Friday was overrated. Everyone saying how excited they were for a weekend even though the weekend felt about five seconds long and all anyone did was study the entire time.

Chanyeol glared at his watch, willing for time to go faster as he sat in calculus. He wasn't sure exactly what had spurred his extra courage for the day, maybe when he saw Baekhyun in the bathroom and the towel around his waist had slipped. He wasn't exactly a ert but how could that not excite him just a little? He spent the walk to school motivating himself and hoping he could manage to confess to Baekhyun today while the other rambled on about something to do with labradoodles and how much their paw size varies. Today would definitely be it. He'd share his feelings and.. And.. Well he hadn't gotten that far. He was too focused on anxiously waiting for lunch when he could talk to the elder and tell him his feelings, and if not lunch, then maybe chemistry, after all the name of the class seemed appropriate enough for him to do something like that.

He was rather anxiously tapping his foot throughout the entire class and he was sure he was annoying some of his classmates but he couldn't care less as he tried to figure out what to say, constructing inner monologues and rejecting each one of them.

'Hey Baekhyun, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I really like you.'

'Hey Baekhyun, you're really attractive. I just though I should say that. Maybe you'd like to go out with me?'

'Hey Baekhyun, I never told you but I think you're brave. Maybe we should go out for a coffee sometime?'

He finally ended up daydreaming and thinking of a new phrase somewhere along the lines of:

'Yo, Baekhyun, we should sometime.'

To which Baekhyun would reply with:

'Fo shizzle.'

And at that point Chanyeol just ended up lightly swearing to himself in the middle of calculus and feeling a wave of relief as the bell rang and he was free to go to his next class.

By the time lunchtime had actually arrived, he felt like a complete train wreck, he was sure he had aged at least a year throughout the morning as he stared at Baekhyun of whom was waving at him from the other side of the cafeteria, and he mustered a smile as the boy pointed to the door and he nodded.

Baekhyun sat on the steps in his normal spot, unwrapping a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and staring at it blankly as he waited for Chanyeol to come out.

This morning had been incredibly embarrassing - and that was an understatement. Chanyeol had been standing in the hallway when Baekhyun opened the door, and the latter had jumped back, staring at Chanyeol in surprise, only to realize that his towel hadn't exactly jumped back with him. Needless to say, Baekhyun was feeling beyond the normal "worried" and more in the range of "emotionally disoriented and exposed".

Chanyeol pushed the door open with his elbow, stepping out with tray in hand and blushing wildly.

He sat on the steps, setting his tray on his lap and grimacing at the sudden flashback of his daydream.

"Chanyeol?"

Chanyeol cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah?"

"You won't mention anything about this morning to anyone, will you?"

Chanyeol's blush got even deeper as he tried to brush off the awkward atmosphere with a chuckle.

"What happened this morning?"

Baekhyun breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank God."

Chanyeol chuckled once more, grabbing his juice box and stuffing the straw through the top.

"The size wasn't bad though. "

Baekhyun glared at him, taking a timid bite of his sandwich and mumbling in annoyance.

"Could you not joke about the size of my package? You weren't suppose to see it." Not yet anyway.

Chanyeol nodded, taking the smallest sip from his juice box and hoping to change the subject.

"Anyway, Baekhyun,"

Baekhyun picked at a nut in the crust of his bread and nodded.

"What is it?"

"I want to ask you something."

The boy flicked the nut from his finger, watching it fly onto the ground of the parking lot.

"Is that why you've been acting so strange?"

"Strange?" Chanyeol was ready to panic. "Have I been acting strange?"

Baekhyun nodded.

"I thought maybe it was because of this morning but... I mean, if you let go of it so easily, that couldn't be why, right?"

Chanyeol stared down, grabbing his plastic fork and pushing it into a piece of what he assumed was potato, watching it stand straight and placing a bet in his mind. 'if it falls, I won't say anything until chemistry, if not, I'll say it now.'

"Well I guess this morning could have something to do with it, but it has nothing to do with my question."

"Alright then, what is it?"

Chanyeol took in a deep breath.

"Hey Baekhyun!"

He looked up in dismay to see a boy waving him over, and Baekhyun smiled, waving back.

"Sorry Chanyeol, can you wait a bit?"

"But-"

Baekhyun stood up, bumping into Chanyeol's knee, and the fork fell sadly into the pile of brown goo spread on the plate.

He looked up to see Baekhyun already making his way over there, getting a pat on the back from the stranger as they seemed to be talking about the truck he was standing in front of. Chanyeol sighed, trying to pick up his fork and wipe it off with his napkin without getting goop all over him.

"Chemistry it is."

_

He stepped into the lab, taking his seat, and Baekhyun followed in minutes later. It wasn't until the class had started their next project that he was actually able to speak and he was incredibly nervous as to what he should say, not to mention that Luhan's gaze was a little unnerving even if he had loosened up as far as flirting went.

Baekhyun grabbed a set of wires, placing them onto the table.

"Okay, twist these together."

Chanyeol nodded, fumbling for a moment before managing to do it and going back to leaning against a bookshelf and watch as Baekhyun's petite fingers worked with the tin foil.

"So uh, who was that guy in the parking lot?"

Baekhyun smiled, brushing his bangs from his eyes and grabbing a second piece of foil.

"He was my brother."

"Your brother?"

Chanyeol looked at him confused.

"Why haven't I seen him at your house?"

He glanced over to Luhan, noticing the boy getting a little edgy at the mention of Chanyeol actually being at Baekhyun's house, and Baekhyun chuckled.

"He just got out of the army a few months ago. He's living with his wife now."

"Wife?"

Baekhyun grinned.

"Yep. He's pretty great right?"

Chanyeol nodded, picking at some loose threads on his jeans. He didn't want to be talking about Baekhyun's brother. He wanted to just get this over with.

"Well I was wondering, um,"

He suddenly forgot everything he had thought about saying, and Baekhyun grinned, letting out a little squeal of excitement as the Halloween decoration lit up once he connected it to the clothes pin.

"It worked!"

Chanyeol let out a sigh, leaning over the table and looking at the incredibly simple assignment.

"Well yeah, there's not exactly a high chance of failure."

Baekhyun looked at him with annoyance.

"I know that. But it's fun to have simple stuff like this to do, right? I don't think this even counts as a chemistry project, more of a basic science project."

Chanyeol nodded again.

Say it.

"Anyway,"

"We finished!"

Baekhyun waved to the teacher and Chanyeol let out one more inward groan.

Maybe later.

"Later" ended up being the end of school, which wasn't exactly an ideal time. Chanyeol would end up confessing, and then walking home with Baekhyun who'd probably be angry at him, so he decided to make up something just to make sure he could make a fast getaway depending on whether or not Baekhyun had a good reaction, or if Chanyeol could even handle seeing him react.

Baekhyun walked up to his locker, and Chanyeol shut his own, leaning against the cool metal surface and watching the elder grab his books.

Baekhyun laughed lightly, smiling.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Chanyeol took a deep breath.

"I have something to tell you, but I have to go see my mom right away because she wants to make sure that I'm okay, so I'll have to be quick."

"Something to tell me? what happened to your unanswered question?"

"I got tired of trying to ask it, so I decided to make an answer instead."

Baekhyun nodded, and Chanyeol was insanely proud of his own confidence and the fact that his voice wasn't shaking.

He clutched the strap of his backpack, staring at Baekhyun's lips and wishing he could just freeze time at that moment.

"Well?"

Baekhyun looked into his eyes, but they weren't looking back. He was acting really strange.

Chanyeol thought he had the perfect plan, confess, say 'well then, I'll go see my mom now.' and leave Baekhyun stunned as he walked away confidently, but that's not exactly how it went. Instead, he froze, swallowing, and stumbled rather anxiously over his words.

"B- Byun Baekhyun, I..." He saw Baekhyun's face become more curious with each passing syllable. "I love you!"

That's where Chanyeol messed up, because as soon as he uttered those words, he sprinted. He hadn't expected to say love, but like, and he didn't like how all of the sudden Baekhyun's eyes widened, so he just ran past him, bursting through the door and running down the sidewalk until he was absolutely sure Baekhyun hadn't followed him.

He wished he hadn't done it. It felt awful to actually expose your feelings, and all he could think about was how he would go back to Baekhyun's house and probably be ignored. Baekhyun might even hate him now. Why did he have to say 'love'?

He clutched his sides, trying to control his breathing, and tears rose to his eyes. He didn't feel exactly sad or emotional, he was just taken aback, so he let them roll down his cheeks as he fell against a tree and slid to the ground, starring into nothingness as his breathing slowly went back to normal and he prayed to God that he could take it back, or at least that maybe Baekhyun wouldn't hate him for his feelings, but he'd totally understand if Baekhyun didn't want him sleeping in the same room anymore.

                                                                                            ✴    Never Before ✴