A/n: This has a small amount of blood in it, js. 

"You should set me as your emergency contact," Baekhyun told him one day with his feet propped in Chanyeol's lap. They were at Chanyeol's apartment watching The Avengers movie for the nth time that week.

"Why?" Chanyeol asked through a mouthful of twizzlers.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. "I'm a queen. I am your queen. I should be a top priority, duh," he answered as if it were the most obvious thing. He popped a small piece of chocolate into his mouth while looking at Chanyeol, waiting for his response. 

Chanyeol SHRUGGED, dangling another twizzler in front of his mouth. "Nah. Maybe never." He chuckled at seeing the shorter's eyebrows furrow in irritation. 

"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun barked. "Do you dare defy me?" He slapped Chanyeol's shoulder. "What if something were to happen to you? How would I find out?" 

"The news?" he offered with a sheepish grin as he ate the last twizzler. He tossed the empty plastic wrapping in the floor carelessly where a small mountain of trash consisting of candy wrappers and empty soda cans was gradually forming. He eagerly reached for some of Baekhyun's chocolate.

"You're stupid," he huffed as he swatted Chanyeol's hand away.

Chanyeol leaned forward to kiss Baekhyun's cheek. "Love you, too. Now please shut up, the best part is about to happen."

/ /

It was Tuesday. 

Baekhyun knew because Tuesdays were when Chanyeol had his late class and usually studied in the library afterwards with Yifan. He wasn't expecting Chanyeol to be home until ten or eleven, maybe even twelve if they decided to eat out tonight. 

He peered at the clock with a long sigh. It was only nine-thirty. The apartment was too quiet without Chanyeol. There was no familar laughter ringing in his ear. It felt foreign to not hear the soft strumming of a guitar or Chanyeol's deep bass voice humming to one of his favorite R&B songs.

He whipped out his phone and pressed the message icon.

From: Byun Baekhyun

To: My Favorite Idiot

9:33pm

i miss you. ♥ Come home soon TT TT 

The reply was instananeous. 

From: My Favorite Idiot

To: Byun Baekhyun

9:33pm

I will! Stay cute while I'm gone and don't miss me too much ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Baekhyun smiled.

/ /

Around twelve-fifteen, Baekhyun heard his phone vibrating on the coffee table. Kicking the bundle of blankets off of him, he reached for it as he read the caller I.D.

"Hello?"

"Baek?"

"Of course," he replied with a grin. "Where are you? It's getting late." He heard Chanyeol cough and immediately, his grin was replaced with a frown. "Are you sick? You weren't coughing this morning. I told you to wear a damn jacket, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol laughed, warm and rich, but something sounded odd. There was a strange gurgle that Baekhyun barely heard underneath the laughter. Sore throat probably. "No, I'm not sick. My throat just kind of hurts." He laughed again. "Hey, sorry, but me and Yifan went out to drink--"

"Are you drunk?" Baekhyun interuppted with a growl. 

"What, no. Well, sort of? I'm buzzed and everything is kind of blurry." Baekhyun sighed. "I'm staying over at Yifan's tonight, since I don't want to be driving like this. Just go ahead and eat the dinner, okay?"

"I really miss you though." Baekhyun pouted, even though Chanyeol couldn't see him. 

"I know. But I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll be back even before you're awake," he replied.

"You promise?" He shifted on the couch and propped himself up with some of the pillows.

"I promise."

He thought of the new t.v. show that was currently playing on the screen. It was some kind of scifi-action, and he knew Chanyeol loved scifi. "Did you s-"

This time, Chanyeol interuppted Baekhyun with a quiet, "Baek."

Baekhyun raised his eyebrows while snapping his mouth shut and swallowing down his words. He was almost never interuppted by Chanyeol. "Yes?" he asked.

"I love you."

Baekhyun chuckled. "I know you do. Why woulnd't you? It's reassuring to know that you still love me, even when you're drunk."

"No, I'm not drunk. I mean it." Chanyeol coughed again and Baekhyun swore he heard another gurgle. "I really do love you. You mean the whole world to me."

"Quit rambling," Baekhyun scolded with a pink blush dusting his cheeks. He pulled his knees up to his chest before covering himself with the blankets again. 

"I'm not rambling," Chanyeol defended himself firmly. "I mean it. I love you and you're perfect to me. I love your hair when you first wake up. I love the way your eyes curve into those half-moon shapes when you smile your weird rectangle smile." He heard the shakiness in Chanyeol's breath. "I love hearing you talk about Marvel movies. I love how you're always scolding me, but deep down, I know you're just concerned. I love how you always make coffee for me first before you even touch your cup. I just love you and all the small things you do. I might tease you a lot, but I never mean it." Chanyeol wheezed. "I just love you so much." 

Baekhyun groaned. "Oh my god, Yeol. Just shut up. You're so cheesy sometimes. Go to sleep already, okay? You need it," he commented with an amused laugh. He stifled a yawn. "See you tomorrow. I love you, too, idiot. Make sure you get enough sleep," he gently reminded the younger.

Chanyeol sighed heavily and Baekhyun thought he had never heard him sound so tired. He inhaled loudly, causing Baekhyun to pull his phone away from his ear with a cringe evident on his face. "Goodnight, Baek."

The timer on his phone continued counting, increasing, while Baekhyun sat in complete silence and waited to hear the final exhaling breath. 

"Goodnight, Yeol," he whispered, even though he wasn't sure if Chanyeol was even awake anymore. He pressed the bright red End Call button.

/ /

Morning came with blinding rays of sunshine pouring through the slits in the blinds. The never-ending sound of cars honking at one another filled the city air. Baekhyun rolled to his opposite side with an annoyed groan. He was never a morning person.

Chanyeol wasn't in bed beside him like he promised, he realized with disappointment flooding him. He slapped his hand around on the nightstand until he felt his phone underneath his palm. He brought it to his face and squinted at the bright light emitting from the screen. There were no missed calls or messages from Chanyeol, which only added to his disappointment.

"Maybe he's still asleep," he murmured to himself as he scrolled through his contacts. He rolled back onto his other side with a yawn. He didn't stop scrolling until he reached his very last contact: Yifan.

Three rings passed before Yifan answered, sounding wide awake and alert, unlike Baekhyun. "Hey," he greeted. 

"Hey," Baekhyun returned the greeting, rather groggily. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, but I was just wondering something."

"I'm not doing anything right now, so it's fine. What's up?" he asked. There was some shuffling on the other line.

"Last night Chanyeol called me after his class and said you and him went out for some drinks, and said that he would spend the night at your house because he was kind of tipsy. He hasn't called me or anything. I was wondering if I could talk to him? He didn't charge his phone yesterday either, so I'm thinking his phone died or something." Baekhyun snorted. "I guess I just want to make sure that idiot is okay and not nursing a massive hangover or something."

There were a few beats of silence, then, "Baek, Chanyeol isn't here." 

Said male blinked, stunned. "What?"

More silence. "...yeah. In fact, Chanyeol and I didn't even go anywhere after class. Joonmyun came to pick me up and offered him a ride, but he said he would just walk to the bus stop," he informed the other quietly. "The one near the pastry shop," he added. "I think he said was going to get you some donuts."

Baekhyun's first thought was he lied to me; the scorching hot feeling of betrayal and bitterness coursing through his veins. However, after taking some deep breaths and rubbing his temple, he remembered that Chanyeol was an honest person and he could never lie. He recalled their very first date, having Chanyeol pick him up at his doorstep with a blinding grin on his face, until he saw Baekhyun's outfit and the smile disappeared. When asked what was the problem, Chanyeol had told him his outfit made Baekhyun look ugly.

So why did he lie?

"Okay. Thank you," Baekhyun said simply. He ended the call without waiting to hear Yifan's response. He then called Chanyeol's number; once, twice, three times without an answer. 

"Oh my god. Answer your phone," Baekhyun sighed, irritated. He thought of how last Halloween, Chanyeol had purposefully not answered any of his calls just to scare him. "I swear, Chanyeol--" Baekhyun growled while he grit his teeth together. He tried called again. And again. And again. Too many times to even count anymore.

With each unanswered call, fear slowly crawled up his throat and replaced the anger that had been bubbling inside him. After another unsuccessful call, Baekhyun buried his face in his hands. "Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay." With trembling hands, he called Chanyeol a few more times. He was stretching his patience like a rubberband, and he was going to snap any minute now.  He waited and waited, until it reached voicemail before calling again. "Chanyeol, please answer your phone," was one of the voicemails he left. He let the desperation seep into his voice; he was too terrified to even pretend to sound angry. 

He threw himself out of bed and dashed into the bathroom, almost slamming the door open. "Chanyeol?" he called. It was empty. He ran to the conjoined livingroom and kitchen. It looked just the same as he had left it last night: a half-empty bag of chips left open on the counter, an empty glass cup on the coffee table, and all the blankets thrown in a pile on the couch. "Chanyeol?" he called again, louder than before. "If you're hiding, please stop. It's not funny!" He was close to the verge of tears. Out of desperation, he called Chanyeol again. It only went to voicemail.

"Just answer your phone, dammit," he cried while he ran a hand through his already messy hair. Suddenly, his ringtone started blaring through the empty apartment. 

He didn't bother checking the caller I.D.. "Hello?" he answered quickly. When he heard Yifan's voice, he couldn't help but scowl.

"You might want to check the news right now."

"What--"

"Just--please," begged Yifan. His voice sounded thick with an emotion Baekhyun couldn't name. 

Warily, he made his way over to the televesion remote with one hand holding his phone against his ear. He turned the t.v. on and flipped to the news channel. "Yifan, what is this about?"

The face of Moon Seojun, the youngest and most well known news anchor of the moment, flashed onto the screen, looking extremely different from her usual cheery eye-smile. He had managed to switch to the channel when she was in the middle of a sentence. "--ing around five a.m.. The man who discovered him, choosing to remain anonymous--"

"What am I watching?" he blurted impatiently. Yifan's silence was the only way he urged himself to keep watching.

"--identified to be twenty-three year old Park Chanyeol." Baekhyun felt his throat tighten. "Police believe that he was walking to a bus stop when thirty-five year old Jung Hyunwoo jumped out from behind a corner and attacked him, stabbing him three times."

Baekhyun felt like he couldn't breathe. The air felt too thick, too humid. The whole world seemed to stop spinning. Seojun's words sounded distant and hazy.

"Police believe Park had been dead since about midnight of last night." Last night. His phone slipped out of his hands in shock. He felt a wave of nausea rush over him as he collapsed onto his hands and knees, thinking of his and Chanyeol's conversation and how Chanyeol rambled about how much he loved him. 

He heard Yifan's panicked voice calling his name over and over on his phone; the exact thing Baekhyun himself had been doing only moments earlier with Chanyeol's name instead, heavy on his tongue.

Seojun continued, "Jung has been taken into custody. As of right now, police have not discovered any connection between the two men. Any information regarding the crime should be reported to law enforcement immediately. Now back to you." The camera switched back to the main news anchor. The rest of the words fell into a jumbled mess of syllables. Baekhyun thought that was how he felt. So many emotions raced through him, he didn't know what to feel.

"Baekhyun? Bakehyun, it's okay, I'm coming over." Damn Yifan and his voice. Sometimes he sounded just like Chanyeol with his deep voice and warm laughter, Baekhyun thought with tears blurring his vision. He felt his body shaking. Maybe from fear, maybe from shock, he didn't know. "Baekhyun, don't cry." Damn Yifan. "You won't be alone." Damn Yifan. "I'll be there for you." Damn Yifan and his ing voice. Somewhere, somehow, during the eight seconds it took him to say those words, he started to sound a lot like Chanyeol.

Baekhyun dug his fingers into the rug. He sobbed and heaved at the same time with trails of tears running down his cheeks. He heaved again as he squeezed his eyes shut. Chanyeol's face appeared behind his eyelids, all bright grins and booming laughter. He imagined Chanyeol with blood-stained teeth. He imagined Chanyeol choking on his own blood as he forced a laugh through him. He imagined large hands soaked with blood plucking at the strings of an acoustic guitar. "Baekhyun, stay there." Baekhyun inhaled weakly before bile spewed out of his mouth.

/ /

Chanyeol fell to the ground on his knees, hands covering the wound on his stomach. He watched helplessly as his unknown attacker sprinted away with the bloodied knife in his hand. In a matter of seconds, Chanyeol was left alone on the dark corner of a street. There were no street lights near him, not for another half a block or so since the part of the city he was in was less populated. 

He grunted, pain shooting up through his torso. He only had one free hand and three wounds. The pain was excruciating. It hurt to even breathe. He felt his body surrender to the pain as he fell over onto his side. He groaned in agony and began to curl into himself, but froze when he felt his wounds being stretched. He could feel his blood gushing out of him with every rocky inhale and exhale.

Call for help, call for help, call for help, his instincts screamed at him, sounding louder than the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

He removed his bloodied hand and shoved it inside his pocket, fishing for his phone. When he felt it against his fingertips, he gripped it tight and pulled it out. 

Call for help, call for help, call for help.

He his screen and struggled to type in his password, due to the slick blood coating his fingers. He rolled onto his back with another groan. His blood was starting to pool beneath him. Instead of dialing the three digit emergency number, he tapped his screen only once and called the emergency contact on his phone.

"Hello?"

Instantly, he felt more relaxed. He forced his voice to sound calm and collected. "Baek?"

"Of course," he heard Baekhyun chirp. "Where are you?" the older ask asked. "It's getting late." His throat seemed to constrict him while he coughed. "Are you sick? You weren't coughing this morning. I told you to wear a damn jacket, Chanyeol," scolded Baekhyun.

Chanyeol laughed because , it was so nice to hear Baekhyun being his usual self while he was bleeding out somewhere on a sidewalk. Hearing the gurgle in his laugh, he cringed and hoped Baekhyun didn't hear it. "No, I'm not sick. My throat just kind of hurts." He laughed again while wiping at the blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth. "Hey, sorry, but me and Yifan went out to drink--"

"Are you drunk?" Baekhyun interuppted him with a growl. 

"What, no. Well, sort of? I'm buzzed and everything is kind of blurry." He lied and immediately regretted it. He was always an awful liar. At least it wasn't all a lie. His vision was starting to blur and fade in and out. He heard Baekhyun sigh. "I'm staying over at Yifan's tonight, since I don't want to be driving like this. Just go ahead and eat the dinner, okay?" 

"I really miss you though." He could hear the heavy pout in Baekhyun's voice, causing him to smile softly.

"I know. But I'll see you tomorrow morning. I'll be back even before you're awake," he said. He tasted blood in his mouth. 

"You promise?"

Chanyeol swallowed thickly and hoped Baekhyun couldn't hear his pounding heartbeat. "I promise," he muttered.

"Did you s-"

"Baek."

He could hear the surprise in Baekhyun's voice, "Yes?" he asked, the single word sounding tense and impatient.

"I love you."

Baekhyun chuckled, much to Chanyeol's relief. "I know you do. Why woulnd't you? It's reassuring to know that you still love me, even when you're drunk." Chanyeol pressed his free hand onto one of his wounds, desperately hoping it would stop the bleeding. I'm not drunk, he wanted to tell him. I'm dying and the last thing I want to hear is your voice.

"No, I'm not drunk," he opted to say instead. "I mean it." Chanyeol coughed again. The blood collecting in his throat caused another loud gurgle. "I really do love you. You mean the whole world to me."

"Quit rambling," he heard Baekhyun snap. There was no bite behind his words.

"I'm not rambling," Chanyeol stated as firmly as he could. "I mean it. I love you and you're perfect to me. I love your hair when you first wake up. I love the way your eyes curve into those half-moon shapes when you smile your weird rectangle smile." Everytime he took a breath, it came out shaky. It was getting more and more difficult for his lungs to continue pumping. His vision swam.

"I love hearing you talk about Marvel movies. I love how you're always scolding me, but deep down, I know you're just concerned." He felt his fingers loosening on the phone, faintly aware of the drying blood covering his hands and phone. "I love how you always make coffee for me first before you even touch your cup. I just love you and all the small things you do."

His eyelids fluttered open and shut. Not yet, he reminded himself. He willed himself to spill more of his thoughts from his lips. "I might tease you a lot, but I never mean it." Chanyeol wheezed as he felt his heart tighten painfully. "I just love you so much." 

He heard Baekhyun groan in annoyance. "Oh my god, Yeol. Just shut up" A small smile tugged at his lips. "You're so cheesy sometimes. Go to sleep already, okay? You need it," he commented with an amused laugh that echoed beautifully in Chanyeol's ears. He closed his eyes and pressed his phone closer against his ear, thinking this is how i want to go: listening to Baekhyun's laughter. "See you tomorrow." He felt his heart slowing and peeled his hand off of his injuries. "I love you, too, idiot." Chanyeol opened his eyes, falling in love all over again. "Make sure you get enough sleep." 

Chanyeol released a heavy sigh. Lungs weak, he inhaled loudly, and spoke at the same time, a rush of two simple, genuine words. "Goodnight, Baek."

The line was silent. 

"Goodnight, Yeol," he heard Baekhyun whisper, and finally, he closed his eyes.