July 26^th 2020

It's after their sixth meeting that the two start taking the initiative to see each other. 

After checking the weather for a week to ensure no more close calls with thunderstorms, Chanyeol finds a day to invite his friends to a picnic at the nearest riverbank. With all of his friends available for the next day, Chanyeol finds himself smiling over the cutting board in front of him.

Though they had all agreed to bring something to eat, Chanyeol figured most of his friends (except for maybe Junmyeon) would bring convenience store snacks. He thought it best to cook something himself, in hopes that it would be a little more substantial.

He diligently cut through a bell pepper, taking care to clear the inside of the seeds before making another slice down the side. As he sliced, his phone began vibrating against the table, causing the taller to wipe a hand on the washcloth next to him, flipping the device and answering the call in one movement. He resumed cutting without giving the device a second glance.

“Hello?”

“What are you bringing to the picnic tomorrow?” a voice asked without missing a beat. Chanyeol let out a laugh through his nose.

“Hello to you too, Baekhyun.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“What are you bringing?”

“I asked you first.”

“I’m making peppers and sausage.”

“You’re cooking?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

“I didn’t know you knew how to cook,” Baekhyun admitted with a soft laugh.

“What about you then? What are you bringing?”

“Haven’t figured that out yet. I thought of just finding something at the convenience store tomorrow but I just wanted to gauge how much effort everyone else was putting into food before doing that.”

“And what’s the verdict?”

“I don’t have a verdict. You’re the first one I called.”

Chanyeol smiled, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks.

“How much have you gotten done so far?”

“Well, I just started cooking. If you want, you could help me cook some rice and we can say the whole thing is from both of us.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Hey, if you’re okay with me piggybacking on you, I’m not gonna say no. I’ll be over in like ten minutes then?”

Chanyeol furrowed his brow. “Why would you need to come over here to cook rice?”

“Cooking is only fun if you do it with someone!”

“Is it because you don’t have any rice at home, or because you don’t have a rice cooker?”

“Details like that aren’t important! I’ll text you when I’m downstairs just keep an eye on your phone, alright Park?”

~~~~~

True to his word, Baekhyun appears in the lobby of Chanyeol’s building ten minutes later, the taller buzzing him quickly before returning to the bell peppers in front of him. He hears a knocking a few minutes later.

“It’s open!” he called as he poured the pieces of pepper into a separate bowl.

“It’s an awful lot of trust you’re giving me to leave your door unlocked,” Baekhyun said from the front door, locking the door behind him. “I could’ve been a murderer.”

“Are you a murderer?” Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun entered the kitchen, eyes still trained at the cutting board as the smaller placed a plastic bag on the dining table.

“Well no, but I could’ve brought one with me.”

“Did you bring a murderer with you?”

“I did not.”

“Then I guess I’m a lucky man,” Chanyeol said, looking up at the boy. “What did you bring?”

“Some alcohol and snacks. Thought it might make cooking a bit more fun.”

“Did you eat dinner yet?”

Baekhyun shook his head.

“I haven’t either,” Chanyeol said, putting an onion on the cutting board. “If you want, we can save those snacks for tomorrow, and we can just cook a little extra of this and have it for dinner.”

“Beats another night of instant noodles,” Baekhyun said with a laugh. “I’m in.”

“How many nights have you been eating instant noodles for dinner?” Chanyeol asked, half in concern.

“That’s not important. Point me to your rice and I’ll get cooking,” Baekhyun said, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

Chanyeol let out an amused breath, nodding to one of the cupboards. “Rice and rice cooker are in there. Make lots, alright?”

~~~~~ 

The night ends with the two at opposite ends of Chanyeol’s dinner table, finishing what was left of their drinks as they picked at what remained of their dinner.

Chanyeol rose from his seat with a sigh, stretching out his legs as he collected their now-empty bowls of rice to deliver them to the sink as Baekhyun continued nibbling on pieces of pepper.

“What time were we gonna meet up tomorrow?” Baekhyun asked as Chanyeol the faucet.

“About 5:00. Half of them wake up past 2 anyways, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to meet later in the day.”

Baekhyun hummed, sparing his phone a glance. “It’s getting late. I should probably head out soon.”

Chanyeol looked over at the clock on the stove, letting out a low hum when he saw the display showing 2:30 in bold red lettering.

“I’d drive you home, but I already drank. Are you sure you wanna be walking home at this time?”

“It doesn’t make sense to get a taxi to take me down a block, it’s fine.”

“I mean,” the taller began. “My sofa pulls out. If you’d be okay with staying for the night.”

“Are you sure? You already let me freeload with tomorrow’s food. Plus I don’t have any clothes or anything with me anyways.”

“You cooked rice, so I don’t think that counts as freeloading.”

Baekhyun scoffed.

“And if you’re worried because you don’t have anything with you, I have spare toothbrushes and some old shirts you can sleep in. If you want, we can swing by your place tomorrow before the picnic so you can get changed or whatever else you need to do.”

“You really don’t have to—”

“Really, I insist.”

 Baekhyun let out a breath. “Alright, alright. I owe you one though.”

“Whatever you say, Byun. I’m gonna get started on the dishes if you wanna get a shower in before bed. Come on,” Chanyeol said, shouldering open the door to his room and rummaging through the closet as Baekhyun followed after him. He hummed, pulling out an unused towel and one of his sleeping shirts, turning around and putting it in Baekhyun’s arms. “The bathroom door is over there by the dresser.”

The smaller boy thanked him with a smile, looking around for a light-switch before closing the door and locking it with a click!

Chanyeol smiled as he heard the water run, closing the closet door and heading back to the kitchen to get the dishes done. As he made work of the dishes, he let out a soft laugh at the sound of Baekhyun’s singing, loud enough to be heard through running water and a few closed doors.

The tall boy hums along to the song that Baekhyun was singing to, some obscure song from an obscure artist that Chanyeol was pleasantly surprised to know that Baekhyun also listened to. He scrubbed diligently at a stubborn patch of dried rice at the bottom of the pot, as he hummed along with the boy in the shower, slowly moving the dishes on the sink onto a drying rack.

He lets out a sigh as he places the last of the dishes out to dry, wiping down his hands and stretching out his back as the rushing water in the bathroom slowed to a stop. He walks over to the couch, converting it to a bed and rearranging the pillows for comfort. He patted down his pants, turning back to his bedroom to find some extra blankets.

Shouldering the door open, he finds Baekhyun facing the dresser, jumping at the tall boy’s sudden entrance. He quickly turned to face away from it, looking flustered.

“Oh, Chanyeol, I… wasn’t expecting you to come in.”

“I just came in to look for some blankets,” Chanyeol explained. “Is… everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” the smaller boy said, voice betraying his words.

“Baekhyun…”

The small boy deflated a bit. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop. I just saw a ring on the dresser and I just wanted a closer look.”

Chanyeol let out a breath through his nose, walking to the dresser as Baekhyun stepped back to give him access. The tall boy picked up the ring, holding it up for the smaller to see.

“So what’re your thoughts?” Chanyeol asked. “You have to be honest.”

“It’s uh… really unique.”

“You think it’s ugly, don’t you?”

“Well…” Baekhyun began. “Yeah, it’s a little ugly.”

Chanyeol let out a chuckle. “Thank god I’m not the only one.”

“Why do you own a ring that you think looks ugly?” Baekhyun asked, before quickly adding, “If you don’t mind me asking, at least.”

“Well, she liked the look of them. I told her it was an eyesore, but she just looked so happy that I couldn’t say no.”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Chanyeol said, putting the ring back down on the dresser and taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “It’s all in the past now anyways.”

“But you still have it.”

“So?”

“I might be overstepping my bounds here, but is it really all in the past?” Baekhyun asked, tentatively sitting on the bed next to Chanyeol.

The tall boy feels the familiar sensation of sadness overtake him for a moment, but tries to dismiss the feeling. He lets out a sigh, too tired to keep holding back.

“It’s easy to forget about her when I’m preoccupied,” he admits quietly. “When we’re all hanging out, I think I’m okay and I think I’m over it, but when I go home I realize that I’m not as okay as I thought I was.”

Baekhyun reaches over to hold the tall boy’s hand as he speaks in a silent show of support, rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand in a comforting motion.

“It’s been over half a year now, I should be over it. I don’t know why I’m not over it.”

“You can’t control how long you hurt for, Chanyeol. There also isn’t a time limit for how long you’re allowed to feel sad about things. If you need over half a year to work through things, then you need over half a year to work through things.”

Chanyeol felt something prick at the back of his eyes, but he tried his hardest to keep it in.

“I know I told you this when we first met, but if it’s worth anything, I really do think she missed out on a lot. You’re a really great person, Chanyeol. If she couldn’t recognize that, I just hope the next person will.”

“Thanks,” Chanyeol said with a small smile. “I haven’t really gotten to talk about things with anyone so I really appreciate you listening.”

“I appreciate that you felt comfortable enough to tell me. Sorry if it felt like I was prying.“

“I don’t think I would’ve talked about it if I hadn’t gotten that push.”

“If you wanna talk about anything else, you know I’m here, right?”

Chanyeol nodded. “I’m here if you need anything too, alright?”

“You’ll be the first person I call. Now come on, it’s getting late. We should probably head to bed.”

The tall boy smiled, standing to his feet and opening the door to his closet, pulling out a small stack of blankets and handing it to the other boy.

“The bed is already made, just take these out with you.”

“Sounds good. Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight.”

~~~~~

When Chanyeol wakes up the next day, he feels a little lighter than he had last night. The sun shines brightly through the sheer curtains, Chanyeol squinting as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light. He takes his time getting ready, washing his face and brushing his teeth in silence as he thought about his conversation with Baekhyun the night before.

The thought stayed with him as he left the bathroom, making careful work of opening his bedroom door, so as to avoid waking the boy sleeping on the couch. Though at this point, the time was just slightly past one o’clock, the boy was still sound asleep, blanket half off his body as he lay contorted in strange angles.

Chanyeol let out an airy chuckle to himself, half considering adjusting the boy before deciding against it, lest he accidentally wake him.

As the tall boy begins making breakfast, he can hear Baekhyun’s soft groans, first infrequent, and soon constant, until the boy is sitting up, hair messy and eyes barely open. By the time Chanyeol finishes cooking, Baekhyun has gotten ready, sitting quietly at the kitchen table as the taller sets down their plates.

They eat in comfortable silence, Baekhyun aimlessly scrolling through his phone as Chanyeol pokes at his plate, mulling over some things in his head.

By the time they leave the apartment, it’s almost 3:30. The drive to Baekhyun’s apartment is quick, and the small boy makes quick work of running up to his unit to get a fresh set of clothes and a backpack of things he needed for the day.

They arrive at the riverbank not long after, parking in a lot nearby before making their way to a small patch of grass that no one else had claimed. They laid out a lightweight tarp from Baekhyun’s bag, putting out what they had brought as they waited for their friends to arrive.

The evening air was warm, and as their friends began to arrive, it only grew warmer. They laughed as they shared food alongside the slowly setting sun, laid out on the tarp comfortably as the breeze blew by gently.

In the gentle glow of the sun, Chanyeol found it hard to keep his eyes away from the boy sitting across from him, smiling brightly and laughing boisterously, like he didn’t care who heard him. His eyes sparkle, his skin glows, and he’s just so… warm.

Chanyeol begins to question when Baekhyun ever became so bright, but he knew in himself that Baekhyun was always like this.

Baekhyun was just being Baekhyun, and he shone brighter than the sun.

He can feel his heart inexplicably pick up when Baekhyun caught his gaze and gave him a small smile, something meant just for him. His cheeks reddened slightly, but with the sun on its descent, it was hard to notice. Not that Chanyeol could’ve found it in him to care at that moment anyways.

He returns the smile, almost entranced by everything that is Byun Baekhyun. He feels warm. He seems to feel a lot warmer nowadays.

He’s not sure why he does.

He just knows that he never wants it to stop.