For as long as you’ve known Baekhyun, you always considered him as someone you could trust the most. He became your best friend the moment he stepped into your life. Having reassurance that he was your pillar of support was what led you to become the person you are now. Since he was a couple years older than you, he would often help guide you towards better decisions and give you plenty of advice whenever you needed it.

“Do you know what your best physical asset is?” he had asked you one day when the both of you were lounging on the couch watching a movie. You had recently moved out of your parents’ place and into your own small apartment. Too lazy to unpack everything, you had gone over to Baekhyun’s place instead. Hearing his question, you had shaken your head, eyes still on the movie.

Holding your chin between his thumb and index finger, he had turned your head till you were looking directly at him.

“Your eyes, sweetheart”

“My eyes?”

You remember your face contorting into a sour expression. It was one of your complexes, and Baekhyun knew that.

“Yes, your eyes. You’ve heard of the saying before, haven’t you? That the eyes are the window into a person’s soul?” Baekhyun moves his hand to cup your cheek. He doesn’t give you time to retort because he continues.

“You know, a person’s greatest strength is their passion, and their greatest weakness is their intellect. Together they can help you rule the world, but separately they will forever curse a person make the same mistakes throughout their lifetime”

“How the hell can intellect be a greatest weakness?” you frown. Your entire life has been based on the notion that the more intellectual you are, the better your life is. Baekhyun chuckles, probably knowing what you’re thinking.

“You think too much when you’ve got to much intellect paired with nothing. You tend to over and underestimate a lot of things, too. It makes you overconfident about the wrong things as well” he explains. You lean over to rest your head on Baekhyun’s chest with a hum.

“So what does this have to do with my eyes?” you ask.

“Oh, that? I was just looking for a gateway to let me make up stuff. I was feeling a bit philosophical and wanted to share it”

You shoot up and grab the cushion on the couch and hit Baekhyun with it. Laughing, Baekhyun grabs the cushion from you and throws it away, then wraps an arm around you to pull you against him again. When the both of you have calmed down a little, Baekhyun speaks again.

“Your eyes are the brightest and purest I’ve ever seen compared to anyone I’ve ever met, love. They’re able to make someone lose all logical reasoning and bring out the passion buried deep within a person’s soul. So you know what?”

“If you end your damn monologue with what I think you’re going to say, I’m going to–”

“Love yourself a little more, sweetheart” Baekhyun finishes. Groaning, you grab another cushion on the couch and push it against Baekhyun’s face so that he wouldn’t see the huge smile appearing on your face.

You hadn’t realised it then, but every once in a while Baekhyun would aim at every insecurity of yours and target them, shooting them down till you found yourself no longer completely consumed by them.

Now, as you look into the eyes of the man standing in front of you, you’re finally able to see every emotion that you assume he’d concealed all this time.

“Don’t be so quiet. Say something” Baekhyun pleads. You can’t bring yourself to say anything, so all you can do is step forward and wrap your arms around him. Sighing, Baekhyun warps his arms around you as well and tightens his hold.

“This isn’t a pity hug” you tell him.

“Then what is it?”

“…Thank you” you bury your face into his chest.

“Thank you?” Baekhyun repeats, confused. You nod. “You know, love. It’s seeming more and more like a pity hug by the second” Baekhyun chuckles wryly. You pull away and glare a him. Your eyes then drop down to his chest and remember his state of undress.

“Maybe you should go and dress yourself first” you suggest.

“Why? Am I making you nervous?”

“Yes, very” you admit immediately. Baekhyun seems a little thrown off by your answer.

“If this is the only way I can make your heart race around me, I might just stay undressed forever” he jokes. You roll your eyes and push him towards the direction of his bedroom.

When he comes out, he’s dressed in his usual style, which consisted of an oversized shirt and sweatpants. You had taken the hair dryer from the bathroom and plugged it into the power point by the TV in the living room. You make him sit down on the floor in front of you and started drying his hair. You run your fingers through his hair, admiring how nice and silky it is.

Initially, when you first met him, Baekhyun didn’t have a hair dryer, opting more towards air drying. However, once he’d come to know you and you started taking showers at his place, he decided to buy one. When you asked him why, his reply was simple.

“You’ll get sick if you leave your hair wet. I don’t want that”

Once you’re done drying his hair, you unplug it from the wall and stand up to put it away whilst Baekhyun remains seated on the floor.

“How come you always tell me to dry my hair after a shower but you never do” you grumble.

“Because I care more about you than I care about myself” Baekhyun answers casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

As you return, you tell him, “But I don’t want you getting sick either”

“Then I promise to dry my hair from now on” he says instantly.

Once you’re close enough, Baekhyun grabs you by the wrist and pulls you down to the ground till you’re lying on top of him. Your legs are on either side of his body and your hands are resting on his firm chest.

“We’ve yet to address the main topic of the night” he reminds you. It’s not like you’re trying to avoid the topic, it’s just that you don’t know how to being to talk about it.

“There’s nothing complicated about it right now” Baekhyun brushes your hair behind your ear, “Do you like the fact that I have feelings for you?” he asks. He moves his hands down to your hip, the exposed skin above your jeans where your shirt had ridden up. When you take too long to reply, Baekhyun wraps an arm around your waist, the other cradling the back of your head to make sure it doesn’t hit the ground as he flips the two of you over.

Baekhyun is now looking down at you. He fixes the hairs that are covering your face and then plants his hands next to your head. He repeats his question again with a serious expression.

“Yes” you whisper.

As soon as you answer, you can see his body visibly relax. Satisfied, Baekhyun makes a move to get off you. However, since Baekhyun’s body was still between your legs, you quickly wrap them around his body to prevent him from moving any further.

“Aren’t you going to ask me something else?” you question him.

“Ask what?” Baekhyun plays it off.

“Well, how would you feel if I had the same feelings for you?” you rephrase his question. A look of hesitation flashes across his features.

“Well, do you?” he asks softly. Wanting to a little, you shrug your shoulders and answer with a casual, “Who knows?”

Baekhyun glares at you and says your full name in a low voice. “Don’t mess with me” he growls. In contrast to his words, his eyes are filled with adoration as he looks at you.

Instead of answering immediately, you break out into a smile. You’re about to open your mouth to answer when Baekhyun leans down to capture your lips, silencing you of whatever you were going to say. When he pulls away, his eyes are dancing from your left eye to your right, as if trying to capture every emotion from them.

Feeling shy from his gaze, you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him down again for another kiss. Your hands roam down his body till they reach the ends of his shirt. Tugging on it, Baekhyun reluctantly pulls away from your lips and allows you to take his shirt off. He’s about to undress you to when he freezes. He pushes himself away from you and sits up. You lift your head to look at him, confusion written all over your face

“Are you sure about this?” he asks. You nod. “Absolutely sure? Because once we start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop” he tells you, worry evident on his features. Your heart swells at the fact that he cares so much for you.

“Yes, I’m sure” you reassure him.

“Alright, but if you do change your mind halfway through, you tell me immediately, understood?”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t be able to stop once we started?” you .

“Oh, I’d do anything for you, love. Despite whatever I might say” Baekhyun groans, as if the inability to refuse anything from you pains him. Smiling, you sit up and kiss his jaw, underneath his ear.

“Then hurry up and take me” you whisper.

Without further delay, Baekhyun pulls your shirt over your head and flings it away before claiming your lips again, kissing you hungrily. Without breaking the kiss, Baekhyun slips his hands under you and picks you up.  You squeal and tighten your legs around his waist.

“Where are we going?”

“If we’re going to do this, I want to make sure to do it properly” he tells you as he makes his way into his bedroom. Placing you gently down on the bed, Baekhyun climbs over you and kisses you softer this time as if trying to convey all his love into it.

“Always such a gentleman” you murmur when he pulls away, a smile on your lips.

“Only for you, love” he manages to say before you pull him back down to continue what you started.

The both of you remained in Baekhyun’s room for the rest of the day. Baekhyun had traced his fingers around every curve of your body despite your attempts to stop him because of how ticklish it felt, and how embarrassing it was.

“I want to be able to remember every detail of you, in case I might go blind one day” he had reasoned.

“You better not” you tell him with a frown on your face. “You better make sure to take care of yourself, stay healthy and strong till you’re well past 100, or else I’ll be really mad”

Baekhyun chuckles into your hair at your threat. “Well, I wouldn’t want that”

You’re currently playing with Baekhyun’s fingers, admiring how pretty they are when your stomach grumbles. Laughing, Baekhyun makes the first move to climb out of bed.

“What do you want to eat, love?” he asks you as he pulls some pants on. As you think about it, you sprawl your body out on the bed now that there’s more room.

“Anything is fine, as long as there’s something fried” you tell him. Nodding, Baekhyun pulls a shirt over his head and grabs his keys and his wallet.

“You’re going out?” you ask him, lifting your head to look at him. Baekhyun walks over to the bed and leans down to kiss your forehead.

“It will be a lot quicker than having them send it to us. I know you’re probably starving from all the activity you just had” he grins, wriggling his eyebrows. Before he moves too far away, your sit up and kiss the tip of his nose.

“Alright, hurry back to me” you tell him. Nodding, Baekhyun leaves the room and you soon hear him close the front door, off on his mission to buy dinner. With the whole place to yourself, it feels very unnatural. You’ve been in Baekhyun’s place by yourself before when he wasn’t present, but not as…

You shoot up from the bed and frown at the wall in front of you, realising the two of you haven’t exactly addressed the dynamics of your relationship. Heck, you haven’t even told Baekhyun that you love him yet. Sighing, you decide to climb out of bed and take a shower whilst you wait for Baekhyun to return.

Just as you finished showering and dressed yourself in one of Baekhyun's shirts, you hear the front door open. You run out of the bedroom and towards the bags Baekhyun was holding. Before you can take them, Baekhyun moves them out of your reach. Your first reaction is to glare at him, and so you do.

With a soft chuckle, Baekhyun kisses you on the forehead and instructs you to go dry your hair first. You follow his instructions and go into the bathroom to grab the hair dryer. Entering the kitchen, you hand it to him with a smile on your face.

Taking it from you with a roll of his eyes, Baekhyun tells you to stand in front of him as he plugs it into the power point. You enjoy the feeling of his fingers through your hair, something you’ve always appreciated as it never fails to soothe you. He hands it back to you with a pat on your bum once he’s done drying your hair, telling you to put it away whilst he sets out the food.

The both of you are soon seated on the couch with the food spread out on the coffee table. You make a comment about how Baekhyun wasted money buying a dining table, since he always seems to eat at the couch anyway. This causes him to snort, before saying that he blamed it on your bad habit of eating whilst watching TV, which influenced him.

Tonight, however, the TV isn’t . Instead, the both of you enjoy each other’s company as you sit facing each other as you eat. Baekhyun had driven to your favourite Japanese cuisine restaurant, which was near his place and ordered a bowl of tempura udon for you and ramen for himself. Along with that, he also ordered a couple more side dishes. He knew your tastebuds well.

The both of you have cleaned up the table and put everything away once you had finished eating. Just as Baekhyun is about to ask you whether you’d like to stay the night or not, you come up from behind him and hug him. You press your face into his broad back, feeling his muscles flex as he reaches a hand behind him to caress your side.

“Ah, what am I to do with you?” he mumbles, looking up at the ceiling, “You’re too cute.” Trying to unwrap your arms around him to no avail, he resorts to waddling his way into his bedroom with you in tow, shuffling behind him.

“So what are you thinking about?” Baekhyun asks you once he’s managed to get you into bed and under the covers. You don’t like making it seem like you care a lot about the specific title to label your relationship with Baekhyun now, but you need to know for sure before you completely make the jump. So you ask him.

“Um, what are we now?” you ask. Oh, that stung a little to ask. Such a typical question, but so crucial. Baekhyun lets out a sound of understanding.

“Well, I've told you before, I was worried about ruining our friendship and losing you, but knowing it’s not…” you wait for him to continue. When he doesn’t and just stares at you instead, you pull the blanket over your head so that you can cover your face. The look Baekhyun gives you never fails to make your heart flutter, ever since you first knew him. You hear him laugh softly, and then feel him kiss your temple through the cover.

“I don’t care what we are, as long as you're still in my life somehow” he tells you. He pulls the blanket away so he can see your face. “But I guess we’re dating now, to put it simply” he answers.

“…Ok” you say.

“Ok?” he repeats. “That’s it?”

“Yup”

“Huh. Wow, you’re no fun”

You’re about to tackle him when he suddenly pulls your upper body against his chest so that you’re lying on top of him.

“Are you sure that’s all you have to say?” he asks you again. You prop your arms on his chest and look at him. So Baekhyun had noticed your lack of confession as well.

“Well…” you drawl out. A little annoyed, Baekhyun inches his fingers to your sides, threatening to tickle you. Laughing, you lean forward and kiss the tip of his nose.

“I love you” you whisper. Despite it only being the two of you in the apartment, you felt the need to make sure that nothing else could hear your confession, not even the insects outside.

“What was that?” Baekhyun pretends to not hear you.

“Hey, you’ve only said it once as well” you poke your tongue out at him. Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, so that’s how you want to do it? You want to keep count?” he rolls the both of you over so that he’s now on top. Trapping your body beneath him between his arms and legs, he leans down and starts leaving kisses all over your face, with every kiss accompanied with him confessing his love for you.

“I’ll say it whenever you want, love. And as many times as you want” he whispers hotly into your ears, making you squirm because of the tickling sensation of his breath in your ear. Baekhyun chuckles as he pulls away and rolls off you so that he’s now lying next to you. Turning to your sides so that you're facing each other, you trace your index finger down the bridge of Baekhyun’s nose, and then Baekhyun’s lips. He kisses your fingers when they linger there for a moment.

Pulling you closer by the waist, he tangles your legs together and tucks your head under his chin. You snuggle into his chest, feeling his heartbeat under your hand.

“Good night, Baek” you murmur.

“Good night, love” he responds.

“I love you”

“Mhm” is Baekhyun’s reply. You pull away and scowl at him. With a chuckle, Baekhyun pulls you back in and kisses the top of your head. “And I love you too” he says softly.

As you drift off to sleep, you feel a smile appear on your lips. You make a mental note to thank Sehun for what he’s done, for what he did today, but also for mentioning to Baekhyun about your difficulties with your studies those years ago. It was because of that small mention that you were able to meet Baekhyun, befriend him, and now love and be loved by him.

There’s no doubt that there will be obstacles that you and Baekhyun will have to face once you’re out into the real world, but you don’t mind. With Baekhyun by your side, you're willing to take on anything headed your way.

So this is the end to Make Us Brand New. Thank you to those that subscribed and to those that read this. I write these out of pity for myself and my loveless life but i'm glad some people out there enjoy it too lol. 

I wasn't planning on updating this final chapter today because i'm in exam period, but I figured why not. So. Here it is, the final chapter. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :)

Much love,

aekcso

Bonus:

It's an uneventful weekend. Baekhyun is gaming on his laptop at his table and you’re watching your favourite TV show when you suddenly remember something. Grabbing the remote to pause the show, you turn around to ask your boyfriend a question.

“I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, but why did you suddenly change the nickname you always had for me?”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun pauses his game and turns to look at you. You get up from the couch and walk over to him. Baekhyun immediately reaches out and places his hands on your waists before running them up and down the side of your thighs.

“You used to call me ‘sweetheart’, but now you’ve changed it” you tell him. Baekhyun hums and pulls you down so that you're sitting across his lap.

“Well, it’s pretty simple. I’d realised my feelings for you for a while, but I didn’t know how to convey them. I didn’t know how to confess back then, so I figured the name would sort of help me cope for a while. Do you want me to go back to calling you ‘sweetheart’?” he nuzzles his nose into your neck. You tilt your head back a little to give him more room.

“No, I like it. ‘Sweetheart’ was quite cute though” you mention casually. You shrug and decide to go back to watching your show now that your question had been answered, but Baekhyun locks his arm around your waist to prevent you from moving. Instead, he drops a kiss on your shoulder and murmurs, “I’ll call you anything you want. Sweetheart, darling… oh, or how about sweet pea, cupcake, my lovely rose...”

You can feel Baekhyun grinning against your skin and you groan. You're not a big fan on such cheesy nicknames. It took a while for you to get used to him calling you ‘sweetheart’, so you don’t know if you can stomach nicknames such as ‘cupcake’ or ‘sweet pea’. It’s just too much to be called that as the norm for you, and you know Baekhyun knows it.

“Or how about–”

You cut him off with a kiss on the lips. “Nope, just the one is fine, love” you tell him, using his nickname for you. You peck him again on the lips and finally get off his lap to return to your show.

“Whatever you want, my beautiful princess~” Baekhyun sings. You scowl and grab the cushion on the couch and throw it at him. You hear Baekhyun laughing to himself behind you before you resume the show. Yep, Baekhyun is the one you’ve needed all along.