Chapter 31

Meanwhile on the same day, after the couple had sat outside on the grass, the others enjoyed themselves in the living room. After they had eaten dinner - which they had ordered from a pizza place - they gathered in the living room where Baekhyun and Chanyeol had continued their story.

Chanyeol walked down the hallway towards his room. They had just been to practice and he wanted to take a bath, getting rid of the sticky feeling that the sweat on his clothes and skin gave him. But before he got that far, he felt a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around.

"What's going on?!" Chanyeol exclaimed, before noticing it was just Sehun. "Oh what's up?" he smiled, but the maknae didn't answer, and he and Kai - which Chanyeol now noticed was beside him - just pulled Chanyeol with them into their bedroom. "What are you doing?" Chanyeol asked confused as they pushed him down on the bed.

"Okay, be honest, hyung!" Kai started and Chanyeol looked questioningly at one maknae to another. He shrugged and motioned for them to continue.

"What is going on with you?" Sehun asked. Chanyeol narrowed his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You've seemed sad lately, hyung," Kai said earnestly and worried. Chanyeol laughed.

"I'm not sad! I'm sorry for making you guys worried!" he grinned.

"Be honest, hyung," Sehun said and Chanyeol raised his eyebrows.

"I am honest! Seriously, you guys, you don't have to worry about me!" he said with conviction in his voice.

"Chanyeol hyung," Sehun said. He looked at Kai and then back at Chanyeol. "I've seen you; you don't seem as happy as you used to. You don't have to fake strength. Even though we're younger than you, we're here for you, Yeol hyung."

Chanyeol looked from Sehun to Kai and back again. He seemed to consider what to say. Whether or not he could tell them what had been bothering him lately. Because something had bothered him. He'd been in deep thoughts and he still wasn't even sure of what he felt.

"Hyung?" Kai interrupted his thoughts, asking for an answer.

Chanyeol looked down at his knees. "Okay," he sighed. Kai and Sehun looked at each other and then back at Chanyeol, anticipating. But he didn't continue.

"Has it got something to do with Baekhyun hyung?" Kai asked hesitantly. Chanyeol looked up at him with wide eyes, surprised.

"How did you know that?" he asked shocked.

Kai flinched, surprised that he'd guessed correctly. "I don't know... He's just seemed sad as well lately... like he's not been himself," he said wonderingly with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"Oh," Chanyeol responded. He looked at his knees again. "It is actually something with Baekhyun."

"Tell us. Please, Yeol hyung," Sehun pleaded, eager to help one of his best friends.

"I think I might be in love with him..." It was weird to finally say it out loud. He's been thinking about it for some time now, but he'd never actually said it loud before. And suddenly it made sense: he was actually in love with Baekhyun. It felt right. It was the truth. He didn't have to run away or hide anymore. It was true. He loved him. He was in love with him. Byun Baekhyun. He couldn't help but smile at this thought. It was scary, but he could finally breathe peacefully, like something really heavy had been lifted off his shoulders.

"You're in love with Baekhyun hyung?" Sehun sat down next to Chanyeol on the bed, a heavy facial expression on his face. Chanyeol nodded.

"I think I might be," he said, still smiling.

"Oh, hyung, the hyungs are not going to be happy about this." Kai sat down by Chanyeol's other side.

"I don't care," Chanyeol said, before realizing that was actually true, too: he didn't care about Suho hyung's, Xiumin hyung's or Luhan hyung's thoughts. He didn't care about any of their thoughts for that matter. "They don't have to have a say in my feelings," he said. "I'm in charge of my own feelings and my own relationships. I don't care about what others think."

"If only they had felt like that when we were dating..." Kai mumbled and Sehun smirked agreeing.

"I really don't know what I should do though," Chanyeol stated, looking at his two younger brothers.

"About what?" Sehun asked.

"Baekhyun, of course! I like him. And I don't know if he likes me too, but I think I would like to find out," he explained.

"Well," Kai began, not really knowing how to give advice. "Just try flirting with him."

"Chanyeol hyung can't flirt," Sehun interrupted, knowing about the elder's struggles. Chanyeol shook his head, agreeing with Sehun's claim.

"Just be nice to him, care about him and stuff! Seem interested!" Kai explained, really not seeing the big deal.

Sehun shook his head. "Won't work." Chanyeol shrugged. The three thought about something for Chanyeol to do.

"Well, what do you do when you pick up guys?" Chanyeol asked curiously.

"It's really not that different from girls really. Especially if the guy is Baekhyun..." Kai said. Chanyeol narrowed his eyes at the seemingly insult, but didn't comment on it.

"Just tell me," he said instead. "I don't know how to flirt with either boys or girls. So what do you do?" he looked from Kai to Sehun. Sehun shrugged.

"I've never flirted with anyone before," he revealed. "My first boyfriend and kiss and all was Jongin." He looked at Kai, waiting for his answer instead.

Jongin thought of what to say to the two oblivious people. "Well, you should just be yourself. And be interested and be a gentleman! Make sure to show that you actually care about the person. Chicks love gentlemen! Even guys love gentlemen!"

"Would you fall for a gentleman?" Chanyeol asked Sehun, asking for his opinion on Kai's advice.

Sehun thought. "If he was really nice to me and cared about me, yes. I think I would fall for it. It would be charming!" He smiled.

"So should I carry your bag, Sehunnie? And pull out the chair for you?" Kai teased with a smirk. Sehun stuck out his tongue at him.

"I wouldn't fall for a guy like you, Jonggie," he grinned and Kai winked at him. Chanyeol on the other hand though, seemed to consider it, being in his own thoughts, thinking about whether or not he should do it.

"Okay, I'm going to do it!" he said and the maknaes looked at him. "I'm going to be the best gentleman Baekhyun could ever get!"

Chanyeol went behind Baekhyun the whole next day, making sure to decrease any hard work the boy would encounter. He would carry his bags, any heavy things and pull out chairs for him. And if Baekhyun needed anything, he would get it for him. And he made sure to always smile his direction, making him smile as well.

Now they arrived at a restaurant where they would eat lunch before attending yet another interview. Chanyeol pulled out the chair for Baekhyun to sit, while receiving weird looks from the others around them. Baekhyun just shrugged, indicating he didn't know either, and sat down on the chair. Chanyeol took a seat next to him.

When the waiter came over, Chanyeol ordered for both himself and for Baekhyun. And when Baekhyun said he needed to use the restroom, Chanyeol even offered to lead him - though he refused. Kai and Sehun knew why Chanyeol did all these things and didn't even react to it. But Suho and D.O. both sent them weird and confused looks every time Chanyeol offered to do something nice. When Chanyeol went to the restroom, they decided to ask Baekhyun.

"What's going on?" D.O. asked Baekhyun, who looked surprised up from his food.

"What?" he asked.

"With Chanyeol," Suho continued. "Why is he being so nice to you? He's treating you like a gentleman does to his woman."

Baekhyun shrugged. "I really don't know why he's being like this. He's been like that the whole day. He's not being himself."

D.O. thought for a moment. Then he turned to Sehun and Kai. "Do you know anything about this?" he asked the two who hadn't looked at them the whole conversation. They ignored him and he asked again. "Sehun? Kai? Do you know why Chanyeol hyung is being weird?"

Kai looked up from his plate and looked at Sehun. "This tastes really good. Would you like to try it?" Sehun nodded, while looking as if he had a really difficult time keeping his poker face on. Kai stuck his fork towards Sehun, who tasted whatever was on it.

"It's really good," he commented with a nod and big smile, doing his best to ignore the three staring faces directed at them.

"Hey!" Suho exclaimed, finally gaining Sehun and Kai's attention, as they made a slight twitch by the sudden demanding tone in Suho's voice. "Kyungsoo asked you a question. Now answer it and don't ignore us."

Sehun and Kai looked at each other, then they looked down at the table and finally commented on D.O.'s question.

"Why would we know why Chanyeol hyung is being weird?" Kai asked and looked at them with an innocent look.

"Yeah, isn't he always weird?" Sehun joined in and laughed.

"I don't know, maybe because you're good friends with him or something," Suho answered while looking at Kai. Then he rolled his eyes and shook his head at the lack of great response he'd received from the youngest. "Never mind," he mumbled and turned back to Baekhyun and D.O. Then Chanyeol came back, and they didn't talk more about that.

In the evening Baekhyun called Chen on Skype.

"Hey, Baekkie!"  Chen grinned and Baekhyun could see his wide smile on the screen. He smiled back.

"Hey, Chen-Chen!" he replied. "How are you? I want to see you, soon."

Chen laughed. "What are you talking about? You're seeing me right now!"

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "I meant in real life. I want to feel you near me and hold you."

Chen laughed again. "You make it sound so weird! But I want to hold you too, Baekkie! I miss you and want to hug you."

Baekhyun laughed and grinned at his best friend. "So how are you?"

"I'm fine, Baekhyun. What's going on with you? And did you, by the way, find out about Chanyeol?"

Baekhyun sighed. "That's actually one of the reasons why I wanted to call you."

Chen looked serious at this and waited patiently for Baekhyun to explain himself.

"I think I'm in love with him. Honestly. And I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it." He looked at Chen on the screen. Chen sighed but gave him a smile.

"It's okay, Baekhyun, there's no need to. There's nothing wrong with being in love - even if it's in your best friend," Chen said.

"You're my best friend, Jongdae," Baekhyun interrupted and Chen just smiled before continuing.

"You don't have to apologize for your feelings, Baekhyun. Never. And Chanyeol is lucky to have somebody like you crushing on him," he smiled to Baekhyun who smiled back.

"Thank you, Chen-Chen. But there's also something else I need to tell you." Chen raised his eyebrows and waited for him to continue once again. "Chanyeol acted really weird today."

"Like how?" Chen asked, now with furrowed eyebrows.

"He pulled out chairs for me to sit in and he carried my bag and brought me water whenever I needed it. And he really wasn't himself. I mean he is sweet all the time and stuff, and he could surely do something like this if somebody needed his help, but he wasn't himself. He wasn't as happy and bright, he was more... how to put it... restricted and uncomfortable. It was really weird." Baekhyun scrunched his nose with a small pout, thinking about it.

"He wasn't happy?"

"Well he kept smiling at me, but no, he wasn't as he usually is."

"Maybe he likes you?" Chen suggested and Baekhyun just furrowed his eyebrows at him confused.

"Why would he be acting so weird if he likes me?"

"It sounds to me like he was trying to be a gentleman for you." Baekhyun still looked confused, so Chen rolled his eyes and explained. "He pulled out chairs for you and carried your bag! He wanted to take care of you!"

"Oh!" Suddenly it seemed to make its realization for Baekhyun. "But he's not gay!" he argued.

"Maybe he is for you." Chen shrugged. "Did anyone else notice his different behavior?" Baekhyun nodded. "And nobody knew what was going on?" Baekhyun shook his head. "Is there anybody else who knows that you have feelings for him?"

"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun remembered. "He could see how I looked at him and stuff..." he told embarrassed. Chen laughed.

"Of course you're being obvious! And Chanyeol doesn't have a clue?" he grinned.

Baekhyun shook his head. "I don't think so..."

Chen laughed even harder. "And of course he's the only one who's oblivious!"

"Hey! Kyungsoo said the others don't know either! You stupid pabo..."

Chen rolled his eyes at him. Then the door to Baekhyun's room suddenly swung open, and they both froze.

"What are you doing?" D.O. stood in the doorway, taking aback by the two staring scared faces glaring at him with wide eyes.

"I thought you might be Chanyeol," Baekhyun sighed and relaxed a bit.

"And what if I was?" D.O. didn't move, only looked at the boy sitting cross legged in the bed and the face of Chen on the screen, with furrowed eyebrows.

Baekhyun shook his head. "Never mind." He shook it off. "What are you even doing in here? This is mine and Chanyeol's room."

D.O. shrugged. "I wanted to know what you were doing. I was bored." He stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. Then he sat down on the bed across from Baekhyun's. "So what are you doing?" he asked.

"Don't you have a movie or something to watch?" Baekhyun asked, sounding annoyed.

"Hey, be nice!" Chen said from the screen. He turned to D.O. "We're just talking about Chanyeol."

"Hey!" Baekhyun exclaimed.

"What?! You said he already knew!" Chen grinned at the startled Baekhyun. Baekhyun sighed.

"To answer your question, Baekhyun hyung: there's no movie I felt the need to watch right now. And Chen hyung, thank you for answering my question," D.O. said and received a smile from Chen.

"Well, okay then, now you know what we are doing and now you can go," Baekhyun said coldly.

"Baekhyun!" Chen said warningly from the screen and Baekhyun didn't say more. Chen looked at D.O. "We were just talking about how Chanyeol's been acting today. Did you notice too?"

"Oh right! It was really weird!" D.O. joined in on the conversation from before, with a roll of the eyes from Baekhyun, when he swung his legs up in Chanyeol's bed getting comfortable.

"I think it might be because he likes him. I think Chanyeol tried to be a gentleman towards Baekhyun," Chen told, like Baekhyun wasn't even in the room.

"Oh that might actually have been it!" D.O. seemed excited over the possible solution. "He was just being so weird. But on the other hand, Chanyeol hyung is really no good in flirting and stuff. And when the person he likes is Baekhyun, it's just going to be even more difficult for them to flirt."

"Hey! I'm right here!" Baekhyun exclaimed when Chen nodded and grinned in agreement. "And I'm not bad at flirting!"

"No, you're just not good at realizing it when somebody is flirting with you," Chen said with a voice as if he was explaining to a small child that the pot was hot and therefore he wasn't allowed to touch it. Baekhyun glared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Shut up," he said and Chen grinned after sticking out his tongue at him. Then Chen looked to his right in his room that was partly showed on the screen and said, "The others are coming. I'd better go now."

Baekhyun pouted. "Okay then."

Chen smiled at him. "Don't be sad. It's nice to be in love." He winked at him with a smirk, which only made Baekhyun pout even more. Chen waved at D.O. "Bye, Kyungsoo!" and D.O. waved back with a smile. He turned back to Baekhyun. "I miss you, Baekhyun. Don't make a fool of yourself, okay? Everything's going to be alright. I promise you." He smiled at him.

"Thank you," Baekhyun mumbled, awkwardly aware of D.O. who was sitting on the other bed listening to them. "I miss you too. Bye."

The screen turned black, and there was now only silence filling the room containing D.O. and Baekhyun. They didn't say anything for a while, only looked around the room awkwardly.

"If it helps, I'm sure it's going to be alright too," D.O. said, trying to help and to break the silence ringing in the room. Baekhyun only rolled his eyes, as if he didn't care about what he thought. D.O. ignored him. "And I actually think that there's a good chance for Chanyeol hyung to be liking you."

"Why?" Baekhyun asked, with one raised eyebrow towards the boy.

"You two are good friends. And, hyung, you're actually both nice, funny and handsome," D.O. told honestly.

"You really think so?" Baekhyun asked, as if he doubted him. D.O. nodded.

"I think you would be cute together," D.O. said. "I just believe that both of you need a little push towards that direction." He smiled kindly to Baekhyun, who wasn't completely sure how he should respond to that.

"D.O.," he began and D.O. looked at him. "Thank you." D.O. smiled at this and stood, going towards the door to leave. "And, Kyungsoo." D.O. heard him call out for him and he turned around. "I know I can seem kind of harsh towards you, but I'm actually really glad to have you as a friend. You're a lot sweeter than one would think."

D.O. couldn't help but smile when he closed the door to Baekhyun's bedroom behind him.

"But wasn't it annoying to have someone follow you around like that?" Minseok asked, as Baekhyun ended the story. Minseok almost shivered at the thought. "I mean, didn't you feel smothered? I would hate it if somebody followed me around like that all day. I would feel suffocated. Like I was being choked by the air surrounding me due to the constant feeling of someone watching over me..." Minseok seemed to get out on a sidetrack, but Sehun didn't feel like stopping him and instead decided to .

"Oh you don't like that, huh, hyung? You don't like being smothered?" he said, standing from his seat and slowly made his way over to where Minseok was sitting, while Minseok eyed him suspiciously, moving back in his seat. The others around them had a hard time trying to choke back their laughter, when Sehun sat down next to Minseok, putting his arm around his shoulder and forcefully pulling Minseok closer to his chest. Minseok scrunched his nose and looked really uncomfortable.

"Please stop," it came from Minseok with a small voice. Sehun tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it. He loosened his grip slightly, but didn't let go completely.

"But why do you even have such a problem with it, hyung? I mean Lu Han hyung is also like that. From the moment you became friends, he ran around after you like a puppy," Chanyeol commented.

"Hey!" Lu Han looked offended at Chanyeol, who just smirked and shrugged.

Sehun finally let go of Minseok, and Minseok sat more comfortable in the couch again.

"He wasn't like that," Minseok argued.

"Yes, he was," Yixing said. They looked at him. "He went around with you everywhere. You two even shared a camera on our shows, because you were always together, hyung." They all seemed to think back and slowly nodded, remembering about it. Minseok hesitated.

"But he didn't ask to follow me to the restroom," he mumbled, even though he could feel that he was defeated.

"But you were together a lot. Admit it," Yi Fan said.

"Of course we were!" Minseok said. "We were best friends."

"I thought baba and uncle Yixing were best friends," Chanhee said, looking at his appa. Minseok looked at him, as if he didn't realize there was such a big audience on them.

"Me and Yixing were best friends," Lu Han explained. "But me and your appa were also really close friends. It's okay to have more than one good friend, Chanhee." Chanhee nodded, understanding.

"I feel bad for uncle Yixing," Changjo said, before realizing he'd said it.

"Why is that, sweetheart?" Taemin asked him and patted his back.

Changjo looked at the floor at the sudden attention from everyone.

"Because he lost his best friend... uncle Lu Han got a new best friend," the boy replied.

Yixing looked touched and smiled at the boy. "I didn't lose Lu Han ge, don't worry. Sure, I sometimes felt like he forgot about me and only gave his attention to Minseok hyung, but I knew that he never meant anything with it. I knew that we had a special bond and that not even a new friend or boyfriend could change that." Changjo smiled a little at this, understanding his answer, and Yixing smiled even brighter back.

"You really felt that?" Lu Han asked Yixing, feeling hurt that his best friend had thought he'd neglected him. Yixing nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that, Yixing. I never wanted you to feel that. You know you're my best friend, right?"

Yixing smiled at him. "Of course, ge. And it's really no big deal! I know you never meant it. And I was honestly happy for you that you had gotten another good friend." He smiled at Minseok who smiled back. "And I got so happy when you told me that you two became boyfriends. Because I knew that it was right. I knew you'd liked him for a long time and I couldn't be happier for you, ge."

Lu Han and Minseok smiled lovingly at each other, before Lu Han stood up and smiled at Yixing before hugging him tightly. Yixing hugged him back and after a moment they let go and Lu Han sat down next to him, his arm never leaving Yixing's shoulder.

"Hey, wasn't this supposed to be about mine and Chanyeol's story?" Baekhyun exclaimed with a teasing undertone, stretching out his arm in a dramatic gesture.

Lu Han rolled his eyes. "Go on," he said to him.

"Thank you, hyung," Baekhyun said. "Now, if you would let me answer your question from before, Minseok hyung. Yes, I did actually find it a bit annoying and weird to have him following me around like that." Chanyeol furrowed his brows, but Baekhyun just continued. "But I also thought it was kind of nice. And I guess in the end it didn't really matter, because I liked him. And even though it might sound uncomfortable to have someone breathing down your neck, if you like the person who does it, I don't think it's a problem."

Chanyeol smiled at Baekhyun and Baekhyun smiled back, leaned in and kissed his cheek.

A/N: Hellooo!! This chapter was longer than the others, hope you didn't mind >///<

I expect the next thing I upload to be TaeKai. It's a bit long, though, so I might put it in two parts (maybe even three)

Anyway. I love reading your comments! And thank you for reading and subscribing!

Much love <3