The principle coughs awkwardly and clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable in this situation. “Well, you boys can get on back to class now,” he says avoiding eye contact. He taps on his desk impatiently as Jora eases Baekhyun from the chair and out of the office. 

Once they are back in the hallway, Jora pulls Baekhyun into a comforting embrace. “I know it probably hearing something like that from someone you thought was your friend.” Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, but relaxes in Jora’s hold, bringing his arms to loosely wrap around Jora’s waist. “I’m sorry,” Jora whispers.

Baekhyun pulls back. “Why are you sorry?” he asks.

Jora shrugs and looks down. “I mean it’s kind of my fault. I let him get to me and got you involved and now you’re hurt.”

“You…got punched in the face…” Baekhyun says, “I think out of you and me, you’re the one who got hurt.”

Jora thinks for a moment, bringing a hand up to rub his jaw. “Huh, I did get punched didn’t I? Well, I guess I don't have to shoulder this guilt anymore. I take back my apology.”

Baekhyun cracks a smile. “Nah, it’s too late. You can’t take it back.”

“Hmmmm, well I guess I’ll just have to do something that’ll warrant an apology to you,” Jora says with a mischievous smile.

Baekhyun realizes a moment too late that he got the short end of the stick. “Wait—,” he starts, but Jora’s interrupts him with a swift but gentle kiss to the lips.

As Jora slowly pulls away, he stops to whisper, “I’m sorry” once again. Unexpectedly, it’s filled with more remorse than his previous apology.

Just as Baekhyun is about to ask Jora why his apology sounded so sad, he hears his name being called from down the hallway. Turning towards the voice, he sees Chanyeol sprinting towards them with a concerned look on his face. Once he catches up to them, Chanyeol’s surprised to see the blotch of red fading into purple on Jora’s jaw.

“Dude, what happened? I heard you and Cash got into it?” Chanyeol says, “And what’s wrong here? What happened to Baekhyun?”

“Nothing—,”

“Cash is an ,” Jora says interrupting Baekhyun.

Chanyeol turns to Baekhyun with a look on his face that says ‘I told you so’. “Yeah, somehow I’m not surprised,” he says while Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “What’d he do?”

Baekhyun heaves a sigh. “He didn’t do anything, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, only to see Jora make eye contact with Chanyeol and nod his head like ‘oh yes he did’.

Clamping a hand on Jora’s shoulder, Chanyeol looks him in the eyes and says, “Friend, I know we got off to a rocky start, but let’s say you and me put the past behind us?”

Jora clamps a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder and nods, and then they do some kind of man/bro secret handshake that they probably just made up, but maybe it’s a basketball thing. Chanyeol mentally takes back claiming Jora as The Enemy; he’s only low-key the enemy now. Petty quarrels must be tossed away in order to achieve the greater good. Meanwhile, Baekhyun is just amazed how hating the same person can really bond people.

Jora steps back from Chanyeol and places a comforting hand on Baekhyun’s arm. “Look, I think you guys should talk it out, okay?” He gives Baekhyun’s arm a reassuring squeeze and bids them farewell with a wave of his hand.

Baekhyun watches Jora walk away in an effort to stall. It’s not that Baekhyun doesn’t want to talk to Chanyeol; he does, just not about this. The whole situation is embarrassing from him. It’s all drama that he essentially created. Baekhyun felt validated at the time, but now it all seems silly. Even more than silly, it’s all pointless. Nothing was achieved by what he did. In fact, it only resulted in more people hating him. There’s no telling what Chanyeol heard or what he thinks of Baekhyun now. He should’ve just kept his head down and focused on his studies instead of letting himself run away with romantic fantasies.

“Baek?” Chanyeol calls, breaking Baekhyun from his thoughts.

“Class is probably starting soon,” Baekhyun says without looking at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol takes Baekhyun’s arm in his hand gently asking for his attention. “Come on, Baek. I don’t care about class right now. Talk to me.” Baekhyun leans into him and Chanyeol pulls him into a hug. “Tell me what’s wrong, why you look so sad.”

Baekhyun sighs and relaxes in the comfort of Chanyeol’s arms. “I just want to go home. I’m too sad for school right now.”

Chanyeol squeezes Baekhyun tight before letting go. “Let’s go home.”

They leave school early and walk home, Chanyeol holding Baekhyun close as Baekhyun leans on him. They don’t talk until they’re in Baekhyun’s room, clothes changed, and tucked in the bed. Baekhyun lays his head against Chanyeol’s chest, both propped up by pillows and comforter pulled snug. In the dramas, their hearts would be beating wildly and they’d be nervous, but it’s nothing like that at all. Lying there with Baekhyun feels like the most natural thing in the whole world to Chanyeol. He isn’t nervous or even excitedly conscious about their close contact. Really, the only thing on his mind is the thought of giving the person he cares about comfort in his time of need, to always be there to comfort him.

Baekhyun takes a deep breath and then begins to speak. “I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of things about me today, which is a reason all on its own, but that led to the fight. I’m sure you already know that too, but I was called to the office to help clarify things and I don’t know; it’s just that Cash was so different. I mean I never thought he was even capable of being so…so just angry. And he was angry with me too when he found out that Jora wasn’t lying, and just the way he looked at me. He said that he thought I ‘was better than that’, and it hurt. I’ve been making a lot of stupid decisions lately, doing stuff I know better than to do, so it hurts when I find out that I could’ve made a better choice but didn’t and hurt someone else by doing it.  Now I’ve lost a friend.”

Chanyeol takes a moment to process what he’s heard. Even though he tries to hide behind jokes, Chanyeol knows that Baekhyun is very emotionally sensitive. It’s why he doesn’t have very many close friends; it takes time to understand the way Baekhyun works. So even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal, Chanyeol knows it’s a big deal to Baekhyun. Whether Cash intended for Baekhyun to take it to heart or not, he did.

“I know you think you’ve done a lot of stupid things, and maybe blatant PDA wasn’t the way to go, but you haven’t done anything wrong, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says, “And I know how I reacted to you and Jora, but that had nothing to do with you at all. That was all on me; I had my own issues. I’m sorry for that; I had no right, and this is the same situation. All you did was kiss somebody Baekhyun and Cash has no right to make you feel bad for that. It’s not like you promised him anything.”

Baekhyun looks up at Chanyeol. “Do you really think so?” he asks.

“I know so,” Chanyeol says with a smile, “Baekhyun, you’re a good person. You’re a great person who’s sweet and caring and sometimes overly dramatic, but it’s okay because that’s just who you are. And Cash is stupid if he thinks there’s a better version because the you right now is the best version there is.”

Baekhyun hates himself for it, but he can’t help but get emotional. Somehow just hearing someone say those words so earnestly to him really strikes a cord. “Aw Chanyeol,” he says with watery eyes and a wavering voice, “I think that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Really? Then what about this?” Wrapping his arms around him, Chanyeol pulls Baekhyun closer and leans down to whisper, “I love you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know how to respond and truthfully waiting for Chanyeol to sprint again, but he doesn’t. His arms stay securely wrapped around Baekhyun and when Baekhyun turns to look at Chanyeol an uncertain smile with hopeful eyes tell him he wasn’t just hearing things. “You mean like…?”

Chanyeol nods. “Yeah like totally in a romantic way.” It’s crazy that he’s not even nervous to say it. The words just feel so natural and true, like they were always meant to be said. Sure, there’s a part of him that hopes Baekhyun feels the same way, but a larger part somehow feels that Baekhyun loves him too.

Baekhyun lets out a laugh as he wipes away escaped tears. “Dammit, why am I such an emotional wreck?”

“Do the tears mean you love me totally in a romantic way too?” Chanyeol asks. He smiles as Baekhyun just sniffles and nods.

“Ugh you give me such an emotional whiplash,” Baekhyun says, “How can you be so many different emotions in such a short amount of time?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I don’t know I guess I just wait to process everything at once. I usually react before I think too.”

“Yeah, I think that’s it,” Baekhyun laughs.

“Sooooooo, since we’re all romantic now does that mean I get to kiss you?” Chanyeol says and he put on his most charming smile.

Baekhyun groans. “Nooo, I’m all gross and emotional. Besides, when did you even realize you liked me romantically? Have you even really thought about it?”

“Well,” Chanyeol says, “I kind of realized just now, like fully I guess, and no I haven’t, not really but that’s because I don’t need to. We’re going to be a perfect couple.”

Baekhyun sighs and lies back down on Chanyeol’s chest. “Okay we are definitely going to discuss this later, but for right now I’m too emotionally spent.”

Chanyeol nods. “So, that’s a no to the kiss?”

“Yes. No kiss right now,” Baekhyun says.

“But you did kiss Jora today, so I mean it’s only fair…”

Baekhyun holds up a hand to hush Chanyeol. “Let’s wait for tomorrow to have our first couple fight.”

It only takes a moment for Chanyeol to drop the subject. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s cuddle.”

And cuddle they do.

short and sweet.........or is it

hmmmm i wonder if everything happening so easy and fast will cause problems in the future hmmmmmm

ya kno what they say

if it seems too good to be true

then it usually is

.......or is it

dun dun dunnnnn

whos to say

lols

hope you enjoyed :)