After that encounter, Baekhyun begins staying later at work, no longer counting the ticks of the office clock as each second passes. Now that Baekhyun had helped him once, Chanyeol seems to have made a habit of calling him whenever he needed a favour, be it a file he had left at the office, or to do some emergency grocery shopping (and make dinner) because he didn't feel like getting takeout that day.

It's annoying is what Baekhyun tells Jongdae, but the other male knows just as much as him that Baekhyun's actually ecstatic at being able to be around Chanyeol so much. Before this, the most contact they'd ever had was that one time Baekhyun couldn't get one of his reports filed on time and Chanyeol had taken the time to come out of his office and scold him. But now, he's seen the inside of Chanyeol's apartment several times, interacted with the boss' kid quite a lot (the fact that Kyungsoo was Chanyeol's child still made Baekhyun approach him cautiously). And they'd talked. Quite a lot, actually.

Sometimes, when he thinks about Kyungsoo, Baekhyun's tragically torn between hating Chanyeol and adoring him. Denial would usually be in order, but Baekhyun can't turn a blind eye on this one, so he tries his best, swallows down everything he wants to say, and tries to support the both of them separately and discretely.

Every time he visits the Park household, Baekhyun slips into Kyungsoo's room for a bit, checking on him before going back out, making some dinner for the three of them. Chanyeol never seems to notice Baekhyun sneaking back into Kyungsoo's room to hand him a plateful of food, too immersed into his work. After they finish dinner, Chanyeol finally puts down his pen and they talk for awhile, sometimes over a glass of fine wine.

They enjoy chatting about their old school days - there's little else to talk about, after all.

Apparently, Chanyeol actually had a life before he entered the working world, and most of their conversations are about what they did when they were younger. Baekhyun learns that Chanyeol was, unsurprisingly, a total mama's boy, and in turn, Chanyeol learns that Baekhyun almost set Junmyeon on fire once (to his defense, no one should've let him near the campfire). 

Baekhyun also learns that Chanyeol has a sassy streak he'd never known about - every time Baekhyun makes an offhanded comment, the taller male pounces on it with a comeback.

Staying over for dinner has also become a regular thing for Baekhyun. The making of dinner is now a joint effort, and between the both of them, they can make quite a decent kimchi fried rice and occasionally an ambitious attempt at making something creative. It also means that Chanyeol should never be trusted to be adventurous in the kitchen, and Baekhyun definitely doesn't want to see any milk within the vicinity of fish for the rest of his life.

Occasionally, though, they'll be lazy and order some takeout. One of their favourites is the dim sum for the Chinese restaurant nearby - Baekhyun's seen Kyungsoo pop out for seconds more than once or twice before he retreats into his room. Sometimes, the elder male doesn't spot him, but when he does, he gives Kyungsoo a conspirational wink.

Fortunately for Kyungsoo, Chanyeol hasn't noticed - he still yells at his son to sleep through the walls at eight-thirty sharp (which is ridiculous) - the taller male having gone to get a bottle of wine from the fridge. He joins Baekhyun a few minutes later with the bottle in one hand and two wine glasses in the other, plopping into the empty space on the couch.

There's a Pokemon marathon on tonight, and seeing it makes Baekhyun feel kind of nostalgic.

"You know," he says through his mouthful of siu mai, "I used to be a hardcore Pokemon player back in high school."

"High school." Chanyeol deadpans, obviously not very impressed. Baekhyun sighs.

"Those were the good old days, when my only mission in life was to collect all the Pokemon possible."

"How did that go?"

"My mom confiscated my NDS."

"Oh," Chanyeol snickers, "too bad for you."

"Hmph. Then what hobbies did Mr. Too-good-for-Pokemon have?"

"I did play Pokemon, but in junior high. No one plays in high school. Except for you apparently, but you're as immature as a junior high student so I guess that makes sense." Baekhyun scoffs, whispering "no one's ever too mature for Pokemon" under his breath. "I grew out of it really quickly. I think, when I was in high school...oh, right. I was the president of a ferret club."

"Pfft." Baekhyun doubles over, almost spitting out a mouthful of Oolong tea.

"Ferrets?" He says, when he's regained some semblance of sanity. "You're talking to me about immaturity and childishness, but you were the head of a club for some furry creature."

Chanyeol frowns.

"Ferrets are important. I don't think it was a bad hobby?"

"No, I just can't see you taking care of anything." Baekhyun gestures to Chanyeol; there's a crimson tomato stain on the edge of his shirt from the pizza they had ordered a week ago, hungry even after they'd eaten dinner and sent Kyungsoo to bed, and there's also a beer stain on his collar from the very same night. Clearly, Chanyeol had decided to the poor shirt could go one more week without cleaning and had just thrown it on.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chanyeol asks, looking genuinely confused.

Look at your son and ask yourself how well you've taken care of him. Then ask yourself if you're really so good at taking care of things, Baekhyun wants to say.

"Nothing," he says instead, "you just don't look like the type."

Luckily, Chanyeol doesn't suspect a thing, laughing it off in his deep voice.



Other times, though, conversations drift off into a more serious direction. And handling things with subtlety has never been Baekhyun's strong suit.

The thing is, when he wonders about something and doesn't get an answer, Baekhyun doesn't stop looking for one. He just becomes more persistent and determined to get his answer no matter what.

Sometimes, it's fine. Like that time he'd pestered his aunt about her ever-growing stomach, and it turned out she was pregnant. And also that time he annoyed the teacher about a piece of homework so much she'd told him, with a sigh of exhaustion, that he could skip out on this one. 

Admittedly, those had been luck, beause Baekhyun usually got told off (on a large scale) about being less nosy. So much for childish curiousity.

And of course, he needs to know what happened to Chanyeol's wife. Number one, so he can judge if Chanyeol's over her and if he has a chance.

His patience lasts a few more weeks before he decides he really, really needs to know, so all subtlety can go to hell.

He nonchalantly asks, "By the way, what happened to your wife?" one day, after he'd brought Chanyeol yet another file he'd forgotten at work. He schools his face into a neutral expression, it's become a habit by now, masking the edges of his lips twitching downwards and the way his chest rises up and down nervously.

"My wife?" The shorter male hums in confirmation, chopping some tomatoes for spaghetti sauce. The silence is uncomfortable and Baekhyun rushes to fill it with a clumsy excuse.

"I was cleaning your room and I found a wedding ring, so..."

"Is what happened to my wife any of your business?" Baekhyun stops for a second, adjusting his clammy, sweaty grip on the knife handle.

"Well, Kyungsoo - " He tries to defend himself.

"That doesn't matter! I asked you to do me some favours, not snoop on my personal life."

Is that all it was to you? Favours? We talked, we laughed - but in the end that doesn't matter at all?

"But - "

"You know what, just get out!"

The water comes to a boil and Baekhyun drops the spaghetti noodles into the pot before turning around to face his boss.

"Why should I?" A rare moment of effort, and a sudden dash of bravery.

Baekhyun's reaction only makes Chanyeol more infuriated.

"Because! This is none of your business." The taller male punctuates every word and each of them is like a sharp blow to Baekhyun's chest. Because he cares, he wants to know, but as the other male has so kindly reminded him, it's none of his business. "Just get out!"

Frustrated, Chanyeol turns on his heel and leaves the kitchen.

Baekhyun sighs. As much as he likes Chanyeol, he hates his attitude towards everything that should, but isn't important to him. Like Kyungsoo. 

If he's not doing this for his boss' sake, then at least he can do it for the poor kid. Baekhyun sighs again. He wants to throw himself onto their couch and just sleep all his problems away, but he turns back.

=

Baekhyun only gets a few hours of fitful sleep - despite being exhausted earlier, the second he drops into bed, with so much nothing happening, all he can do is lie there and think. And think some more. Until it's three am in the morning and he's only been taking spasmodic doses of slumber.

When he does finally manage to sleep, in what seems like ten minutes, his phone buzzes, the familiar sound of his alarm plays. Baekhyun groans, a sound very reminiscent of a dying whale, slams his pretty (the words of all his ex-boyfriends) fingers onto the phone, hitting it several times when the first doesn't work. His phone does finally shut up, but by then, he's already realized delaying waking up, if you could call it so, is fruitless.

He drags himself to work, expecting and wanting nothing at all to happen that day.

Okay, fine. Maybe he's waiting for a certain someone to at least give an explaination or an apology. Both would be optimal. However, his boss' blinds remain closed all through the week, until after hours on Friday. Baekhyun's pulling through to finish this report on time because he hadn't gotten a single decent night of sleep ever since his and Chanyeol's confrontation and he doesn't need to be told to go to the boss' office because he was distracted from his work. Which was Chanyeol's fault, Baekhyun reasons.

He's figured out a few tactics to prevent the sleepy bugs from biting by the time the clock strikes nine and just about everyone has gotten off work, and is in the middle of ten seconds of relentlessly slapping himself, his phone timing obediently beside his papers when it rings.

"At this hour?" Baekhyun groans. You used to go out and party at this time, Byun. Don't even talk.

He reaches over for his phone before realizing he'd placed it out of his reach precisely because he usually ended up playing ten rounds of Tetris before getting back to proper work. He scoots over, the wheels of his chair squealing as they slide across the floor.

Baekhyun sighs, idly picking up his phone and checking the caller ID. He dumbly stares at his phone for a few seconds before he realizes exactly who is calling him. 

Park Chanyeol.

His finger pauses over the "Answer" button for second before he decides to heck with it, and answers the call.

"Ahem...hello?" Baekhyun coughs awkwardly. 

"I need you to bring me some papers from my office. It's the only pile of paper on the desk. Be there in ten."

Chanyeol abruptly hangs up, leaving Baekhyun mouthing obscenities at the disconnect tone. He sighs, highlighting a few things on the paper in front of him. Ten. Yeah, he can do that. After he finishes this report.

As usual, Baekhyun's predictions are wrong and it takes him twenty minutes to finish the report and another fifteen to reach his boss' apartment, but the look on Chanyeol's face when he answers the door says that's not important. He hands the papers over with a terse nod, maintaining a perfectly apathetic expression on his face.

"Come sit." Chanyeol offers, gesturing rather awkwardly towards the sofa. Baekhyun sits down slowly, feeling out of place in the apartment where he'd had so many good memories.

The atmosphere is tense, and without anything to do, Baekhyun looks around the room several times before looking down at his hands, observing them (he'd never realized he had a mole on his thumb).

"Listen," Chanyeol begins slowly, and though he sounds prepared, there's a hesitant tremble present in his voice, "I'm sorry."

Baekhyun looks up from his detailed hand examination.

"You probably think I'm a ty dad. Well honestly, I am. It's just... all the time, I've got work to do, and somewhere along the way Kyungsoo became...," Chanyeol trails off a bit, swallowing uncomfortably, "less of a son, and more of a chore, a responsibility."

"It doesn't have to be like that," Baekhyun says, placing his hands on top of Chanyeol's, gauging his reaction.

The man takes a deep breath.

"Kyungsoo's mom left because I was gay. I had just started working at the time, my pay was good, and everything seemed to be looking up." Chanyeol pauses for a while before continuing, "One day, I got a promotion, and I went to the bar with Kris to celebrate. I didn't know what to do, so I decided, why don't I just be honest and see what happens? Well, I told my wife, and then she left me. I guess she couldn't stand the thought of her husband being gay, and frankly, I couldn't stand the thought of it either. So we both signed the divorce papers, and I was going to hand Kyungsoo over to her, but before then, she had already ran away." 

The taller male sighs again, having gotten a weight off his chest, and Baekhyun pats his forearm, trying to soothe him.

"I'll get you a cup of tea." The shorter male leaves Chanyeol wallowing in his sorrows before padding to the kitchen. He finds a couple chamomile teabags and plops it into the teapot, quickly boiling some water. When he gets out of the kitchen holding two ceramic mugs (white, plain, and boring) filled to the brim with a dull golden tea, Chanyeol's completely quiet, eyes closed and body still.

"Chanyeol?" Baekhyun whispers gently, prodding the taller's cheek with his free hand, his heart thumping like crazy at the sight of such a domestic-looking Chanyeol, hair slightly ruffled, head lolling a bit to the side, and the slightest bit of drool dripping out his perfect (and rather thin) lips. Baekhyun sighs, letting the feeling of content wash over him for a few seconds.

He carefully places the mugs of tea on the coffee table and fetches a blanket from Chanyeol's room (laundry nights had acquainted him with Chanyeol's closet), draping it over the man. Unable to help himself, Baekhyun ruffles Chanyeol's raven locks just once before he crosses the threshold, out into the cold night.

=

The next day, a sheepish Chanyeol arrives at the mug store.

Baekhyun looks up from behind the counter, eyes going wide for a few seconds before he stares back down. He fidgets with his phone, determined to not notice (or at least pretend not to notice) Chanyeol. After all Chanyeol had revealed yesterday... Baekhyun isn't very good with broken conversations where you're trying to keep talking but you really want the other side to shut up.

"I have a favour to ask of you," Chanyeol says succinctly, and Baekhyun sighs. He'd taken care of Kyungsoo for quite a few nights when Chanyeol