After Chanyeol regains his composer in the restroom, the two men decide to join the party, thinking their presence has been missed during the passed thirty minutes. Immediately upon exciting, one of Chanyeol’s sponsors spots him across the gallery and calls out his name. Baekhyun looks up at Chanyeol’s pleased face as he shakes the man’s hand and he finds himself staring almost too intently. Had all of this been a dream, or did he just get the confirmation he had agonized over for the past month. Chanyeol liked him? Well I guess he didn’t say that specifically, but he definitely thinks I’m hot…good starting point.

“This is Baekhyun…one of my models”. Baekhyun quickly regained his composer, nodding at the man.

“I don’t need to you to tell me that Chanyeol…I see him plastered all over this gallery…and in some quite compromising positions I might add”. The man smiled at Baekhyun offering up the hand that wasn’t wrapping around a wine glass.

Baekhyun looked up at the man in horror blushing scarlet and resisting the urge to slap Chanyeol in the chest. What paintings is he talking about?

“Oh Baekhyun hasn’t actually seen those paintings yet!” Chanyeol quickly tried to cover his trail by shaking his head and waving his hands in front of himself. He laughed nervously as he looked at Baekhyun.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to ruin anything…Just wanted to congratulate the two of you on the beautiful work that has come out of your relationship. I’m sure when you started dating Chanyeol you didn’t expect him to publicize your relationship in his gallery”. The man looked between the two boys as he spoke and say the blood slowly start to leave both of their faces.

“We’re not dating”, Chanyeol quickly said wide eyed with his eyebrows nit together. “Those painting were…inspired by…um…they were inspired by um…dreams I had been having”. Chanyeol was a stuttering mess, losing all professionalism as he nervously rubbed the back of his reddening neck. I should probably cover for him.

“I’ve seen the sketches!” Baekhyun blurted out too eagerly. It wasn’t a lie, he had seen one of the sketches Chanyeol had done of them…that day he had been left alone in Chanyeol’s home to poke around his room. He had never dreamed that it would actually get painted let alone be on display in a ing art gallery, but he had faith in the other’s judgment. “I would actually love to see the final product…Chanyeol can you show me them?” He gave the cutest look he could muster and batted his eyelashes along with a playful smirk.

“Of course! Um…would you please excuse us?” The man nodded in agreement already feeling too awkward with their conversation to say anything more. I am so grateful for that.

Chanyeol slowly moved toward the back of the gallery, with Baekhyun right on his heels. He didn’t dare say anything to the other, afraid of how he would act when they were alone. Was he going to scold him? Insist the paintings be taken down? Punch him in the face?

They turned a sharp corner and suddenly Baekhyun was met with ten paintings of himself……with Chanyeol…. If this wasn’t enough of a display for Chanyeol’s coming out, he didn’t know what was. He felt a bit embarrassed at first, he hadn’t even performed these acts and now here he was in extreme detail doing them...or rather Chanyeol…in front of everyone.

“I’m so sorry Baek. I really didn’t think featuring them would be such a big deal”. Baekhyun was speechless spending time eyeing each one and fully taking in the image. “I’ll take them down if you want! I just…really loved the way they turned out…and to be honest it’s been years since I painted an image completely created by my own mind. No models…no scenes…just what my subconscious has been producing. I guess I should have asked you first, but…”

“It turned out so well”. Baekhyun ran his fingertips over the painting he had seen before in Chanyeol’s sketchbook. It was much bigger now, more detailed, with colors splashed on the surface. He wanted so much for this scene to be real and for some reason he felt a small tear roll down his cheek. Am I crying?…oh hell no…Byun Baekhyun doesn’t cry. He quickly ran his sleeve over his cheek and coughed a few times. Then suddenly he felt something on his hand…he wasn’t sure what it was at first, but something internally stopped him from moving away.

Chanyeol tentatively spread his fingertips over the other’s palms, starting from the center and moving towards the edges of his hand. He rubbed back and forth for a moment, relishing in the softness. Then his fingers caressed up to intertwine with the other's more slender and delicate fingers.

“It’s alright to be emotional Baek…I get that way too when I see my paintings”. Chanyeol stood next to him beaming as he looked down at the others hand in his own. He began smoothing his thumb back and forth over the back of the other’s hand as he spoke. Baekhyun found it to be very soothing, but he couldn’t resist the urge to tease.

“Wow…can your ego even fit in this room right now?” Baekhyun laughed as he held Chanyeol’s hand back, squeezing it a couple times to show his approval.

“Go out with me tonight”.

“What? Clearly this whole compliment thing has gone to your head. I don’t know if you remember, but I threw myself at you multiple times…only to get further rejection”. Baekhyun whined only half kidding.

“I only did that to protect you…that little confession I made to you back in the bathroom…that was my baggage and I was worried you wouldn’t have room to carry it.”

“I don’t…but I can always clear some space”.

It was around one o’clock in the morning, by the time Chanyeol’s exhibition closed for the night. Baekhyun had stayed by the other’s side for most of the event, shooting him nervous glances every time someone complimented the paintings of the two of them. He was flattered really, but a part of him was jealous of the painting, was jealous of Chanyeol for being able to dream of the intimacy he wanted so bad. But as he witnessed the painter in all his glory, talking to his sponsors, to community members, to committed fans, he couldn’t help but feel he was now a part of something greater…something more important than his own needs. So as they finally left the now dark building, he grabbed Chanyeol’s hand leading him to one of his favorite spots in the city.

“Where are we going Baek?” With his long limbs easily catching up to Baekhyun’s steps.

“You’ve surprised me a lot tonight…why don’t you let me surprise you for once”. Chanyeol laughed at this comment and nodded his head knowingly.

The destination wasn’t far and they quickly reached the outdoor ice rink Baekhyun had in mind. It was completely deserted having closed hours prior. Without hesitation, Baekhyun hopped over the railing and landed on the slick ice.

“What are you doing Baek! We’ll get in trouble!” Chanyeol called from the other side trying to grab at the other male to pull him back over.

“Oh come on Yeol, no one is going to be monitoring this place…we’ll only be here for a minute”. Baekhyun teased by turning to face Chanyeol and putting his hands up like moose ears while he stuck out his tongue. “You’ll never caught me!” He yelled as he stepped lightly across the ice only to slip a few steps in with his colliding hard into the ice below him.

“Baek are you okay?” Chanyeol hopped over the railing and attempted to run over to his fallen friend, but was quickly met with the cool chill of ice on his backside as well. Baekhyun turned back to see Chanyeol crawling towards him and they both burst out laughing at the ridiculousness.

“I knew that would get you on the ice”. Baekhyun smirked his eyes forming adorable little crescents.

“Come here you little ”, Chanyeol pushed Baekhyun down to lay flat on the ice as his own legs found their place kneeling on either side of Baekhyun’s hips. He quickly ped the other’s jacket and started tickling him like he had done before in his bedroom the morning after their night at the bar together. Baekhyun giggled wildly and Chanyeol couldn’t help laughing himself at how adorable it all was. The moment slowly died down as they both tried to regain their breath and Chanyeol moving to sit at the other’s side, feeling his other position left him a bit too close for comfort.

“Chanyeol can I try something really fast?” Baekhyun said returning to a seated position and moving to face Chanyeol.

“It depends…what do you want to try?”

“Do you trust me?” Baekhyun responded not wanted to reveal is true intentions.

“I’m not sure anymore…you’ve already turned me into a delinquent tonight”. Chanyeol softly punched the other’s arm in a playful way.

“So then it can’t get much worse then, right?” Baekhyun lifted up one of his eyebrows paired with a devious smirk on his face.

“Go on then…try whatever you want”.

“Okay…close your eyes”. Chanyeol squinted his eyes in skepticism at this command. “Just trust me you big dummy!” Baekhyun mimicked Chanyeol’s punch, but did it a bit harder. He ignored the others groans of pain as he continued. “Close your eyes and tell me if you feel any sort of discomfort”.

Chanyeol took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I don’t feel any discomfort, except maybe that my hurts from that fall”.

Baekhyun giggled a little, but regained his composure to continue on with his experiment. He placed his hand in Chanyeol’s and looked up to make sure the other’s eyes were still closed.

A smile had spread itself across Chanyeol’s face and he commented, “I don’t feel any discomfort”.

“What about now?” Baekhyun moved his hand to wrap around the other’s neck, bringing him fairly close to the other’s face.

Baekhyun could hear Chanyeol swallow nervously as he responded again, “I don’t feel any discomfort”.

“And now?” Baekhyun used his other hand to cup Chanyeol's cheek. Staring down at his lips in anticipation.

“N…no..dis…comf..fort”, Chanyeol started to stutter making Baekhyun question the honesty in his statement.

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked while he rubbed his thumb back and forth against Chanyeol’s check.

“Yes, I’m sure. I don’t feel any discomfort”. There was no hint of dishonesty, no stutter, no choking as Chanyeol delivered this line, so he decided to follow through with his plan. He gently pressed his lips to Chanyeol’s, barely touching at first until he could feel the other pressing back. He didn’t want his action to be overwhelming, so he kept the kisses short, soft, and tender.

“How was that?” Baekhyun said moving away and smirking to himself at Chanyeol’s wide smile.

Chanyeol opened his eyes looking back deep into Baekhyun’s. “Perfect”.

Baekhyun intertwined both of his hands in the other’s and smiled up at him with confidence. “We can work with this”. 

Author's Note: I'm done with finals! The struggle has been real these last couple weeks, but I am so excited to be on break so I can finish this story! I think I have about a good three to four more chapters to write, which will be filled with developing Baekhyun and Chanyeol's relationship, understanding and overcoming Chanyeol's condition, and hopefully some ! But please let me know if you lovely readers have any suggestions of dates you would like to see Chanyeol and Baekhyun go one, because I have a few in mind, but would love your input! Thank you all so much for being so supportive, I hope you enjoy :)