Chanyeol receives the texts when he’s under the influence of something that Yixing has had for a few weeks and has wanted to share with everyone, so in order to block out the anxiety of seeing the name on his phone’s screen, he takes more of what Yixing had, which naturally turns out to be a bad idea.

Chanyeol doesn’t know where he is, or who he’s with, or what day it is when he startles from his stupor due to his phone ringing. Quickly trying to quiet the obnoxious ringtone, Chanyeol answers with a murmur, “Hello?”

Chanyeol returns to his utmost sobriety when he hears the voice of his manager on the phone asking why he is twenty minutes late to work. Chanyeol stumbles around the now familiar area known as Yixing’s living room as he mumbles into the phone something about a group project taking too long and how he will leave right now.

Chanyeol quickly puts on someone’s shoes, and seeing Taemin begin to rouse with a book in his hand and Jongin’s head in his lap, he doesn’t know whether he should tell the other “goodbye” or shoot daggers at the hand in Jongin’s hair. Deciding to be civil, he says a gentle, “See you, Taemin,” before grabbing his keys from the ottoman, storming out of the hose, and calling his sister to make sure she and their brother are alright. When he backs out of Yixing’s driveway and turns onto the main road, he sees that the time is 7:05, and he curses under his breath that he lost nearly seven full hours by partaking in the dance troupe’s illegal affairs. But Chanyeol knows that he would do it again given the opportunity. He always would, even with the stress he is now enduring, because the feeling of being a teenager outlives the feelings of stress.

-

Since he didn’t read Baekhyun’s texts while he was at Yixing’s, or when he was on the job, or before he returned home and crashed on the sofa, he completely forgets about them by the next morning when he and the dance troupe members walk into school twenty minutes late. (Chanyeol also forgot that it was his day to bring breakfast, and they all decided that it was an opportunity to skip study hall and part of first period in favor of eating at McDonalds).

Chanyeol doesn’t think much about the texts until he’s bored out of his mind third period in English class. After hearing the same corny dialogue six times in the last half hour, Chanyeol pulls out his phone and clicks on an app, but his phone glitches and sends him to his messaging app. With Baekhyun’s texts being the most recent (except for Jongin’s text, Good morning (/∇＼*)｡o○♡), Chanyeol opens them warily and finally reads them.

He feels slightly panicky when he reads, “Can we talk sometime? just you and me?” because he and Baekhyun haven’t talked in quite some time, and what could he possibly want to talk about with Chanyeol? How he’s such a “narcissistic piece of “?

However, Chanyeol reads the next message, "it’s bc i’m sorry. and i have a lot to talk about.” and he stares at his phone in confusion. Is this a prank? Is Baekhyun trying to mess with him? Chanyeol doesn’t know what he should do, seeing as Baekhyun was one of his first friends ever - but Baekhyun has also been the source of this entire disaster he calls his junior year.

Except, can he really blame Baekhyun for all of this? Was it really all his fault that their friends reacted the way they did, or that the dance troupe responded the way they did, or that Chanyeol observed all of the events without truly picking one side or the other? Or even trying to prevent one side from fighting with the other? What does that make him in terms of blame?

The bell rings, signaling them to move to the next period. Chanyeol inwardly groans that he has to go to literature (where he will inevitably see Baekhyun, still without a reply to his texts), but he picks up his backpack and waits outside his classroom for Jongin to arrive so that they can walk to class together. Chanyeol has an earbud in his left ear while Jongin is talking to him on his right; he asks him why he left early yesterday, and Chanyeol mumbles, “work.“ He feels Jongin’s fingers brush against his own, and he looks at the other, only to see him staring fiercely ahead.

About ten steps in front of them stands Luhan, who looks like he wants to approach Chanyeol so badly, but he doesn’t seem to know what to say. Chanyeol feels the tension emitting from Jongin at the mere sight of Luhan, so he cooes in Jongin’s ear, “It’s alright, Jongin. No need to get tense.”

Jongin whips his head around quickly to look at Chanyeol, and seeing his relaxed manner, Jongin sighs and releases some of his building anger. “Okay.”

The two of them walk past Luhan without saying a word, though Chanyeol does catch Luhan’s eyes for a second. Chanyeol’s eyes are filled with confusion; whereas, Luhan’s eyes are submerged with regret - Chanyeol isn’t sure if he wants to know why.

When they walk to their seats in their literature classroom, they see Baekhyun staring at them, and Chanyeol sees Jongin look back at him aggressively. Chanyeol mutters in Jongin’s direction not to ruin his mood with people like Baekhyun, which makes Jongin huff and grab Chanyeol’s hand possessively - not that Chanyeol particularly minds.

Just as the tardy bell rings, Jongdae stumbles into class with his eyes downcast and his hair sticking out in many directions, almost as if he had just woken up. He slams down in Chanyeol’s previous seat, leaving an empty desk between him and Baekhyun. Chanyeol looks away from the scene when he sees Jongdae's head hit the desk and Baekhyun’s eyes flash with hurt.

Jongin distracts him enough that he doesn't look over to check on Jongdae (or Baekhyun, for that matter) until the bell rings and Jongdae has already left. Baekhyun waits as Chanyeol is packing his supplies, almost as if he wants to say something, until he sees Taemin waiting outside the classroom. When Baekhyun’s eyes meet Taemin’s, he sighs and quickly walks into the hallway, leaving Chanyeol to wonder just what is causing Baekhyun to act so strangely today.

On their way to their respective math classes, Taemin tries to ask Chanyeol in a nonchalant manner if he has spoken to Baekhyun or any of his friends since the dramatic time at lunch a few days ago; though Taemin is looking forward at the classrooms down the hall, Chanyeol notices his eyes, filled with an unknown emotion, flickering over to see Chanyeol’s response. When Chanyeol simply shakes his head, he sees Taemin release visible tension in his shoulders, making Chanyeol wonder why everyone is so tense today.

Chanyeol sits down beside Baekhyun in his math class and smiles faintly when he catches the other boy’s stare. Chanyeol expected Baekhyun to immediately look away, but Baekhyun continues to look at him and offers his own small smile. With this being the first form of positive communication between him and Baekhyun in what feels like forever, Chanyeol brightens dramatically, and he forgets about all the tension the rest of his friends felt throughout the day.

Lunch, for the first time in a while, is almost boring seeing as the only two people at the lunch table are Yixing and Chanyeol. Taemin sends him a text when the bell rings for lunch to start: still in calculus finishing my exam. Yixing tells him that Sehun and Zitao are serving detention for their geography teacher because of them skipping yesterday. Neither of them know where Jongin is until he walks into the lunchroom with five minutes left; he smiles, sits down beside Chanyeol, and engages in the conversation without explaining what he was doing during most of lunch - which makes Chanyeol slightly concerned.

Normally Sehun walks with him to band class, but seeing as Sehun’s geography teacher wouldn’t let him out of his site (Sehun sent a text: the old bastard won’t let me leave. get someone else to walk w/ you), Chanyeol decides that he’ll walk by himself, despite the heavy protest from Jongin. Chanyeol walks to the band room still rather elated since his and Baekhyun’s smiles in math class, and this fact makes Chanyeol disregard the eerie silence from Jongdae. He looks over at the other boy and notices his head hung low as he sits by himself, but Chanyeol assumes that he’s still very tired like he was in literature class.

After Yixing walks into his forensics class (Chanyeol smirks when he hears a, “Dude! You’re still alive!” from one of Yixing’s classmates), Chanyeol walks a few classrooms down to his chemistry class. Chanyeol sits down in his seat beside Baekhyun, and the other boy turns to look at him. Chanyeol almost bursts into laughter at the utter shock present on Baekhyun’s face, which Chanyeol assumes is caused by the fact that Chanyeol is actually in the class period. After the initial shock settles, Baekhyun gives another tiny smile before turning around and getting out his class notes to “study.” He conveniently decides to “study” (Chanyeol notices that Baekhyun doesn’t look at the notes at all) at the very edge of the desk, where Chanyeol could see the notes and copy them down for himself. Chanyeol, though slightly confused as to why Baekhyun is willing to help him out, gives him an enormous smile in return.

His week continues in a similar fashion, with Luhan looking like he wants to approach him, Sehun and Zitao somehow still serving detention at lunch, and Jongin giving little cute reminders that he’s still around (like good morning messages and hand holding). With each passing day of the week, Baekhyun and Chanyeol share more smiles in math class and somewhat acknowledge each other when passing by in the hallways (leading to the confusion of the dance troupe). However, Chanyeol also notices that everyday in literature class, Jongdae arrives looking like he just woke up, and he always sits a desk away from Baekhyun. At first, Chanyeol thought it was because Jongdae was so tired and didn’t notice where he sat down, but after seeing it three days in a row, Chanyeol assumes that Baekhyun and Jongdae aren’t speaking anymore. Frankly, he hasn’t seen Jongdae speak to really any of their friends in the last few days.

Chanyeol tries not to think much about Jongdae over the weekend when he takes his siblings out to the park where he meets Jongin and Taemin. (Chanyeol also tries not to think much about the fact that Taemin just had to show up with Jongin instead of letting him come alone). But, when he comes back to school the next week and sees Jongdae still avoiding everyone’s worried glances and refusing to sit by Baekhyun in literature class, Chanyeol knows that Jongdae isn’t “just tired” or “slightly stressed.” After knowing Jongdae for nearly six years, Chanyeol knows those are the excuses he’s giving Minseok and the others. He also knows from his personal experience that the others won’t catch on to those obvious lies.

Chanyeol now knows how it feels to be Baekhyun and Luhan: they both continue to look at Chanyeol with slight regret and concern anytime they make eye contact, and they always seem like they want to talk to Chanyeol, but they don’t know how. On Monday in literature, Chanyeol, when he isn’t talking to Jongin, watches Jongdae with the most concerned eyes. He even approaches his desk right as the bell rings in the hope that he would at least get to say hello, but Jongdae rushes out before Chanyeol can say a word.

In literature class on Tuesday, the teacher announces that they have a major project due, along with SAT prep in the form of three practice exams and two essays: all homework, all due by Friday. Many students complain and, for once, give legitimate reasoning for their complaints. Chanyeol worries a bit himself, seeing as he finally got more hours at the grocery store; he can’t ask for time off when given this opportunity, but he really doesn’t know when he’ll have the time to finish all this work. (Unless he and Jongin [and maybe the others] decide to skip fourth through seventh period every day.) Nearly all the annoyed complaints end when the class sees Jongdae raise his hand to speak. “You didn’t give enough time for the assignment. This is impossible.”

“But it’s really not,” The teacher snaps back. “If you guys wouldn’t talk so much in here, you could have already finished-”

“I don’t know about the rest of the class,” Jongdae interrupts and speaks louder, “but I’ve been doing my work everyday. I haven’t talked to many people while I do my work. And I still can’t finish.” Chanyeol snorts and thinks, you haven’t talked to anyone.

“I don’t hear any better suggestions of how to still prepare you for the college admission exams! You have to do this work if you want to succeed.”

“But,” Jongdae starts to sound hoarse, and Chanyeol stares at him worriedly. “Couldn’t you give an extension since you see that we’re really trying hard. We’re not just slacking like we were a few months ago.”

“All I hear is complaining. If you would just get to work, you could finish before Friday.”

Jongdae sinks back into his chair and stares at the ceiling while another kid starts arguing with the teacher about the assignment. When the teacher calls them lazy and unmotivated students, Chanyeol sees Jongdae making grabby hands for his phone on his desk, and when he determines that his shaky hands can’t pick it up, he runs out of the classroom and slams the door behind him.

The classroom is silent for a good thirty seconds, and for Chanyeol, that time seems frozen, because that’s how his mind feels. His synapses can’t make the connections he needs for him to know what to do, but when he moves his eyes back and forth between Baekhyun (who looks like he may cry) and the door, Chanyeol slings his chair back and walks over to Jongdae’s desk to grab his phone; he looks back at Baekhyun, secretly wondering if he is going to do anything, but the other seems frozen in place. Baekhyun hasn’t blinked since Jongdae stormed out of the room, and his eyes haven’t left the door through which he left. Chanyeol gives a tense smile in Baekhyun’s direction before he strides out of the classroom and slams the door far louder than he thought was possible.

While he runs away from the classroom in order to prevent his or any surrounding teacher from reporting him for causing a disturbance, skipping class, etc, Chanyeol looks around frantically for Jongdae. He sees Jongdae walk in from the exit to the courtyard, and Chanyeol discreetly follows Jongdae down the hallway into the bathroom. The deja vu hits him like a brick wall - like Baekhyun’s figurative brick wall that he built in math class a few weeks ago. It attacks his mind’s clarity and sends him back to thinking about that time in math class when he and Baekhyun had so much distance, considering that they sat right beside each other, or when Baekhyun yelled at him in front of his friends and sent him to this exact place, or that time in literature when they read about the death of Holden’s brother, and that sent him to this exact place-

Chanyeol almost succums to the overwhelming deja vu by having what would be his third panic attack in here, but he hears Jongdae wheeze and cough, and he knows that he has to help him. Nodding to himself in some form of self-assurance and confidence in his plan, he gently walks into the bathroom so that he doesn’t startle him.

Chanyeol sees the familiar overhead lights and the poorly-done paint job on the walls before he sinks down to Jongdae on the floor and whispers, “Jongdae, I’m here. Tell me what you need, and I’ll do it.” When Jongdae doesn’t respond, Chanyeol faintly repeats, “I’m here.”

Jongdae interchanges his gasps for air with choking sounds, leading Chanyeol to move beside him and wrap an arm around his shoulder and softly tap a rhythm with his fingers in what he hopes is a comforting manner. Chanyeol feels Jongdae shaking violently in his hold, and he wonders if that’s how Kibum or Jongin felt when he was having his attack. That, in turn, makes him wonder if Jongdae hates being touched as much as Chanyeol did. Just as he begins to remove his arm from Jongdae’s shoulder, Jongdae pants, “Don’t- Don’t move. Don’t leave.”

Chanyeol simply hums in response and tightens his hold on Jongdae; he leans Jongdae’s head on his shoulder and barely rocks them back and forth. A few minutes pass before Jongdae sniffles a bit and quietly says, “Tell me a story.”

“What type of story?” Chanyeol moves his hand to Jongdae’s nape and plays his baby hairs.

“Something funny.”

Chanyeol tries to think of one of his funnier stories that Jongdae doesn’t already know and that doesn’t involve any of their friends (Chanyeol is pretty sure Jongdae wouldn’t want to hear about them), but he realizes it’s pretty hard to do that rather suddenly. Hoping that this story doesn’t upset Jongdae, Chanyeol begins, “A while ago, I was hanging out with the dance troupe.”

Chanyeol checks to see if he gets a negative response, and when he gets no response, he continues, slightly warily, “They were talking about how they would like a sixth member, and how I should join their dance troupe. They listed all these reasons as to why I should join, because I’m tall, I have a pretty face,” Chanyeol hears Jongdae snort and cough at that, and Chanyeol laughs. “Hey, it’s true! Anyway, I was pretty excited, because apparently I could help write the dance tracks or something. Well,” Chanyeol chuckles, “I tried to warn them, but they didn’t listen. Four hours and a bottle of Coke spilled later, I still couldn’t dance, and they deemed me to be ‘hopeless at dancing.’”

“You’ve always had two left feet,” Jongdae murmurs into Chanyeol’s shoulder, and Chanyeol feels the beginnings of a smile.

“I know,” Chanyeol says disgruntledly, but his laughter gives away that he isn’t upset at all.

Minutes go by without any talking, until Jongdae moves out of his embrace and mumbles a quiet, “Thanks.” Chanyeol hands Jongdae his phone and smiles gently.

“It’s what friends are for,” Chanyeol freezes when he realizes what he just said, and it angers him that he was caught off guard by his own words. Him and Jongdae are friends, best friends. It shouldn’t sound strange to say aloud, because it doesn’t sound that way in his head. Chanyeol awkwardly smiles and jokes, “Wow, it seems like this bathroom is conducive to panic attacks.”

Jongdae turns quickly to look at him, and Chanyeol once again realizes that he spoke too soon and didn’t think through his words carefully. “What are you talking about?” Jongdae questions with an unreadable expression.

Chanyeol considers lying; he considers saying he found someone else in this bathroom going through an attack, but he thinks it’s only fair for Jongdae to know this much about him since he already knows it about Jongdae. Chanyeol scratches the back of his head and looks away. “A friend found me here on the verge of an attack twice,” Chanyeol stops to breathe and to calm the rising feeling of panic caused by talking about the attacks. “Why haven’t you ever told anyone that you have anxiety issues?”

Jongdae huffs at the change in topic, but he hurriedly replies, “Anytime I would mention it, I was always shot down by people with more important issues. When I told Baekhyun, he shrugged it off and said, ‘Yeah, well your dad could be an alcoholic.’ And, he’s right. It could be worse; I could be worse.” Jongdae pauses and plays with a loose thread on his shirt. “What about you?”

Chanyeol immediately responds, “That’s not true!” But, he lets the silence swallow them as he realizes quite how similar he and Jongdae are. They both suffer of awful anxiety and panic attacks. Both had their problems essentially ignored. Both bottled their emotions until they exploded. It’s crazy that he’s just now noticing that Jongdae has anxiety, and there’s no telling how long he’s had it. How has no one ever noticed? “Jongdae, you know that he isn’t right. He isn’t right about a lot of things, and I think he’s starting to realize this because he looked pretty ed up when he saw you run out of the room.”

“Then why the isn’t he here?” Jongdae growls and starts to heave. Chanyeol pulls him back into his side in order to prevent the potential for a second attack.

“Would you want him here? Want him to see before he can understand? Baekhyun needs time before he can accept that something is wrong with his friends. I think he wants to believe his friends are always alright while he is the one who suffers. I think a lot of us want to believe that.” Chanyeol sighs and checks the time on his phone.

The two pull apart when they see an underclassman walk into the bathroom and look at them strangely. He grabs some paper towels and leaves. Jongdae scoots closer again and asks, “What do you mean?”

“Sometimes we get too immersed in our own problems that we fail to notice that other people have theirs. What we see as molehills may be mountains to others, and I’m just realizing this. I never thought you, with the ‘perfect family’ and ‘perfect financial status’ and all that, would suffer of anxiety, you know? I was blinded by my own issues and failed to see yours before it was too late. And, I’m sorry.” Chanyeol finishes with his eyes cast downward, which causes him to miss Jongdae’s teary smile.

“Thank you Chanyeol. For everything.” Chanyeol looks over and smiles before pulling Jongdae into an even tighter hug. Jongdae mumbles, “It wasn’t too late.”

Another bout of silence occurs until Jongdae says, “You never answered my question, Chanyeol. Why didn’t you tell anyone that you have panic attacks?”

“No one would listen. And those who would would end up telling those who wouldn’t, and somehow it ends up with people talking about my issues behind my back.” Chanyeol sighs, and he feels Jongdae tense beside him. Seeing Jongdae looking away from him makes Chanyeol realize what he just said, and what Jongdae may think he’s implying.

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol-”

“No,” Chanyeol interrupts while frantically waving his hands, “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to word it like that. I just- I didn’t tell because of the same reason as you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“But I really am.” Jongdae looks directly at Chanyeol, and seeing the ferocity in his eyes makes Chanyeol want to look away. “You have to believe that I didn’t tell him. I told Joonmyun and Minseok because I was worried about you. Chanyeol, you may think no one realized that you’ve had anxiety, but I have. I’ve worried about you since, you know….” Jongdae awkwardly coughs and looks away. “Since your dad died. I’ve worried a lot. But, I-I don’t know how to show it without being intrusive, and I know you hate people getting in your business...” Jongdae trails off and stops talking in favor of staring at his lap pensively. Chanyeol doesn’t attempt to pick up the conversation, now that he’s feeling panicky, and he really doesn’t want to have another panic attack in this ing bathroom. Chanyeol breathes deeply and plays with his fingers to distract himself.

“Even back in literature a few months ago when you ran out, kinda like I did today,” Jongdae chuckles demeaningly to himself, “I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know what, but I knew it was something. I would have went after you, but that kid, Jongin I think, went after you first. He probably would have punched me if I tried.” Jongdae turns to look at Chanyeol and tries to smirk.

“I would say I doubt that, but then again, Jongin is friends with Zitao, and he does wushu….” Chanyeol singsongs lightly and returns Jongdae’s smirk. “I’ve noticed that you and Baek aren’t really talking. You should go talk to him after this.”

“Why?” Jongdae asks defensively.

“Because I truly believe if I hadn’t ran out, Baekhyun would have. He really cares for you. You’re his best friend.”

“What are you implying here?” Jongdae raises an eyebrow and laughs. “Just because Jongin ran after you and you two are now a-”

“Wait-” Chanyeol interrupts, then shyly says, “we’re not exactly a couple.”

“Whatever you guys are, are you trying to say me and Baek will be that way?”

The bell rings, so Chanyeol stands and pulls Jongdae up. He snorts, “I never said anything that remotely implied that. I believe that’s all wishful thinking.”

Jongdae sputters and slaps Chanyeol on the arm. “What are you going on about now?”

“Figure it out,” Chanyeol chants and starts to walk out of the bathroom in the hopes that he can catch up with Taemin so they to walk to class together. “If you need me, no matter what, text me, alright?”

“Okay. I-I- Chanyeol,” Jongdae says as he grabs ahold of Chanyeol’s arm when he walks out of the bathroom.

“Yeah?” Chanyeol looks down at Jongdae and leads them back to the literature classroom for their stuff.

“Thanks.” Jongdae rolls his eyes when he sees Chanyeol’s eyebrows raise in confusion. “Don’t play dumb. Thanks for being there when you didn’t have to be. When we weren’t exactly on speaking terms. Thanks for being a better friend than I’ve been.”

They walk into the classroom and ignore the teacher’s “concerned” gaze, and they see that Jongin and Baekhyun are still there, with Taemin waiting beside Jongin. Chanyeol feels both Taemin and Jongin’s glares directed towards Jongdae, so he gives them a look that tells them don’t say a word, which makes them (particularly Jongin) look away with slight annoyance.

Jongdae lets go of Chanyeol’s arm after he sees Jongin’s smoldering look of what Jongdae thinks is jealousy. He grabs his backpack and leans close to Chanyeol’s ear when he whispers, “He’s jealous of the attention you’re giving me.”

Chanyeol pulls away quickly and looks at Jongdae in shock, only for him to smirk and shout as he’s walking away, “Figure it out!”

Baekhyun looks like he wants to talk to Chanyeol about everything, but seeing Jongdae leave through the door makes Baekhyun decide to chase after him this time. He gives Chanyeol a relieved smile before running into the hallway and following Jongdae to his history class.

Chanyeol feels at ease when he walks over to Jongin and Taemin and takes Jongin into a large embrace. Jongin blushes cutely when he pulls away after the teacher yells at them for public displays of affection. Taemin pretends to barf, but Chanyeol knows that secretly he’s elated to see Jongin’s cheeks so rouge (if only for future blackmail purposes).

Jongin looks around quickly to see if the teacher is in direct sight, and when he moves closer to them, Jongin makes Taemin stand in front of them when he gives Chanyeol a peck on the cheek. Then, he runs out of the classroom before Chanyeol can even comprehend what just happened. Taemin snorts, picks up Chanyeol’s bag, and leads them to the hallway with a smirk as the bell rings, “Why is it always you who’s causing me to be late?”

Chanyeol raises one eyebrow and takes his backpack from Taemin only to hit him with it. “Why is it always you who’s causing my attendance record to go down the drain?”

-

Chanyeol arrives in his math class a minute or so after the bell rings only to find that Baekhyun isn’t there. The teacher begins the lesson and Chanyeol is actively taking notes before Baekhyun stumbles in late. He slides into his seat and looks over to Chanyeol with a look of bewilderment and some other unknown emotion. Chanyeol wordlessly passes his notes to Baekhyun and gets out a new sheet of paper; he gets a brief smile in response. The teacher finishes his lecture rather quickly and hands out worksheets to gauge their understanding. Chanyeol finishes the first problem and starts the second one when he asks Baekhyun, “So, did you catch Jongdae?”

Chanyeol sees Baekhyun stiffen in his peripheral vision, but he patiently waits for a response. “Sorta.”

Chanyeol puts his pencil down and turns to look at Baekhyun with an eyebrow raised. “Sorta?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun mutters and turns his body so that he is facing Chanyeol. “I caught up to him in the hallway, and he said he didn’t have time to talk about everything.”

Chanyeol sounds displeased when he asks, “So that’s it?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, and Chanyeol holds in his smirk caused by Baekhyun moving from his tense posture to his usual, sarcastic self. “No, that wasn’t it. I wasn’t late for no reason. I said I was really sorry for being a ty person these last few days, and I’d really like to talk about everything when he had the time.”

“What did he say after that?”

“He said yes under one condition,” Baekhyun looks directly at Chanyeol and pierces his eyes with a stare. “Only if Chanyeol is there as well.”

Chanyeol manages look stunned at Jongdae’s request, but he doesn’t find it all that shocking. That’s so Jongdae - wanting to be the peacekeeper even in a situation like this. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun huffs and closes his eyes for a second. “Did you just not want to talk about this? You never responded to my texts.”

Chanyeol eyes grow wide with genuine surprise, and he shakes his head and quickly says, “No, it’s not like that! I was busy with schoolwork when I got them, and then I had to go to work, and then I was at school, and I just forgot to send a reply. I’m sorry.”

Baekhyun narrows his eyes slightly and looks like he wants to say something, but he decides against when he asks, “Okay, so you’re alright with the three of us meeting up soon?”

Chanyeol picks up his pencil and finishes the problem he almost completed. “Yeah, but I need a general date so I know whether I need to ask for time off.”

Baekhyun nods and Chanyeol hears the sarcasm in his voice when he says, “I’ll send you a text with the time.” Bekhyun looks up at him, and Chanyeol senses the smirk he’s giving. “And this time, don’t forget to respond.”

-

a/n: things are looking up, ehh? thins are starting to change; convenient that i posted this on New Years! (It's still 1 Jan in my time zone~)