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Byun Baekhyun didn’t have the best luck when it came to things in life. His parents passed away when he was young, leaving him to be passed around his aunts, uncles, and cousins until he graduated from high school. He found a job as a construction worker and enrolled in the local university. He worked hard as a student by day and worked harder as a construction worker by night. Whatever free time he had, he used to study and do his homework.

He didn’t have very many friends, but the ones he did have were good to him, doing whatever they could to help him out a little bit.

“Baekhyun, wake up,” Chanyeol said, shaking his friend’s shoulder. Baekhyun fell asleep at the coffee table in the middle of typing an essay. His laptop was an old hand-me-down from one of his other friends. It was practically brand new, used only once or twice by his friend, Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol glanced over at Baekhyun’s screen and rolled his eyes. The boy barely had three paragraphs typed, and a line of gibberish where his head fell onto the keyboard. “Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun suddenly sat up, blinking his eyes rapidly before squinting and groaning, rubbing at his face.

“You fell asleep again,” Chanyeol said with a frown. Baekhyun was falling asleep during the day more often. Apparently, his boss had him working on the new highway overpass, and it was taking a lot more out of him than he expected.

“I did? Sorry, I’m just really tired.” Baekhyun yawned and sat back against the chair, closing his eyes again. Chanyeol watched him for a few minutes until his breathing evened out again, a tell tale sign that Baekhyun was asleep again.

Chanyeol would be a liar if he said he still didn’t have feelings for Baekhyun. They met at the university, and Chanyeol fell in love with the way Baekhyun smiled and the way he laughed. Then he found out about Baekhyun’s life and how hard it was, and he fell in love even more.

They dated for a few months until Baekhyum broke it off, apologizing. He didn’t seem to have enough time for Chanyeol in his life romantically, not in between his classes, and homework, and working at night to pay for it. Chanyeol insisted that it was fine, and any time they could spend together was enough for him, but Baekhyun thought he deserved better. Baekhyun always thought his friends deserved better than him.

I’m just burdening you with my problems. I’ll be okay, I promise, you guys.

Chanyeol remembered Baekhyun telling them that during the emergency meeting they had about his well being last month. And he remembered being worried, but none of them could do anything about it because Baekhyun was smiling like he always was.

Chanyeol closed his laptop and grabbed Baekhyun’s before deleting the gibberish.

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When Baekhyun woke up, it was dark. His laptop was closed, and his paper was printed out in a neat stack on top of it. Baekhyun frowned and reached out to grab his paper, flipping through five pages of it before seeing Chanyeol’s sticky note on the last page.

You’ve used up your Get Out of Jail Free card.

Baekhyun sighed and let his head fall back on the couch. He was dropping the ball here. He really needed to step it up and prove to his friends that he was fine, and he didn’t need help.

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