disclaimer: unbeta-ed! sorry for mistakes huuhuu ;A;

Baekhyun just really, really likes Park Chanyeol.

He loves the way one of Chanyeol’s eyes shrinks just a little bit more than the other when he laughs with Jongin and Yixing, although both sparkle equally beautifully; the way Chanyeol always has his guitar with him, and often sits in the school gardens composing; how Chanyeol’s deep baritone voice warms him up on the coldest days, even when he’s not wearing his warmest red sweater.

Baekhyun thinks he must be in love with Chanyeol, and he hates how his cheeks flare up whenever Chanyeol smiles that smile of his. He wills his stupid heart to calm down, just enough for him to have a proper conversation with the taller boy, but he’s always just a stuttering mess around Chanyeol, and he thinks he’s had quite enough.

So Baekhyun writes Chanyeol a letter. He feels relieved, as all he’s ever wanted to say to the other boy comes so smoothly on paper; in person it’s all facial expressions, hand gestures, tone of voice and intensity of gaze (all of which Baekhyun sighs and admits he fails), but in writing his emotions come flooding the paper like waves to a shore, all in that neat, slightly cursive scrawl of his. Baekhyun doesn’t sign off on his note, he doesn’t sign off on the elaborate white and gold envelope, and he doesn’t leave his name when he slots the letter into Chanyeol’s locker early the next morning, before anyone else is in school.

Chanyeol just really, really likes Byun Baekhyun.

He loves the way Baekhyun’s thin lips spreads into a wide rectangular grin as he sits with Kyungsoo and Joonmyun, eyes curving into small crescent moons; he loves how Baekhyun’s slightly droopy eyes make him look almost like a pup; and he loves how he never gets anything done in his composition sessions after school, Baekhyun’s wonderful, silky but slightly raspy voice reverberating down the hall from the choir room and turning his attention completely away from his guitar.

Chanyeol thinks he must be in love with Baekhyun, and he wants so much to tell the smaller boy how he feels, but he’s never been one with words and can’t begin to come up with what to say to Baekhyun. He doesn’t know what to say to Baekhyun as he hears Kyungsoo chiding him about skipping lunch for choir practice down the hall before World History, doesn’t know how to show Baekhyun that he’s worried he didn’t eat (other than giving him a warm hug, something Chanyeol crossed right off the list), and he doesn’t know how to show Baekhyun he cares.

And so Chanyeol gives Baekhyun a gift. He buys a small muesli bar (he didn’t know which flavour to choose, but he figured everyone liked raspberry and chocolate) from the convenience store just down the road from school, and almost gets to writing a small handwritten note. But then Chanyeol vaguely remembers loaning Baekhyun his handwritten History essay for reference just a week back, and puts his pen down, instead running all four floors up to the school library to type out a small note for Baekhyun. He spends quite a while at the computer, finally choosing to type in Arial, font size eleven, before printing and carefully cutting the note into a small rectangle the size of the muesli bar. On the way to Baekhyun’s locker after another one of his late night composing sessions, the school is dark and empty, and he relies on the dim light of the street lamps around school to stick his note carefully to Baekhyun’s gift, slipping it inside his locker. He doesn’t leave his name.

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“Baekhyun-ah, what’s that?”

Baekhyun turns his head sharply to see his best friend, Kyungsoo, peering curiously over his shoulder at the muesli bar in his hand, and nudges his face out of the way.

“Why are you getting all interested, it’s not like it’s some secret admirer,” Baekhyun says, but pouts as Kyungsoo ignores him completely, grabbing the snack out of his hand to read the neatly typed note pasted to the back.

When you smile, the sun shines

If you’re hungry, eat this. Don’t skip meals anymore!

“Wait, who’s this from?” Kyungsoo asks quizzically, flipping the muesli bar over again and again searching for a name.

Baekhyun shrugs, taking the bar from Kyungsoo and sliding it into his pocket. “Beats me, someone left it in my locker. One of the juniors from choir, probably.”

And Baekhyun’s prepared for Kyungsoo’s rambling. “But Baek, it can’t be someone from choir. If it’s someone from choir, couldn’t they have passed it to you during practice? And the note-”

“Morning, Baek.”

Baekhyun freezes, hand still on his locker door, as Chanyeol sidles up to the locker next to his and starts to turn the lock. His heart clearly hasn’t gotten used to having Chanyeol as his locker mate, even after all this while, and he barely squeezes out a greeting in return.

“H-Hey, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol flashes him a warm smile, finally cracking his locker open. Baekhyun sees a familiar flash of gold and white, something fluttering to the ground, and he all but shoves his head into his locker.

He hears Chanyeol bend to pick the envelope up. “To Park Chanyeol, huh…”

Kyungsoo glances at the letter as Chanyeol shoves it into his bag, along with some Chemistry textbooks, and then turns to eye his best friend, red ears visible although half his head is hidden.

“Bye Baek,” Chanyeol says, zipping up his bag and slinging it onto his shoulder. “And bye, Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo merely smirks, as Baekhyun remains frozen in his locker long after Chanyeol’s gone, and pokes his best friend in the .

“Yah, Byun Baekhyun, you’ve got something to tell me?”

“I-Is Chanyeol gone?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo says amusedly. “Now get your head out of your locker, mister, and tell me about that letter.”

Baekhyun finally nudges his face out of his locker, leaning back against the lockers like he’s about to faint.

“I almost died, Kyung, I was so afraid he would realise it was from me…”

“Wait, you didn’t leave your name?” Kyungsoo clicks his tongue in disapproval when Baekhyun smiles sheepishly. “I knew you were up to no good when you left our room earlier than usual today.”

“It’s just, I can’t speak to him without stuttering every five seconds, I’d never get anything out! I figured I would finally be able to say everything if I just wrote.”

Kyungsoo sighs, before softly patting his friend on the head.

“Kyung! Baek!”

Both boys turn their heads, softly smiling when they see Joonmyun running down the hall with a gleeful look on his face.

“Slow down, Joon,” Baekhyun laughs. “What’s got you all excited?”

Joonmyun leans on Kyungsoo for a bit, catching his breath, but the smile never leaves his face.

“Well, you know how we Level Three dorm kids just got our rooms switched around?” Joonmyun grins excitedly as his friends nod.

Baekhyun tilts his head. “Yeah, but why’re you looking at me like that?”

Joonmyun swats a hand at Baekhyun. “Guess who’s my new roommate?”

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun glance at each other for a moment. “Who?”

“Kim Jongin! Baek, you know, Park Chanyeol’s best friend?”

And Baekhyun thinks he’s really going to faint this time.

“Oh my god, Baek!”

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Chanyeol steps into his shared room with Yixing earlier than usual that evening, and Yixing is slightly startled, looking up from his guitar.

“Hey, Yeol.” Yixing sits back on the edge of his bad and continues strumming. “Back so early today?”

Chanyeol merely hums, shrugging off his bag. “I had three periods of Chemistry today, I’m way too exhausted to stay back to compose.”

Yixing nods absentmindedly, fingers still on his guitar, before looking up curiously as Chanyeol retrieves an elaborate white and gold envelope from his bag.

Chanyeol leans back against his pillow, carefully examining the envelope.

“Aigoo, love letters already?” Yixing leans over, nudging Chanyeol over to make space for himself on Chanyeol’s bed. “Quick, open it!”

Chanyeol blushes a little, swatting Yixing’s hands away from the note. He isn’t in a rush at all to find out the contents of the letter, instead slowly admiring the envelope, running a finger along the delicate golden swirls lining the side, and also on the neat scrawl of his name on the front. He can’t help but think he’s seen that handwriting somewhere before. Aigoo, whoever did this must have put in a lot of thought…

Chanyeol carefully peels back the seal, sliding out the note inside, a piece of paper considerably plainer than its casing, filled with the same familiar scrawl.

Chanyeol-ssi,

I hope this letter does not burden you! It’s just that there’s a lot I want to say to you, and yet I can’t seem to be able to. It’s ok that you don’t know who I am, I just wanted to finally get to properly thank you. Thank you for always smiling, thank you for always being warm, thank you for just being you, because you make my days without knowing. I’m ok knowing you don’t like me back, but I wanted you to know that you have been doing so much for others without realising it.

“There’s no name on it?” Yixing picks up the envelope from where Chanyeol left it, searching it for a name.

Chanyeol frowns, “Guess not.”

“Guys!” Jongin comes crashing through the door, tumbling on the carpet in front of his friends.

“Yah, Kim Jongin, it’s hyungs to you,” Chanyeol narrows his eyes at the youngest. “And why do I get the feeling that you spend more time here than at your own room?”

“Speaking of rooms, hyung, you’ll never guess who my new roommate is,” Jongin sticks his tongue out at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol chuckles at how childish his best friend is, and shakes his head lightly. “Then I won’t guess, idiot. Tell me.”

“It’s Kim Joonmyun; you know, Byun Baekhyun’s best friend.”

“Ah,” Yixing says in realisation. “The one with the big eyes, right?”

Jongin all but face palms. “The other one, hyung, the pale one.” And he face palms again when all he gets is a blank stare.

“Well whichever one it is,” Yixing clucks his tongue at the youngest. “This love-struck idiot finally has a connection to his beloved Baekhyun.”

“I’m not love-struck,” Chanyeol glares at his friends.

“Yeah right,” Jongin rolls his eyes. “Anyway, you’ll finally get to find out if Baekhyun-hyung likes you like you like him! All I need to do is just ask Joonmyun hyung and-"

“Yah, yah Kim Jongin,” Chanyeol’s eyes widen as Jongin grins cheekily, getting off the carpet and making for the door. “Kim Jongin get back here!”

“Joonmyun-hyung!”

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It’s two weeks and one letter to Chanyeol later that Baekhyun sits at his study desk in his room; Kyungsoo and Joonmyun had to stay back for a student council meeting and Baekhyun figured it would be a good time to listen to what was in that cheap voice recorder he had found in his locker that morning. Taking in a deep breath, he turns the recorder on, unconsciously hooking his feet around the legs of his chair to brace himself for a prank.

But the beautiful music flowing out from the recorder is nowhere near a prank; crisp, lilting guitar chords tinkle across the room and Baekhyun unconsciously turns the volume up. The deep voice in the background softly humming along blends perfectly with the melody, rich tone melting into the cool tempo of the guitar, and yet Baekhyun can’t help but find it oddly familiar.

The song ends with a last crisp tinkle of strings, and Baekhyun realises with a start that he had been holding his breath the entire way. Letting out a breath, Baekhyun realises a note on the back of the recorder.

When you smile, the sun shines

I wrote this for you, hope you enjoy it!

The lock of the room door jiggles a little, and Baekhyun gets up to open the door for his friends. What he didn’t expect was for a zombie of a Joonmyun to be behind the door.

“Wow, Joon,” Baekhyun raises an eyebrow as his friend trudges into the room. “You look horrible.”

“Yeah, no . That stupid Jongin kid has been keeping him up all night with his dumb rap music,” Kyungsoo dumps his bag at his table with a vengeance, and narrows his eyes at thin air.

Joonmyun merely runs a hand through his dark brown locks, collapsing on the ground against Baekhyun’s bed. “Don’t say that, Kyung, Jongin’s a good kid. It’s just that, well, he can’t sleep without playing his hip hop tracks…”

“Well, you can’t sleep with that music!” Kyungsoo frowns deeply, sitting cross-legged opposite Joonmyun.

Baekhyun tucks his legs under himself. Pressing his knees against the side of Joonmyun’s thighs, he gently leans Joonmyun’s head on his shoulder, running a hand through his hair.

Joonmyun nuzzles his face into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck, softly yawning. “The kid’s having his mock tests now, and he really needs his sleep so I told him he could play his music. Just for one more week, please, Kyung?”

Kyungsoo pouts, patting Joonmyun lightly on the head. “Fine.”

Three knocks sound at the door, and Kyungsoo gets up to open it.

“Ah, annyeonghaseyo, I’m Kim Jongin, Joonmyun-hyung’s roommate?”

Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at Jongin, “Yeah, I know who you are.”

Jongin thinks this boy, shorter and more petite than him with his narrow shoulders, is absolutely adorable; especially as he attempts to look intimidating with what he thinks is a glare.

“You’re Do Kyungsoo, right?” Jongin says, taking note of the surprised look on Kyungsoo’s face. “Joonmyun-hyung’s said a lot about you. Speaking of Joonmyu