Many people say that girls always find things out. Girls might not say anything right away, but they know. And, really, Baekhyun most likely agrees on that.

Michi has sensed Chanyeol’s strange behavior—meeting Baekhyun at their house more often than usual, the uneasy smile on the actor’s face she sometimes caught, and some other weirdness—long before the damned dating news popped out, but she never expected it to turn out to be like this. She thought Chanyeol and Baekhyun had finally told each other about it, but seems like she was wrong.

Chanyeol was this stupid instead.

Why stupid? Well, Michi has been friends with the tall male for years, so she thinks she knows him well enough. She knows her cousin and the actor have promised to never keep secrets from each other, so why now? And one promise Michi remembers the most is the promise of telling the other when they get themselves a lover. But with the revelation of Chanyeol’s dating status through the media, Michi does not think Baekhyun would be all cool with that.

Chanyeol has broken his promise. Chanyeol has hurt Baekhyun.

✾✾✾

Being in the showbiz allows you to meet awesomely gorgeous people, Baekhyun understands, so it is normal for the idols to date each other. Moreover, once you enter the showbiz, you have to live in the confined world wherein the people you can meet are sometimes limited because of your schedules and agency’s permission and all that jazz, so it is only normal if idols date someone in their circle.

Even before being an actor, Chanyeol was able to charm off people around him with his gentleness and handsome features. It is not surprising that he managed to be in some relationships before his debut, but it all ended up in a short time because Chanyeol thought they could not understand him well enough.

And because they always got jealous at how Chanyeol doted on Baekhyun.

If you say that Chanyeol always spoils Baekhyun too much, you are right. Before his debut, Chanyeol always granted whatever Baekhyun wanted—be it reading the younger boy some bedtime story, giving him a piggyback ride from school to home, going to amusement park on random days, or even buying him the complete set of his favorite figurines. It also seemed that the golden brown haired male cared about the smaller male more than he did to himself; he made sure Baekhyun got enough meat on his plate during their dinner together, he always made sure that Baekhyun had his lunchbox (he once rushed up to Baekhyun’s junior high school bringing his lunchbox when he called Mrs. Byun to ask if Baekhyun brought his lunchbox and she said no, causing him to be late for his own school), he always let Baekhyun use his bed when staying over, and there were just too much prioritization for Baekhyun that Chanyeol did in the past.

And even after Chanyeol’s debut, things are not that different. The former always calls Baekhyun to check up on him on daily basis, always spares him time in between his schedules just to read manhwas together on the couch, brings Baekhyun little things from his overseas filming, like a Starbucks city tumbler (because Baekhyun collects it)—or something else that relates to the specific places he visits. Chanyeol never says it out loud, but he always thinks of the petite boy whenever he is away.

Chanyeol does not love Baekhyun, because the word love is not close enough to what he feels for the petite boy. Byun Baekhyun means the world to Park Chanyeol.

But as Chanyeol stayed single after his debut and only did real skinships with Baekhyun (that is what the boy has believed), he thought that his best friend had no interest in love again (yes, Baekhyun always tells himself that they are just best friends). Of course there were times when Chanyeol was rumored to be close to some idols, but rumors ended up as rumors in the end of the day.

Therefore, when Chanyeol’s dating news (particularly the confirmed one) with Kim Kibum, the young actor who starred in Sherlock with him, exploded on his graduation day, Baekhyun found it extremely hard to believe.

It is still hard for him to believe until now.

✾✾✾

Chanyeol curses again in reflex as the operator answers his phone call to Baekhyun rather than the shorter male himself. He has been trying to contact him after the revelation of his dating news for God knows how many times, but never once did Baekhyun pick up. The chestnut brown haired boy was also not home when Chanyeol came the day after the graduation as he promised.

A sigh leaves the his lips as his forehead meets the wall of his changing room. It has been eight days since the news broke out, but Baekhyun is still unreachable. Is he avoiding me?

He is about to bang his head on the wall when a hand grasps his shoulder, preventing him from doing so. “Do not hurt yourself.”

Looking over his shoulder, the actor sees that it is just Junmyeon, his manager. He fully turns his body around and leans his back against the wall, looking a bit depressed.

“It is Baekhyun, isn’t it?”

A nod. “He did not pick up again.”

“Have you tried contacting Michi?”

Chanyeol feels like punching himself. It never crossed his mind before to reach Michi, because all he could think of was just Baekhyun, Baekhyun, and Baekhyun. He forgot that the boy lived with Michi and that she might be easier to call. How could I be this stupid?

He hurriedly scrolls through his contact list and stops at her name before hitting the green call button. It takes four rings for her to— “Michi?”

“Yes, oppa?”

“Oh God, you have no idea how glad I am right now,” Chanyeol lets out a sigh of relief and smiles in gratefulness at Junmyeon. “Where is Baekhyun? I tried calling him—”

“He is working, duh.”

“But today is Tuesday. Isn’t he supposed to be working on weekends only?”

“Oppa,” the tone clearly shows that Michi is rolling her eyes at the moment. “Baekhyun has graduated from university and is looking for a good permanent job. So in the meanwhile, why not use his part time job as a full time job?”

“…Right,” Chanyeol has never felt this dumb. “So right now he is working at Minseok’s coffee shop, right?”

“Mmhm.”

“And tomorrow too?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, then. Thank you so much, Michi,” Chanyeol is about to hang up but he remembers about— “Is Baekhyun mad at me?”

There is a dragging silence and the man hates it, but he needs to know the answer.

“Is this about your dating news? If yes, you better ask him yourself. I am in no position to tell anything. I am sorry, oppa.”

Heaving out a dejected sigh, Chanyeol then bids her goodbye and cuts the line. He is quiet for a moment before he looks at Junmyeon, wordlessly pleading at his manager for something.

“I may or may not know what you are about to do, but all I can say is you may have a day off tomorrow if you can finish all the scenes for this music video for Yixing’s new single before midnight,” Junmyeon gives some encouraging pats on the tower’s right arm. “And please be careful. Do not make a scene out there tomorrow, okay?”

“I love you so so so much, Junmyeon!” Chanyeol’s face lights up as he gives the shorter man a tight hug. “I promise I will not cause any commotion. I love you!”

As Chanyeol bolts out of the changing room to ask the crews for an extra work today, Junmyeon just smiles at his talent’s back. Stupid, the world knows you love that Byun kid.

✾✾✾

“Baekhyun, one Caramel Frappuccino, please!”

“Coming right away!” Baekhyun shouts back at Luhan who is now giving the change to a young customer in high school uniform with dark brown hair. He feels oddly familiar with the boy but he cannot pinpoint where he saw him before. Seriously, where did I ever see this boy?

Sensing that someone is stealing glances at him, the male customer looks up from his phone and looks back and forth at Luhan and Baekhyun. However, once he takes a close look at Baekhyun’s figure, his forehead creases. This familiar boy is…?

Knowing that the table is turned now, Baekhyun quickens his work before putting the drink on the thinking customer’s tray. “One Caramel Frappuccino.”

“Thank you,” the high school student sends him a small smile before glancing at the nametag clipped on Baekhyun’s uniform.

“You are welcome!” the barista returns the smile and gets back to work, definitely not noticing that the young customer still has his eyes set on him even after finding a vacant table by the big glass window.

It is almost forty five minutes later that Baekhyun finally feels the intense stare from the dark brown haired student again. He gulps behind the brewing machine; he is not crept out (, yes, maybe a bit), but his guts tell him that he will not like what is going to happen.

“Baek, someone cute is staring at you,” Luhan elbows the barista on his side and raises his perfectly shaped eyebrows in amusement as he remembers that it is the same young customer earlier. “Looks like you have gotten yourself a high school admirer?”

Baekhyun steps on his fellow co-worker’s foot. “Shut up, Lu.”

Luhan just laughs at the boy’s reaction, not minding that his foot is aching. “May as well approach that stu—Oh? He is into photography? Look at his camera! Mannnn, aren’t you lucky? Charm him off and be his boyfriend and you will have numerous scrapbooks filled with high quality lovey dovey photos of you two. If you luck out, you can have your pre-wed pho—”

“You are nuts,” is all Baekhyun murmurs to cut Luhan off before making his way to check the stock of their coffee beans when he suddenly halts his walk and scrutinizes the aforementioned highschooler. That familiar boy… DSLR camera… He forces his brain to scan all the events in the past recorded in his head and frowns because he cannot seem to remember anything.

The high school student suddenly locks eyes with him and, as if there is some unspoken command, he begins to move his legs toward the sitting boy.

“Hi,” he unsurely greets, lips forming into an awkward smile. He is bubbly and lively and so on once you have known him for long, but trust him when he says he is shy and awkward meeting new people, not to mention self-conscious as well. He always takes ages to warm up to people other than his families and Chanyeol. Even Luhan and Minseok, and of course Sehun, are no exception.

“Oh, hey.”

Only then does Baekhyun see the nametag on the student’s maroon blazer. Kim Jongdae? “Umm, do I know you? I think I have seen you somewhere before, but I am not so sure.”

The question seems to have caught Jongdae off guard as he heartily laughs. “You approached me and now you are asking me if I know you? Anyway, don’t you want to sit first?”

“Nah, I am good.”

Jongdae just shrugs. “Fine, then.”

“You kept on staring at me. Why?” Baekhyun holds back the urge to kick this customer out (because creepy strangers always freak him out), expecting the other to answer with some lame becauses, but he absolutely is not expecting—

“You are Chanyeol’s Baekhyun.”

—that.

“Excuse me?”

“You are,” Jongdae repeats as he leans over the table, face breaking into one excited grin. “Chanyeol’s Baekhyun. Park Chanyeol’s Byun Baekhyun. Actor Park’s best friend.”

Baekhyun hopes the ground opens up right now to swallow him down. He prefers his identity as Chanyeol’s best friend to remain unknown and hidden, thank you very much. So now one more fan has figured that he is Chanyeol’s friend, the best one to be exact as Jongdae has emphasized in his sentence previously. The aura from the younger boy in front of him is calm, though, unlike those fans who squealed and bombarded him with questions about Chanyeol once they found out about their relation. Those fans have ever stalked him for a couple of weeks too, expecting to find Chanyeol as well.

Well, Jongdae is surely not the first pure fan (not childhood or high school friend turned fan) to discover the fact that he is Actor Park’s best friend, but having another one to know the truth successfully makes his anxiety crawl back at him. He will never get used to this matter. “I…”

“No need to deny. I have your photos,” Jongdae flashes him a grin before showing him some photos on his camera. He stops at one photo dated last June and zooms it out for the barista. “This is you, right? Mannnn, I walk pass this coffee shop everyday on my way back home, why did I realize this just now?”

Baekhyun looks at the photo and widens his small eyes in total shock. It is a photo of Chanyeol and him hugging beside his expensive sports car and if he remembers correctly, it was when the issue about him choosing Sehun occurred. And here he thought his neighborhood was safe and clean from sasaengs. Screw universe. “How did you find my house?!”

“My brother might or might not follow Chanyeol hyung when he ran off to your house in the middle of his filming. It was…” the highschooler taps his chin, forehead creasing as he is thinking hard. “Last May, if I am not mistaken. Then he kind of has been secretly wandering around your neighborhood once in a while in hope for catching Chanyeol hyung and taking his photos. He has caught you two together more than thrice.”

Baekhyun’s eyebrows knit in confusion. He does not remember any suspicious-looking person around him recently. “Your brother?”

As if on cue, a tall male (still shorter than Chanyeol, though) with a ily messed up medium gray hair appears at their table. “I cannot believe you ordered coffee and a barista, Jongdae.”

Baekhyun lifts his gaze up from the camera to the new visitor and is momentarily mesmerized by the half-smirking smile on the other’s lips.

“Jongin hyung, you were right!” Jongdae chirps, patting the empty chair on his right so that the said Jongin will sit next to him. “This is that Baekhyun!”

Jongin eyes Baekhyun up and down, making the latter slightly cower at the intense gaze. He then turns his head to face Jongdae, flashing a cute triumphant smile which is a total opposite from his half-smirking smile. “Told you so.”

No longer able to process anything, Baekhyun eventually pulls a chair and sits down opposite the two. A part of him feels uneasy while the rest is dead curious about the identity of the two males in front of him. “Umm, may I ask who you guys are?”

The older of the two offers his hand first, in which Baekhyun hesitantly accepts. “Jongin. Kim Jongin. And this is my little brother, Kim Jongdae.”

“Hi!” the mentioned boy gives Baekhyun a cheshire cat grin as he waves his hand animatedly. “I am Kim Jongdae!”

“And we run the biggest fansite of Chanyeol hyung,” Jongin’s tone is a bit cocky but the barista is being oblivious about that because what the hell is this? “Well, it is mostly me who do the capturing. My little brother here is in charge of editing the photos. You know, like adjusting the brightness, adding watermark, blurring unimportant objects, and so on.”

“But sometimes I also take photos. That is why I always bring my DSLR camera around,” the youngest of them three pipes up in similar proud tone. “We have been doing this since Chanyeol hyung’s Love Love Love era.”

Oh, so that is why Jongdae looks somehow familiar. I may have seen him in one or two events.

Despite of the misfortune Baekhyun is experiencing right now (he is always skeptical whenever it comes to his best friend’s fans), he nods his head and somehow manages to relax a bit in his seat. Maybe it is the impact of being near Jongdae who seems to create a good atmosphere with his wide grin, or maybe he has just eventually grown tired of staying undercover that he is indeed Actor Park’s best friend. “So then you guys are, umm, kind of… sasaengs?”

“Well, it is yes and no,” a chuckle escapes the medium gray haired man’s lips as he leans back on his seat. He rests his left elbow on the backrest of his little brother’s chair, palm propping his tilted head. “­Yes, we stalk him most of the time, even during his days off as well. We take photos of him, book the same plane as he does, and even stays in the same hotel whenever he goes abroad. But no, we do not express our love for him in extreme ways. We try to not bother him that much, too.”

Jongdae takes a sip of his Caramel Frappuccino, eyes fluttering close in pure bliss. Once he is down from his high, he puts his folded arms on the table and smiles. “We know that Park Chanyeol hyung is just an ordinary person like we all are. The only difference is just he is an idol, a public figure, while we are not. But despite him being an idol, hey, sometimes when you see a drop dead gorgeous person, you cannot just not capture their gorgeousness, right? Especially if that person is within your reach. I mean, we speak the same language, we live in the same country, and we sometimes even cross paths on daily basis. I am sure people sometimes secretly take photos of their secret crush in school.”

“And besides, Chanyeol hyung knows about our existence as well.”

Baekhyun raises his eyebrows, silently demanding further explanation from Jongin.

“We are one of the fansites he acknowledges. We were there when he debuted and have been a loyal fansite ever since.”

“And we always behave!” the high school student butts in full pride. “That is why sometimes we can meet Chanyeol hyung personally, but funny how we never properly met you before.”

“I never come to the set and I come to the events just as a fan, if that is what you are questioning,” before the brothers can slip a question about his statement, he continues. “But if Chanyeol acknowledges you, then why do you still run the fansite? Is it—”

Jongdae lifts his hand to pause the beautiful barista. “Are you the same age as Chanyeol hyung? Why do you call him by his name only? You do not look like twenty six.”

“Huh? Nope. I am younger than him by four years.”

“Then you must be pretty special. I know sometimes best friends drop the formalities but with that pretty wide … wow,” Jongdae is amazed for a moment before motioning for the male in front of him to continue.

“Where were we—oh, right. I mean, you said Chanyeol acknowledges you two and you can meet him personally. Then why do you still run the fansite? Do you not want to just stay as friends with him? Or do you just keep the fansite running because of money? I know fansites sometimes release pictorial books or calendar set.”

“The thrill and the proudness.”

Baekhyun just blinks at the quick answer given by the two males in front of him in unison.

“The feeling of excitement, anxiety, and fear blended into one as you have to follow Chanyeol hyung to the activities he is doing, having to sneak in your camera with its long lens during events, and even fighting against thousands of the idol’s fans just to take the best photos,” it is Jongin who gives the explanation first. “especially the ones with eye contact.”

“And then the proudness is just bound to come with it,” Jongdae adds. “If you manage to get the limited tickets of Chanyeol hyung’s musical, do you not feel proud? If you manage to sneak your camera in past the tight security, do you not feel proud? If you manage to outshine other fansites with your special photos, the ones when Chanyeol hyung actually looks at your camera and waves, well, do you not feel proud?”

Jongin steals a sip of his little brother’s Caramel Frappuccino and smiles sheepishly when caught red-handed. “To us, running a fansite means taking great photos of the idol for the fans and delivering fan gifts to the idol. Fansites may or may not disturb the idol and the ordinary fans in the process of taking photos, but we try our best not to bug both the idol and the other fans too much. And I do not know if this is just us, but we try to not care about the idol’s personal life. We never follow Chanyeol hyung to Jeju Island when he visits his parents.”

“So you guys also do not care that Chanyeol has a boyfriend now?” Baekhyun asks innocently, but he can feel a hole in his chest at the mention of boyfriend. It is not that he hates Kibum, no, but he just is not pleased with his label as his best friend’s boyfriend. “You will not stop being his fans?”

Jongdae’s laugh is loud enough to make Minseok, who is in the kitchen far away from them, peek his head out of the door in curiosity. Jongin, on the other hand, just hides his laugh with the back of his hand.

“Well, if we are being honest—”

“Baekhyun!”

Three heads turn to Luhan at the same time, making the Chinese cashier take a step back in surprise. He visibly gulps in mild fear. “Umm, I… just need Baekhyun to make some drink.”

“I gotta go,” the wanted boy stands up from his seat and gives a sincere smile. “It was nice meeting you two, and it was nice to hear about the fansite thingy from your perspective.”

Jongin gives him a smile back. “We are glad we have finally met the Byun Baekhyun. Tell Chanyeol hyung Kimjong brothers said hello.”

“O…kay.” Kimjong? Can it be less weird? “Bye, guys.”

“Bye, Baekhyun hyung! Talk to you again someday later! Sorry to halt your work!” Jongdae says in a cheery voice, definitely not sorry.

As Baekhyun proceeds to make the orders, pouring the coffee into cups and glasses, a small part of his brain tells him to loosen up about the matter of Chanyeol’s fans. Funny how a less-than-an-hour conversation with the Kimjong brothers has successfully eased away his three year worth of anxiety of being found out that he is best friends with Actor Park.

And now that he thinks about it, that Chanyeol finally has a lover, it should be okay to show up as his best friend, right? So if Baekhyun wants Chanyeol to act like how they usually are (laughing at their internal jokes, being foolish together, and whatsoever) during their meet ups, it should be okay, right? Fans will just focus on Chanyeol’s relationship, right?

He wants the answer to be yes because of something he has finally figured out.

✾✾✾

Chanyeol wakes up to the sound of constant ringing of his apartment’s bell. It is Sunday and he has planned on coming over to Baekhyun’s house later tonight because his plan to visit him on the day after filming for Yixing’s music video failed miserably, thanks to Junmyeon who suddenly remembered he had another schedule on that day. Groaning and cursing at the unknown visitor, he throws his long legs to the side of bed and pads his way to open the door. He is still in his black sleeveless shirt and blue checkered shorts (not to forget his attractive messy bed hair), but he gives no if it is even Obama who is visiting him. Seriously, who the hell comes in such early morning like—

“Good morning!”

Chanyeol’s sleepy eyes fully open in a snap and a smiling Baekhyun, clad in yellow puffy sweater with little hummingbirds pattern and knee-length light gray jeans, comes into his sight. His lips immediately form a big smile.

Gone is all his grumpiness earlier because morning is always good with Baekhyun nearby.

Not caring that they are still standing at his doorway, Chanyeol quickly curls his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders and pulls him into his embrace. His other hand comes to cup the back of his best friend’s head and the smoothest chestnut brown hair he has ever known. His smile widens as he feels a pair of slender arms encircle his torso and a fit of giggles against his chest. “It really is a good morning.”

“You smell,” Baekhyun complaints, but still not letting go. If anything,