2002

“I can’t believe you kicked his until he almost bumped into Kim songsaengnim,” Baekhyun giggled as he tried to calm his gleeful laugh. His hand was clutching to the steal of Chanyeol’s window, supporting him while he laughed uncontrollably. “But seriously, Yeollie, why did you kick Youngjae? Did you hate him? Did he do something bad to you?”

~

September 11, 2004

“Sometimes I don’t understand, you know,” Baekhyun muffled as his mouth was preoccupied by the strawberry lollipop. He found the lollipop on his desk today. He always received a lollipop every Monday with a small note every time. It had occurred every day since they entered middle school.

Baekhyun never knew who gave those candies to him, but one time, he found Chanyeol standing by his desk, holding a wrapped lollipop. The latter didn’t know that Baekhyun was watching him from the classroom door, silently amused by his best friend’s act. Oh, so after all this time, it’s Chanyeol. Of course, he should’ve known.

Though now Baekhyun knew that Chanyeol had found out about him knowing his simple gesture, because Chanyeol now never put the lollipop in discreet anymore. He now just threw the lollipop to him casually, and Baekhyun could only smile in return.

Baekhyun leaned the back of his head to the glass window. Yes, Baekhyun now was tall enough to reach the window.

“I don’t really understand how our friendship works, Yeol,” Baekhyun continued. His eyes wandered to the blue sky above him, “Because we had stopped talking to each other since four years ago. Well, except I constantly talk to you every now and then. I mean, I know we’re still best friend because you still love me and I still love you. Despite you rarely talk to me, and we never hang out together, but I know you still care for me a lot. Because you sometimes give me your math book when I don’t bring mine, then you receive the punishment instead. And I can list thousands of other things you’ve done for me, but I really don’t remember right now,” Baekhyun shrugged.

He stood up straight and put both of his hands on his pants pocket. He turned around to face the window, and as always, the window was closed with curtain. But Baekhyun knew that Chanyeol probably also leaned to the window just like him.

“I might not understand, but I guess we’re still best buddies, right?”

~

March 14, 2005

Baekhyun put his hands on his knees, panting hard after he ran from his school to Chanyeol’s house. After he had caught his breath, he frantically knocked on the door with his right hand because his left one was still hurting a little.

“Baekhyunnie?” Mrs.Park welcomed him when the door finally opened. “What’s wr-“

“Is Chanyeollie inside? Is he okay?” Baekhyun asked with a high tone due to his worry for his best friend.

Mrs.Park confused face slowly turned normal, “Oh, Chanyeol is fine darling. But how about you? Did the boards hit you hard?”

Baekhyun shook his head, “not really hard because Chanyeol covered my body,” he sighed. “I fainted right after due to the shock, I guess. When I woke up at the clinic, Chanyeol was nowhere so I was worried about him.”

Chanyeol’s mother exhaled a relieved breath, “thank goodness you’re okay. Chanyeol said that you were playing below the construction. You can’t play there again, alright Baekkie? It’s too dangerous. What if Chanyeol wasn’t there? You’ll be the one got struck down by the boards.”

Baekhyun raised his hand and put his palm on his mouth, trying to cover his sob, “I’m really really sorry Auntie Park. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, honey. Chanyeol is fine. He only has some bruises. He’s a big boy, he won’t easily get hurt.”

“But still,” Baekhyun started to feel his eyes pooled with tears. “Chanyeollie shouldn’t protect me like that. I should be the one who was injured.”

Mrs.Park smiled reassuringly, “Do you honestly think Chanyeol would do that? Letting you get hurt? Baekhyun sweetheart, I’m sure Chanyeol wouldn’t be able to live his life if he let you got hurt in front of him...” The woman pulled Baekhyun into a hug, and with a low voice that Baekhyun couldn’t catch, she continued, “…for the second time.”

~

September 1, 2007

“I don’t like our uniform, Yeol,” Baekhyun grumbled. Hands crossed in front of his chest, eyebrows crooked, and his lips formed a pout. “I thought our high school has no flaw, but…ugh…our uniform is really ugly.”

Baekhyun stomped his feet so the dirt on his shoes could go away. The wind blew his black hair before he continued speaking, “well, for me it’s ugly because I’m short. The uniform looks good on you because…wait, since when you’re way taller than me?” Baekhyun’s lips were slightly parted as the thought sank in. “Come to think about it, you’re not as fat as you once before. I mean, you were really big back then, right? Since when you transform into a model, huh, Yeollie?”

~

November 27, 2008

Baekhyun knocked on Chanyeol’s room. He patiently waited for any response from his best friend, though the response was kinda obvious. The response was silence.

He fiddled the hem of his big black shirt while his other hand was holding a wrapped gift. Today was Chanyeol’s birthday. His mind went through the thought of how many years they hadn’t spent their birthdays together. Seven? Eight? Time surely flies really fast.

“Chanyeollie, I brought you a gift,” Baekhyun finally said. “Happy birthday, buddy. I hope my gift for you could bring you the gold medal. Well, my gift is nothing actually. But I spent my monthly allowance for this expensive Taekwondo deobok. Is that how you call it? Whatever, it’s a Taekwondo uniform,” he cleared his throat. “Wear it tomorrow, okay? I’ll be the one who cheer the loudest for you.”

~

January 18, 2010

“Not that I’m complaining,” Baekhyun huffed. “I know that my body is small, and probably people find me cute so they’re making fun of me. Instead of being offended, I’m flattered”

Baekhyun tried to maintain his voice to not waver even a little. Because if it did, Chanyeol would know that he actually cried, and Baekhyun remembered the last time he told Chanyeol a story that he was being pushed to the lockers, the next day the boy who bullied him was beaten up by Chanyeol. And it made Chanyeol got detention for three days.

But this time Baekhyun couldn’t restrain himself for not telling his best friend. It wasn’t often Baekhyun got bullied, but there was this one guy in school who bullied him constantly because Baekhyun once defeated him on the science fair. Today Baekhyun found his fingers wounded because the drawer of his desk was magically containing razor blades.

~

January 23, 2010

“So, have you heard about that guy who always bothers me?” Baekhyun started as soon as he arrived outside Chanyeol’s window. He was slightly panting and he could see the white fog coming out from his mouth. “He got beaten pretty badly. I heard his lips torned, and his eyes swollen like it was being hit really hard. I heard he needed a week to heal, Yeol.”

Baekhyun hung his head low, looking down at his own wounded fingers. The wounds weren’t too painful as before. It healed gradually, and Baekhyun was grateful that at least now he could write with his hand.

“I heard it was you, Chanyeollie,” Baekhyun murmured. He wasn’t sure Chanyeol would hear him from inside his room with that kind of low voice. “It was you again, wasn’t it? Tell me, is it a coincidence that you always beat someone who had disturbed me before? Because it’s getting really weird if it’s just coincidence. You’ve done that since we were in the elementary school. Remember you kicked that Youngjae kid?”

Baekhyun sighed, “I’m glad that you protect me, Yeol. But it needs to stop because I don’t want you turn to be a cold-blooded boy,” Baekhyun joked, but he quickly turned serious again. “Thank you for protecting me, Chanyeollie.”

~

August 9, 2010

 “Congratulation for entering the medical school, Baekhyunnie,” Mrs.Park hugged the boy who slowly turned into a young man. She already acknowledged him as her own son. That’s why as soon as the boy told her the good news, Mrs.Park couldn’t help but shedding her tears of proud.

“Thank you, Auntie Park,” Baekhyun said gleefully as he pulled out from the hug. “It’s because you support me. Honestly, I think you give me the biggest support rather than my own parents,” Baekhyun chuckled.

Mrs.Park smiled sadly. Baekhyun was wrong. The one who gave him the biggest support wasn’t her. It was her son. Chanyeol was the one who cooked the cream soup every time Baekhyun needed to cram until midnight, and Mrs.Park would be the one who delivered it to Baekhyun’s house and said it was her who made it because her son asked her to lie. Chanyeol was the one who will do the research on the best medical school in town, and made her mom to tell Baekhyun which one he should apply to. Chanyeol was the one who bought him the lucky fortune amulet, and asked her mom to give it to Baekhyun on the day of his entrance exam.

It was all Chanyeol, and it saddened her that Baekhyun couldn’t know about this.

“Uhm, Auntie?”

Baekhyun’s voiced pulled her out from his trance, and she put her focus on the boy in front of her again. “Yeah, honey?”

Baekhyun seemed contemplating for a while, fidgeting on his feet and his eyes boring into anywhere but Chanyeol’s mother eyes. “So, Chanyeol really wouldn’t go to college?”

“No,” Mrs.Park shook his head. “He decided to not go. He has another plan.”

Baekhyun pouted, “even if I had thought about it million times, I still think going to college without him is weird. School without Chanyeollie must be really foreign.”

“You’ll be fine, Baekkie,” Chanyeol’s mother pat his cheek. “You know Chanyeol do this because of you, right?”

Baekhyun sighed, “I know, but I still don’t understand his reason. It’s kind of…it doesn’t make sense.”

Mrs.Park laughed, “Actually, I think it makes so much sense, Baekkie. Chanyeol’s goal in life basically is protecting you, making sure that you wouldn’t get hurt or anything. So being a fire fighter is the most make sense thing he could do. He gets to work but he also could somehow protect you.”

“If he wanted to protect me, he doesn’t have to apply as a fireman,” Baekhyun protested.

“I don’t know,” Mrs.Park shrugged. “He said that way he could know if there was any danger, and if the danger was related to you. He’ll be able to save you.”

The thought actually had make Baekhyun blushed. Chanyeol was really sweet. His best friend always put him as the top priority. Even when he applied for a job, he was thinking of Baekhyun. He was grateful for that, really. But if it meant that he should be separated with his best friend, then Baekhyun didn’t want it.

But of course Baekhyun could do nothing about it since he can’t force Chanyeol to follow his step into the medical world.

“So, Chanyeol would start his training this week?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yeah, this Saturday. It will last for six months before he could become a real fire fighter,” Mrs.Park answered.

Baekhyun’s eyes turned crestfallen. He seriously didn’t know how he would spent the years without Chanyeol beside him.

~

Four years later. 25 April, 2014.

Baekhyun tapped his pen on the desk. His glasses kept falling down to the tip of his nose bridge, and it was getting really annoying, so he decided to take off his glasses, and put it down hastily.

“What is wrong with you?”

Baekhyun turned his head to the source of voice. It was Luhan’s; his fellow doctor on the medical school. The closest friend he got after years rotted in the building full with the smell of alcohol and other substances which Baekhyun couldn’t really remember the names despite of four years of studying there.

Baekhyun sighed, and turned his head back from the pretty male beside him. “I’m confused.”

Luhan scoot his chair closer to Baekhyun, and craned his neck to look at the paper which was supposed to be filled by the younger man. “Why is it still blank other than your name, email, and address?” Luhan asked.

“Because I still don’t know where I should apply my internship,” Baekhyun groaned. “Remind me again why we should do this, Lu?”

The older boy grinned sheepishly, “Graduate, stupid. We need to at least have one intern experience to be able to graduate.”

“Who made this system, seriously,” Baekhyun said, not really asking. “I mean, I had study for four years, I had made my thesis, and now they want me to do internship?”

Luhan shook his head, “Look, big baby, stop your whine, okay? Finish this , so we can collect it to Mr.Shim, and we could go home fast.”

Baekhyun exhaled desperately, “Where are you applying, Lu?” Baekhyun asked as he took Luhan’s form and scanned it. “Wondong Hospital? Ew, so mainstream.”

“Better than you. You write nothing.”

Just as Baekhyun wanted to counter his friend’s argument, he heard the beep sound coming out from his bag. He quickly shoved his hand into the bag, searching for his phone.

When he got the phone, he saw the name of Auntie Park on the LCD. The message was only saying that she missed him and asked him to come to the Parks for dinner tonight.

Baekhyun smiled. Chanyeol’s mother was always so sweet to him.

Chanyeol’s mother.

Chanyeol.

Chanyeol?!

Baekhyun gasped.

“What?” Luhan asked when he saw Baekhyun’s eyes widened.

Baekhyun’s face slowly transform into a victory expression. He smirked before he turned his head to Luhan, “Hey Lu, do you want to play with fire?”

~

Now. May 1, 2014.

Chanyeol’s head jerked up when he heard the sound of loud alarm.

Six months of training and three and half years being a fireman, Chanyeol never got used to the loud blare of alarm of his quarter. His heartbeat always stopped for like a mil second before it registered to him that he needed to move from his spot.

Years of being firefighter only did him good in his reflects. Now every time he heard the alarm sound, it was like his body was on auto mode. It was either he ran to the center of the quarter, or if he was in the second level, he’ll get down with the help of the steel pool, sliding down to the first floor. It was always looked cool when he watched it in the movie, but believe him, sliding down that steel pool was really hurt.

At this moment, luckily he was on the first floor, so he was just had to ran to the center. It was the place where everyone needed to gather when the alarm rang. The head quarter will tell them about the emergency and assign which one of them or the team will go to handle the emergency.

Chanyeol took his position behind Siwon, his team captain. Chanyeol was in team A along with his other five fellow fire fighters; Siwon, Jongin, Kris, Leo, and Hoya. There were three teams in this quarter, and Chanyeol was lucky enough to be put in team A, the best team.

After all of the members of the quarter had gathered, Chanyeol waited for Kangta, the head quarter, to come. He silently prayed; the thing he constantly did every time there was a call of emergency, praying the emergency didn’t involve any of his beloved ones. His family, his friends, his neighbors, or his best friend. Baekhyun.

 He might sign for this job to be able to protect his Baekhyun. But never did he want to hear or see the emergency involving the boy he claimed as his eternity best friend. After three years and half, Chanyeol was grateful that it never occurred to him to hear that kind of emergency.

Chanyeol rarely came home. He rarely saw Baekhyun, too. But he always had his sources to tell him about Baekhyun’s condition, mostly from his mom’s report.

When he did come home, Baekhyun will do his routine, which was either he stood outside his door or his window. And Chanyeol would gladly listen to all his stories and complains about his academic, his friends, and his life in general.

Chanyeol was happy that everything was going smoothly according his plan. The plan he made thirteen years ago at the hospital on the night Baekhyun got his burn scar. The plan consisted of him avoiding Baekhyun, only watching him from a far, and protecting him if it was needed. Although it hurt like hell for not being able to talk to his best friend for almost thirteen years, but Chanyeol believed that it was the punishment he deserved for letting Baekhyun got hurt.

“Okay, listen up, phoenixes!” The head quarter shouted from the front. “I’m sorry for waking you guys up from your sleep or disturb your ing time.”

Chanyeol snickered. He really loved his quarter. They were his family.

After the laugh had died down, Kangta continued again, “the alarm wasn’t about an emergency. There’s something else I need to tell you all, so I used the alarm to gather you all here.”

Chanyeol’s eyebrows crooked. He should feel grateful that there was no emergency, but somehow, his heart felt uneasy.

“You know right, that the doctors’ position had been empty for almost one month,” Kangta continued his speech. “Luckily, now there are two doctors willing to fill the position.”

“Please tell us they are girls,” Jongin pleaded from behind Chanyeol, making the other laughed. “I’m sick of seeing all the time.”

Kangta also laughed, “well, I’m sorry to say that you still have to see , Jongin.” The head quarter’s words made a loud groan from the quarter. “But don’t worry. The two doctors aren’t less beautiful than any girls.”

People were starting to get excited again because whether it was female or male doctors, the quarter always happy to welcome new people in their team. It brought refreshing atmosphere. But Chanyeol can’t help to feel suffocated. He was no near feeling refreshed because his heart beat really fast.

Please, don’t let it be him.

 “Oh here they are,” Kangta said. “Our new doctors had arrived. Baekhyun, Luhan, come here.”

Chanyeol’s blood froze. Two beautiful men came to the front of the quarter, and Chanyeol can’t really move a single muscle in his body.

Because standing in front of him was the exact Baekhyun he was trying to protect from any danger. And this exact Baekhyun came to the most dangerous place and job in the world. The quarter of fire fighters. The job involved with fire. The exact thing made him got a burn scar on his neck. The exact thing Chanyeol had been trying to shield from coming near his best friend for years.

A/N:

I'm sorry for not updating this fic for a really long time. but I had to finish my other story, and my thesis. my deadline is in a week, and my thesis defense presentation would probably in two or three weeks.so...another hiatus, I guess. but I'll comeback with a college degree on my hand. please wait for me ^^

and oh, this is unbeta-ed. probably later ^^

please comment! kkkkk