"S-Slave?!" Baekhyun choked out. Was he hearing things?

Chanyeol nodded, the smirk still on his lips.

"No way! I'm no-"

"But you said anything."

"That's not even reasonable! Why do I have to be your slave? A slave of all things?! And for a month!?" Baekhyun complained. He had thought he had done a good deed to make it up to Chanyeol but instead, he had dug up his own grave.

"Technically, the prize was a week without homework. It's only fair that you do my homework for me, right?" Chanyeol explains innocently and Baekhyun looks at him in disbelief.

Baekhyun frowned. "Fine, then only a week. I'll only be your slave for a week. After that, you and I are done." Baekhyun states firmly and Chanyeol nods, satisfied with that response.

"Okay. A week."

Baekhyun was about to speak with Chanyeol held out his hand.

"Huh?"

"Phone." Chanyeol says and Baekhyun takes his phone out of his pocket with confusion.

"What do yo-"

Chanyeol grabs the device and punches something in before handing it back to Baekhyun.

"Whatever I want, you do. Whenever I call you, you come." Chanyeol says before walking past the shorter male and leaving the restroom.

Baekhyun leaned against the wall tiles and groaned, looking down at his phone in his hands.

New Contact Saved! : Chanyeol

What did I just get myself into!?

-

The day passed by smoothly and Chanyeol hadn't said a word to him after their deal in the bathroom. But that didn't make Baekhyun any less alert of Chanyeol. He had told Kyungsoo about the slave contract and the senior only laughed. 

"Don't worry. Chanyeol is harmless. If anything, he's probably just kidding with you."

Baekhyun didn't like the sound of that. He knew it himself, that Chanyeol was probably only playing a game. Just using him for his own entertainment but Baekhyun had volunteered to do so. The opportunity came and Chanyeol took it.

School was starting tomorrow and Jongdae decided that they should have a sleepover in his and Chanyeol's room. Minseok and Luhan agreed, eager to forget that classes were less than 24 hours from starting.

"Wanna go, Baekhyun?" Kyungsoo asks. Baekhyun wanted to refused the offer so badly.

"U-Uhm..Shouldn't we be preparing for school?"

Kyungsoo pats his shoulder. "I know you're probably nervous but it's really nothing to be worrying about. The teachers are nice and they don't give out too much homework."

Baekhyun wasn't worried about school. He was worried about a certain big-eared giant that he had become a slave for just earlier today.

"But Chanyeol..." Baekhyun spoke it a lower voice. They were in their own room but knowing that the said male lived only across the hall, Baekhyun could never be too cautious.

"I promise he won't make you do anything. It's a sleepover, Baek. Most of the time, if we have one, Chanyeol reads a book or something. He doesn't really participate in Jongdae's crazy activities."

Kyungsoo's words seemed promising but Baekhyun felt unsure.

"Maybe an hour..Just an hour." Baekhyun says, sets a reminder on his phone. At 9, his phone should ring and he will leave.

-

Baekhyun prayed that the bottle wouldn't land on him.

"Jongdae! Truth or dare??" Luhan exclaims and Baekhyun lets out his ninth sigh of relief. They had crowded on Chanyeol and Jongdae's beds and placed an empty water bottle on the ground between them. It was a lame but classic game to play among teenagers but when these people, Baekhyun felt slightly uncomfortable. He sat with Kyungsoo, Xiumin and Luhan while Chanyeol, Joonmyun and Jongdae sat on the other bed.

"Dare." The male says confidently and Luhan puts a finger to his chin.

It's been half and hour and Baekhyun has been silently counting down the minutes till his phone would go off.

"I dare you...to run next door and tell them you clogged the toilet because your was too long and chunky." Luhan says and Xiumin bursts out in laughter as Jongdae hops of the bed.

"As if this is my first time."

Kyungsoo laughs, "I feel so bad for your neighbors."

As Jongdae makes his leave with Luhan following, Baekhyun plays with the corner of his phone case, pulling it off and pressing it back on. Often his gaze would fall on Chanyeol, who sat in silence at one end of the bed. So far, it was Luhan and Xiumin who had been constantly getting picked. Joonmyun went once and Kyungsoo twice. 

"Oh my god! You should have seen his face!" Jongdae comes back in saying in between his fit of laughter. Luhan wipes some tears away before jumping onto the bed next to Baekhyun.

"Who's next?" Jongdae exclaims as he spins the bottle. It turns quickly before coming to a stop.

"Joonmyun hyung!" Luhan declares and the oldest male groans.

"I knew I shouldn't have come."

Jongdae smirks. "Truth or dare?"

Joonmyun responds almost immeidately. "Truth."

Xiumin throws a ball of tissues at him. "Aye~ that's not fun."

Joonmyun shrugs and Jongdae proceeds to ask him a question.

"When do you plan to make a move on Yixing?"

Baekhyun's eyes widen while Xiumin and Luhan 'ooooo'. Joonmyun's ears go red and he glares at Jongdae for asking this.

Joonmyun likes Yixing??

"I-I don't know. Soon, maybe?" He says with a blush and Jongdae cheers him on.

"You're obsessed with him! If you don't tell him soon, someone will snatch him right before your eyes."

Joonmyun rolls his eyes and reaches down to spin to bottle. Baekhyun's heart thumps out of fear, focusing his attention completely on the plastic container as it came to a stop.

"Kyungsoo!" Xiumin says with a smirk.

Joonmyun looks at the doe-eyed boy. "Truth or dare."

"I wish neither. Both options are going to include a certain teleporting boy, am I right or am I right?" Kyungsoo says with the most unamused expression. The previous times he was chosen, he had chosen truth and Xiumin asked him if he ever had wet dreams about Jongin. Xiumin ended up with a bruise on his shoulder.

"You know it." Jongdae winks.

"Fine, dare." Kyungsoo says, already regretting his words the second they left his mouth. Jongdae wiggles his eyebrows and Kyungsoo puts his face in his hands with a groan.

"Go to Jongin's room and tell him you want to sleep with him because there's a monster under your bed." Joonmyun says, trying to not make the dare too extreme. As expected of the most responsible member of their group.

"That's boring, hyung." Luhan complains but Kyungsoo's face was already going pale.

"What?! He's going to ask me, every day after this, if I want to sleep over. He's never going to let me live this down."

Xiumin laughs before suddenlyzipping his lips with an imaginary key and putting one hand over his bruise. He knew that if he made fun of Kyungso again, he would end up with two injured arms. One was good enough for him.

"You have to do it! You chose 'dare'." Jongdae pressures and Kyungsoo glares at him.

"Okay, okay. I'm saying it but then I'm leaving right away."

Luhan opened the door for him and Baekhyun wished him luck. Kyungsoo only let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders dropping down as he left the room.

Jongdae looked over at Baekhyun. "Don't worry Kyungsoo likes Jongin, too. He's just in denial."

Baekhyun laughs unsurely.

"One more round." Luhan says, and spins the bottle.

It spun before stopping at a diagonal position and everyone looked at their victim.

"Chanyeol!" Jongdae exclaimed with excitement and the said male looked up, confused.

"What?" He says wit his deep voice. Baekhyun stared at his face.

"Truth or dare."

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't want to play."

"Hey, don't be such a party pooper. Just pick."

Chanyeol glanced over at Baekhyun and the shorter male immediately looked away.

"Dare." Chanyeol says and Baekhyun checks his phone.

8:51..9 minutes..

"I dare you...to give all of us...a hug!" Jongdae says proudly and Chanyeol gives him a death glare.

"A hug?" Baekhyun asks and Luhan nods.

"I can't remember the last time Chanyeol gave any of us a hug, let alone a high five.."

Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

"He's the least affectionate person you can find here. He doesn't give high five. No hugs. Not even a handshake or a pat on the shoulder." Xiumin says, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. Baekhyun remembered Kyungsoo saying something about Chanyeol not liking to touch people but he couldn't remember clearly.

"Hurry up now, Chanyeol." Jongdae says, holding his arms out expectantly. "Or else Kyungsoo will come back and that's another person to hug."

Chanyeol sighed with annoyance and barely wrapped his arms around Jongdae's shoulders. It looked as if he was trying to avoid contracting a disease. When Jongdae pulled Chanyeol closer, the taller male would cringe and attempt to push the other off. With the blink of an eye, Chanyeol pulled away and moved over to Xiumin.

Baekhyun began to panic. He did not want to be hugged by Chanyeol. He had enough hugging during the scavenger hunt, but of course he couldn't say that out loud. He wanted to go into his bed, curl up into a cocoon, and sleep. Baekhyun desperately begged for Kyungsoo to return and take him out of this nightmare.

Chanyeol was done with "hugging"  Joonmyun and was proceeding to get off the bed to get to Luhan.

"I-I think I'm going to go now. I'm getting really tired." Baekhyun stutters, trying to act natural. He stretched his arms over his head and tried his best to realistically yawn.

"Aw, already? We were just getting settled in." Jongdae says and Baekhyun wonders if he had really bought his act.

"Oh, bummer. Well, I'll be across the hall if you need me. See you guys tomorrow!" Baekhyun climbs off the bed and scurries to the door, hoping Chanyeol would ignore him. He's doing Chanyeol a favor anyway by being one less person to hug.

Baekhyun made it out the room without any more questions asked and leaned on the door, taking a deep breath. Having left Jongdae and Chanyeol's dorm, Baekhyun felt more awake and energetic than earlier knowing that he could have the rest of the night to himself. He jumped up in excitement and punched the air around him.

"Thank god..I would have died if-!"

The door opened up and the giant stepped out, raising one eyebrow as Baekhyun paused with one hand jabbing the space in between them.

"Tired, I see."

Baekhyun mentally curses for not going into his own room before doing the celebratory dance.

"I-I was just about to-" Baekhyun felt flustered as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Mhm, I'm sure you were." Chanyeol says sarcastically. Baekhyun wanted to quickly return to his room now.

"So, uh, good night?" Baekhyun says, but his words come out to sound more like a question.

Chanyeol doesn't say anything and Baekhyun takes this as an 'ok' or a 'whatever' from the giant.

Baekhyun turns around to face his door but before he could take another step forward, someone pulled his hand back. Baekhyun glanced down at his wrist and then up to face Chanyeol. He had an expression that Baekhyun couldn't distinguish nor describe with one word.

"C-Chanyeol...?" Baekhyun says,  surprised.

The taller male tugs on his arm and Baekhyun falls over, landing in Chanyeol's chest, a similar position from earlier.

Baekhyun's eyes widened when he felt arms wrap around him. Warmth radiated from Chanyeol, enveloping Baekhyun in the semi-hug.

"W-Wha-"

"Stop wiggling around you little caterpillar." Chanyeol mumbles. His face was next to Baekhyun's head and Chanyeol had to lean down to rest his head on the shorter male's shoulder. At this point, Baekhyun was panicking inside and his heart was racing.

Why is Chanyeol doing this?! Is this a prank of some sort? Was this just part of the dare?

"I'm not a-"

"It feels nice," Chanyeol cuts him off and speaks in a low voice. "to hug you for real."

Baekhyun freezes. Is Chanyeol talking about earlier? What had it been like to hug me when he was paralyzed?

They stood like that in silence before there was a loud beeping sound. Baekhyun jumped in surprise. He immediately reached into his pocket to pull out and turn off the alarm he had set on his phone. Now, the two of them were separated but they stood close to each other, just inches away.

Baekhyun was too embarrassed to look up at Chanyeol but the other male didn't say anything about it.

"Good night, Baekhyun." Chanyeol says and Baekhyun can only nod his head.

"Y-Yeah." Is all he says before Chanyeol slips back into his room and Baekhyun is left standing outside on his own.

Baekhyun couldn't process what had just happened. He slid his card over the lock and pushed the door open.

"You're back." Kyungsoo says to him, looking up from his phone.

"Mhm.." Baekhyun couldn't help but wonder if Kyungsoo had heard his and Chanyeol's somewhat of a conversation. "What did Jongin do?"

Kyungsoo shrugged. "Nothing. I didn't go."

Baekhyun laughed. "I should have known."

"That hormonal boy will probably consider me if I tell him I want to sleep with him." Kyungsoo half jokes as Baekhyun flops onto his bed. He let out a sigh and relaxed into the mattress. It didn't feel like school, at least not yet. Tomorrow was the day it all would start. He would have to hide the fact that he doesn't have a power.

They sat in their room in a comfortable silence and by now, Jongdae and the others should know that they weren't going back.

"Hyung..what am I going to do? I'll be discovered within the first few seconds of class. What am I going to do?" Baekhyun stressed.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. You're only supposed to use your novas in NP. It's only a few people who can get away with using them on a daily basis."

Baekhyun rolled over and sighed.

"We're not going to be in the same class, I'm guessing."

Kyungsoo shakes his head. "Most likely not. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can make new friends."

Baekhyun closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Maybe....good night hyung."

Kyungsoo nods in response and turns off the lights, leaving only light from the window between them to illuminate the room.

"Night, Baek."

Baekhyunnnnn.~

Leave a comment! What's up with Chanyeol? What do you think will happen on Baekhyun's first day of school? :)

Thanks for reading! <3 <3