I find it funny that most of the people I know right now are at church for Easter, and here I am at home, writing gay fanfiction. It's a good thing that my family is open-minded, because I think that I would probably offend them if they were not.  My brother and I do not celebrate Easter, but I am excited for my mother's holiday cooking and of course lots of chocolate.  Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, I hope that you have a fantastic break filled with family and good food.  This chapter is my Easter gift to you.   -Yee <3

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Chapter Three

     Chanyeol sat waiting in his car, utterly awestruck by the scene in front of him. After about half an hour of searching the school grounds and desperately texting people that the boy might know, he was just about to give up on his pursuit of Byun Baekhyun when none other than Junmyeon, the student body vice-president, just so happened to be hanging up team spirit posters outside of the gym. After explaining the whole notebook predicament that the two found themselves in, Junmyeon willingly gave up the president's home information without question. It almost seemed too easy - and perhaps a bit disconcerting, given how simple it was to obtain that kind of personal information - but he couldn't find it in himself to complain at the moment.

     Only now, as he sat waiting in his vehicle at the end of the guy's driveway, attempting to think of a way to approach the quite substantial home, did he begin to reconsider his plan. Chanyeol came from a modest, middle class family. His parents owned a small, traditional restaurant that had been passed down by Chanyeol's grandfather, and while his home was attractive and far from inadequate by any means, it held no comparison to the mansion that stood before him. Chanyeol tapped his fingers nervously on the dashboard while he thought about it.

     He didn't know why he was hesitating though, really. Baekhyun was just a guy. Plain and simple. A guy that everyone knew and said was nice and genuinely liked, and Chanyeol knew that he was a nice, likeable guy. Besides, it was just a notebook. Delivering a notebook to a friend. Well, a maybe-someday-soon-friend.

     He shook his head, flashing himself an encouraging smile in the rear view mirror. "Park Chanyeol, fighting."

     He nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car, the old door groaning in protest as he made his way up the paved pathway with Baekhyun's notes in hand. Chanyeol pressed a finger to the doorbell. He listened to the chime from the other side, waiting patiently, tapping his foot, humming softly, doing nearly anything to distract himself because he still wasn't sure if he really wanted to do this. And he was just about to press the buzzer again when Baekhyun opened the door, eyebrows knit and soft, pink lips parted.

  "Chanyeol," Baekhyun spoke, surprised to see the basketball player on his doorstep.

  "Hi, um, our notebooks got mixed up this morning by accident. I thought you might need it," Chanyeol said, holding up the collection of papers. After a moment, Baekhyun's eyes widened, realization dawning on him.

  "Uh, yeah!" he said a little too loudly. The boy looked down for a moment, clearing his throat awkwardly. Chanyeol fought the urge to smile.

  "Come in," Baekhyun invited, stepping back and opening the door wider. He chuckled slightly as the taller handed him his notes. "I was actually going to bring you your book on Monday. I didn't have your number or anything, so I didn't know if you would really need it this weekend or not."

  "Yeah, I just happened to run into Junmyeon after practice. I asked him where you live. I hope you don't mind." Chanyeol rubbed a hand down the nape of his neck, glancing away shyly. It had sure as hell not been an accident, but maybe Baekhyun didn't need to know that.

  "No! I don't mind at all. I'm actually pretty happy about it," Baekhyun muttered, feeling a blush rise on his cheeks. What was wrong with him all of a sudden? He had never been so inept at social interactions in his entire life.

  "Oh, sorry. The notebook is in my room upstairs." He turned, making some vague gesture for Chanyeol to come with him, which he sincerely hoped looked less nervous than he felt, before starting up the stairs.

     The sound of their steps against the steps echoed loudly throughout the mansion - the only noise filling the comfortable silence between the two. The home was eerily silent, Chanyeol thought, lonely. He was sure his house had never sounded like that, not when his family was there, at least.

  "It's really quiet here," he said unthinkingly, as he examined the artwork on the walls leading up to the second floor. "Do you have any siblings?"

     Baekhyun paused for a fraction of a second midway up the staircase, seeming to tense all of a sudden, then continued with a meek smile. Forced, Chanyeol's perceptive eyes considered. He disregarded the thought less than a second later though. He didn't know Baekhyun well enough to make those kinds of snap judgments. It wasn't fair, and certainly not well informed.

  "I have an older brother. He doesn't live here anymore. My parents are just out of the country on a business trip." He said simply, his expression now entirely impartial.

  "Are they usually out of the country?"

  "For the most part. They work a lot."

  "Like all the time? It must be cool to have a house to yourself. Even when my parents are working, my grandmother is usually at home. So is my little sister," he added, noticing that Baekhyun had relaxed. It had probably been nothing, then, or maybe just because he didn't know Chanyeol, either. "She's adorable," he continued, "but talkative as hell."

     Baekhyun chuckled, happy for the change of topic. "How old is she?"

  "Just turned six, her name is Minyeon." They turned right at the top of the steps, to a long hallway with navy blue colored walls, decorative white wainscoting, and even more artwork.

  "She sounds cute," Baekhyun said with a small smile, glancing over at Chanyeol with eyes that looked so warm and inviting that Chanyeol suddenly remembered why his heart had fluttered when they met that morning. Baekhyun stopped at the very end of a corridor, hand clasping the polished handle as he pushed his bedroom door open.

     Chanyeol marveled at the room as he stepped inside, Baekhyun closing the door behind them. It was nothing like you would expect looking at the rest of the house, with its abundance of rich woods and glass, sleekly adorned rooms with neutral toned furniture and fabrics, an elegant fusion of modern and classic style. But Baekhyun's room was just, well, comfortable.

     Several bookshelves lined the entrance, opening up into the rest of the living space. Chanyeol found most of the books to be educational, unsurprisingly, either directly related to school or classic literatures, many even in Chinese or English. He was, however, pleasantly amused to see stacks of manga and popular graphic novels sticking out from wicker baskets at the bottom. It looked as if Baekhyun had tried to hide them underneath the weight of the other books, like Chanyeol hid candy bars his mother never let him have under his bed when he was a kid.

     A sitting area was set up in the half of the room closest to the entryway. A large leather sectional sat in the center, a soft looking blanket draped across the top and two matching arm chairs sitting off to the sides. A flat screen television was anchored inside an entertainment center made of thick blonde wood and glass, the bottom shelf lined with rows of video games and the upper shelves with foreign movies. Baekhyun's bed sat in the other half, through a wide, arched doorway, made up neatly with a striped, white and grey duvet and an inordinate amount of pillows, several of which were a bright, burnt orange color that matched the curtains around the window seat. Chanyeol could tell that Baekhyun had been studying from the textbooks and highlighted notebook pages that littered the surface of the bed and part of the floor.

  "Sorry about all of the mess," Baekhyun supplied as he noted the other's gaze. "It should be in one of these stacks," he added, dropping himself on the edge of the mattress as he searched through the various school materials at the foot of his bed.

  "You really brought home every book, didn't you?" Chanyeol laughed as he picked up one of the heavier texts. Advanced Japanese. "Are you fluent?"

  "Uh, mostly, I'd say. I've been studying since first year," Baekhyun replied as he continued his search.

     Chanyeol's eyes widened. Fluent after only two and a half years. He could barely understand the classes taught in English at Joowon, and Baekhyun would have to already be fluent in English to be taking Japanese at all. Baekhyun frowned, evidently coming up with nothing from the books on his bed and instead turning towards the ones on his desk.

  "Do you always study this much?" Chanyeol asked, sitting down on the bed lightly. Baekhyun stopped momentarily and looked back at the basketball player.

     He seemed intelligent, Baekhyun thought, but also the type of person to kick back in his free time, which is something that Baekhyun could rarely afford to do. "Usually. When I'm at home at least. I use my free period at school to do student council work so I don't have to stay after school." Baekhyun, of course, didn't inform the other that his study habits were not as much his choice as his parents'. Lu Han was the only person who knew Baekhyun to that extent. That's what he was comfortable with.

  "I wish I had your motivation." He laughed. "Once I get home from practice, I just want to hang out. No wonder you're top of the class," Chanyeol said with a bright smile, perfect, white teeth on display.

     Baekhyun gazed at Chanyeol, mouth parted. He could tell that the athlete meant what he said. But unlike the others that said it, there was no bitter tone to accompany it, no spitefulness of the achievements the student body president received. He didn't blame the others, though. No one really knew how hard he worked for those achievements. He knew that some of his classmates, at least, figured his parents were buying him the recognition.

  "Well," Baekhyun began, demure, "if I had to run laps and shoot baskets for hours, I probably wouldn't even go near a book." If it were not for his family, maybe he wouldn't, anyways.

     Returning to his original task, Baekhyun finally spotted the composition notebook in a stack on the edge of his desk. "Oh! Here it is." He pulled it out from the bottom, quickly handing it to Chanyeol when another thought occurred.

  "Don't worry. After I saw what was in it, I didn't read it." He met Chanyeol's eyes this time, so he would know that Baekhyun was telling the truth.

  "Why not?" His voice was deep and soft, a bit taken aback, maybe.

  "If I wrote lyrics, I wouldn't want just anyone reading them." Baekhyun mumbled, glancing down at his feet now. Chanyeol stilled, staring down at Baekhyun. Then, just as quickly, he was grinning again.

  "Do you write lyrics, Baekhyun?" He smirked, situating himself more comfortably on the end of the mattress.

  "Let's say for the sake of embarrassment, that I don't."

     Chanyeol laughed as he stood up fully, reaching out to pinch Baekhyun's cheek in a light grasp. He didn't know where the gesture came from, or even the courage to do it, but maybe it was because Baekhyun had just put them on even footing with his confession. Suddenly, Chanyeol felt perhaps a little foolish for getting so worked up earlier (and smacking his head off of the locker, which he still had a headache from). He should have trusted Baekhyun to think of what it might have meant to him. But Chanyeol did not regret coming to Baekhyun's house, either. How could he, when he was getting to see Baekhyun like this? He was sure many people never had the same opportunity.

  "Thank you. Oh, and make sure not to study too hard tonight. Get some sleep. If you study so hard all the time, you'll make yourself crazy." Baekhyun tilted his head while Chanyeol talked, as if trying to figure him out. "Relax and blow off some steam, Baekhyun."

     Chanyeol turned and walked back towards the door. He was just about to leave when a small hand gently grasped at his wrist, tugging him to a stop. Baekhyun didn't know what he was doing any more than Chanyeol did, but maybe he wanted to take Chanyeol's suggestion of blowing off steam. Or maybe he just didn't want to be alone again. Chanyeol spun around, and Baekhyun immediately met his eyes. He found it more difficult to do with Chanyeol than most people.

  "Uh, sorry." Baekhyun pulled his hand back quickly, smoothing it against his leg, slipping it into a pocket.

     Truthfully, Chanyeol didn't want him to let go, much like when they first met and he helped the boy up. He liked the softness of Baekhyun's hand, how his skin tingled in anticipation when they came into contact.

  "It's just, I could take a break from studying, and there's this party going on right now if you wanted to come with me. I mean, only if you wanted to." Baekhyun added anxiously. Well, now he couldn't back out.

     Chanyeol couldn't help the wide beam that graced his lips. Ever since he accidentally tackled Baekhyun that morning, he had felt this impossible urge to know more, to know everything about him, really. There was something about Baekhyun that made Chanyeol want to get close. Yes, Baekhyun was attractive, beyond attractive in Chanyeol's eyes, but that wasn't it. There was something about Baekhyun that just pulled him in, something beyond what everyone else saw.

  "Sure, I'd love to." He got the sense that Baekhyun wasn't necessarily the type of person to go out partying on a Friday night, but he would most likely know everyone there. He was popular, after all. And Chanyeol could always study tomorrow.

     Baekhyun smiled cheekily, and that, Chanyeol thought, felt like his real smile. "That's great. Just let me get ready really quick, and we can go?" Chanyeol nodded in confirmation, watching Baekhyun as he made his way to the closet with a bounce in his step. He stopped suddenly, turning around, toeing his sock covered foot against the floor.

  "Um, what am I supposed to wear?"

(Edited July 19, 2017)