It's Lu Han who bursts into his apartment early one Saturday morning telling him excitedly that he has free tickets to the k-pop concert held in town later that evening. "But I don't even listen to those music that you do," he protests grumpily, but Lu Han is a music enthusiast who doesn't give up and eventually, they're out of the house and heading for the venue.

"So there's a lot of idol groups and solo singers! B.A.P., SHINee, DBSK, EXO..." Lu Han trails off and starts counting with his hands. Chanyeol listens on disinterestedly, eyes trailing along the long queue that they're currently in. He doesn't like idol music, much less catch up on the names. If it weren't for Lu Han, he would be at home sleeping until night. Lu Han chastises him for his nocturnal habits, but that's the way he has adapted to in order to have enough energy to last the night long.

"...Ailee, Baekhyun, G-Dragon-- Yah! Park Chanyeol, are you listening?!" The younger male winces when Lu Han smacks him on the back for his inattentiveness. "Yes, yes, your Highness. So who do you like again?" When Lu Han moves onto Kai and gushes over how fluid he looks when he dance, Chanyeol has his eyes on his friend but mind elsewhere. He drifts off to honey-like voice and a laughter that could take breath away. Lu Han never notices that misty clouds in Chanyeol's eyes, because Chanyeol is good at disguising and listening to others is something he's perfected over the course of his job.

---

It starts to drizzle when they get inside the venue. Luckily, Lu Han is prepared for this and hands him a poncho. Grudgingly, Chanyeol puts it on, and time continues to pass frustratingly slow as his good friend babbles on about the idols attending -- he calls it a prep talk.

"Well, you should know about G-Dragon already, he's the last act I think -- oh there's also that other power rookie Byun Baekhyun, he debuted three months ago but his popularity is increasing at a frightening rate..." Chanyeol looks up into the cloudy sky, unblinking. He's feeling lethargic and out of energy already, and the concert isn't even close to starting. He isn't usually this grumpy, but he's only managed to catch a couple of winks before Lu Han woke him up bright and early.

A drop of rain falls into his eye and it stings. He bends forward and down, rubbing his eyes furiously to ease the pain. If he hadn't been distracted, he would have heard the hoard of fangirls around him scream senseless and seen what the commotion was about. That would, of course, include Lu Han as well.

"Chanyeol! Did you see!" Lu Han enthusiastically pulls him back up and points to the empty main stage. Chanyeol only squints.

"Ah yes, I see the deer god. It's telling me you've gone crazy and you should calm down and save that energy for when the concert actually starts."

"No! Byun Baekhyun came out and waved! I can't believe you missed that!"

"Byun Baek what?"

"Byun Baekhyun! I was telling you about him a few minutes ago!" Lu Han lunges at Chanyeol's stomach with a chidori and jabs him a few more times for extra measure, making sure that he's in (imaginary) pain before he stops and crosses his arms across his chest, huffing. "Ah whatever, you'll see him later anyway. Keep your eyes wide open for him! He's really good."

"My eyes are already wide open, though. And bigger than yours, I'm sure." Chanyeol is insensitive and Lu Han is childish. That's why they end up having a staring battle in a crowd of prepubescent teens, both turning away at the same time with red eyes but with no signs of wanting to admit defeat.

---

The concert starts almost right on the dot, with colourful streamers and confetti shooting into the air before falling onto the crowd. It opens with a rookie group Chanyeol doesn't know and one that Lu Han doesn't really care about, so he mostly nods his head to the pulse of music and tries his best to enjoy it since he's already there. But after months of serene silence alone and listening to rhythmic rapping accompanied by calm beats, he can't help but feel a tad bit uncomfortable.

The next few acts come and go, and Chanyeol sadly finds himself anticipating the next performance whenever he gets bored of the current one.  Over the loud mass, a name is announced and suddenly the whole place is wild, rejuvenated with sizzling energy. Before the song even starts the crowd begins pushing, forcing a huge guy like Chanyeol to unroot from his spot and get pushed to the front as well. He fumbles and turns around to find Lu Han, but Lu Han is nowhere to be seen.

Miraculously, Chanyeol finds himself right in front of the main stage, in front of the next performer, who has his back turned to face the screaming audience. Chanyeol can't make out who is it because the lights are dimmed at this point (but even if it wasn't he probably wouldn't have known anyway).

The next moment strikes Chanyeol hard because he hears before he sees. Chanyeol hears honey-like voice and rich vocals echoing into the night, void of the usual tremble and insecurity it often contained. Confidence in place of maybes. Yes instead of no. Chanyeol closes his eyes in the same fashion as he did the previous time, allowing the lyrics and melody flow into his head and swarm his brain. It is oddly comforting, he notices, as B ends his last note with sustaining vibratos and the people around him erupt into wolf whistles and roar in excitement.

When he opens his eyes, Chanyeol sees perfectly gelled hair and a sparkly sequined outfit. The man before him has heavily kohl-lined eyes that brings out a charismatic aura different from the rest he has seen prior this performance. This is not how Chanyeol imagines him as, nor is this how Chanyeol visions their first meeting to be like, but when they accidentally lock eyes with each other (Chanyeol will later say that it's because he's tall and handsome, and that he sees him because they're on the same eye level) and he curves his eyes into crescents exactly like how Chanyeol had seen in his mind, Chanyeol thinks it can't be that bad to get to know his night time companion in real life.

"Hello, I'm Byun Baekhyun! Thank you for actively supporting me!"

---

Lu Han finds him in a daze when Byun Baekhyun leaves the stage and the crowd disperses a little, allowing him to squeeze to the front to reunite with his good friend. He grabs onto Chanyeol's shoulders and sees his eyes still fixated on the empty stage. "Yah, the performance is over, stop looking like a starstruck puppy," he chides, but Chanyeol merely spins around with wild eyes and questions, "That's Byun Baekhyun right? That performer?"

"Um, yeah...?" Chanyeol doesn't say a word and pushes past him, walking further away from the stage. Lu Han's about to follow him and quiz him on his sudden change of attitude, but Chanyeol shouts over the loud music, "Just stay! I have something important to do! Thank you and bye!"

Lu Han is left flabbergasted at the shrinking back view of his best friend. He's sooo in for an earful when he gets home.

---

Chanyeol, clumsy and flustered, manages to get to the back door of stadium in one piece. Sure, the couple of fans surrounding the area might have helped, but he mostly followed the signs and maps throughout the stadium to find his way there.

He taps the back of one of the burly guys (it reads security on their vests) and asks, "Excuse me, is this where we wait for the artistes to come out?" Mister security only responds with a grunt. Chanyeol assumes this is a yes.

He resigns to waiting outside in the cold. January in South Korea is the end of winter, but nonetheless still cold, with temperatures barely brushing over the zero degrees celsius mark. It's even worse when time is already halfway into the night.

Chanyeol attracts attention because he's tall, considerably attractive, and also a fanboy. High school girls surround him with questions like "Oppa, how old are you?" "Who do you like?" "Who are you waiting for?", and he answers them patiently because there is time for it and he's Park Chanyeol, friendly companion extraordinaire. But he also attracts attention because he tells them that he's waiting for Byun Baekhyun, but has no further idea on who he is and what he sings.

"Oppa, you can't be serious!" But he is. Chanyeol shrugs it off embarrassedly and gives an awkward-sounding laugh to finish it.

Fireworks and strong chorus of voices echo inside the stadium. The fangirls tell him that the concert's ending, and the artistes will soon spill out from the exit door they're currently waiting at and into their vans. Sure enough, idols clad in gleaming outfits and stiff hair strut out. But none of them is who Chanyeol wants to see.

It's almost half an hour later when his waiting finally pays off. Byun Baekhyun walks out in big smiles and confident posture, bodyguards and manager side by side. Chanyeol nearly trips over his own feet as he struggles to catch up. Why are they even walking so fast anyway?

They almost near the van. Chanyeol can't get near Baekhyun because his bodyguards are strong despite his height advantage and they push away anyone who tries to get close. But Chanyeol knows he can't let this chance slip away. It's now or never--

"I'm Park Chanyeol!" His deep voice stands out amongst the high-pitched chatter all around and Chanyeol is glad once again for his height when Baekhyun turns his head almost flusteredly at the sound of his voice and his eyes land nearly immediately on him. It's only for a second though, because soon his manager is barking out orders and pushing Baekhyun to step inside the van. Soon, the van drives away into the dark and Chanyeol is left behind in the dust staring into the tire tracks on the ground.

But he remembers Baekhyun's eyes widening in recognition and Chanyeol decides to grab a cab home. To wait.