Yixing wraps Baekhyun in a hug as soon as they land in his apartment, grabbing his arms and tugging him into his embrace. Baekhyun melts into it and closes his eyes as he returns the hug, burying his face in the crook of Yixing’s neck. He smells like he always does, of cleanliness and bed sheets and peppermint, and Baekhyun inhales the smell in until his lungs are full of it. The burning feeling of being far away from his Parallel is  covered in ice now; he’s finally complete.

Yixing’s thoughts are racing, happy and free and full to the brim with so much love for him that Baekhyun feels tears springing into his eyes; he doesn’t stop them, letting them spill over and onto Yixing’s skin. I’ve missed you so much, he tells Yixing, voice choked and raspy even in his thoughts.

Immediately, Yixing wraps him in soft love and reassurement. His arms tighten around Baekhyun’s waist. I’m never leaving you again, baby boy. That’s a promise.

See if I let you, Baekhyun jokes back weakly and nuzzles the crook of his neck. Yixing sends him a mental nudge to the shoulder for his trouble. Even though his words were meant to be a joke, Baekhyun realizes that there’s a very real layer of serious intent underneath the humor- he won’t let Yixing get away from him ever again, at least not voluntarily. He won’t relive those agonizing past few days without his Parallel; he refuses to even think of it.

Yixing’s mind hums comfortingly, his hands rubbing up and down Baekhyun’s back as he sways them gently from side to side. It might look stupid to bystanders, but it’s actually extremely calming, Baekhyun finds. Yixing had his way of making Baekhyun’s bleak thoughts turn into happier ones, tinging them pink. In that sense, Yixing wasn’t just a physical healer, but a mental one, as well.

A sudden sneeze from behind them makes Baekhyun jump; he looks back and is actually surprised to learn that the very presence of Yixing in the same room with him made him forget that there were other people there with them. He flushes slightly at the realization and changes his position so he’s no longer hugging his Parallel, but holding hands with him, hoping to appear more casual and reserved. He doesn’t miss the way Yixing chuckles under his breath and plants a peck behind his ear.

Minseok has his hands over his mouth and nose, eyes wide as if he surprised himself with his own sneezing. “Sorry,” he apologizes shyly, voice muffled from behind his hands. “It’s really ing cold in Berlin.”

Someone holds back a snort and there are a few raised eyebrows in the room. It’s more than ironic that Minseok, of all people, would catch a cold, since he seemed to be immune to them. Junmyeon clicks his tongue in disapproval and rubs his Parallel’s back as the oldest in the room pulls his stuffy nose. Sehun and Jongin are barely holding in their laughter, but Jongdae’s frowning, eyes darting from left to right as if his brain is processing information quickly, storing data; Baekhyun makes a mental note to ask him about it later. He doesn’t like it when Jongdae keeps things from him.

At least Minseok’s sneeze made Yixing spring into life- he jumps forward and engulfs everyone in a hug, one by one, chattering happily about their well-being and how glad he is to see them. He kisses Sehun’s forehead and spends two minutes fawning over Jongin, who he always had a soft spot for. His mental happiness is infectious, seeping into Baekhyun’s mind until he’s beaming too.

While Yixing’s busy having a full-on Mandarin conversation with Jongdae and Minseok, Baekhyun looks around the apartment. It’s not really an apartment, so to speak- more like a medium-sized room with a tiny kitchen and a queen sized bed and a door to what Baekhyun guesses must be the bathroom. There’s a potted plant sitting in one corner and a worn leather couch pushed up against an empty wall; a rug that must’ve been white at one point covers most of the floor. The only window in the room looks out onto a tall building just across the street.

A Mandarin word catches Baekhyun’s attention back to the people in the room- “Boxian”, the Mandarin pronunciation of his name, said in Jongdae’s voice. When Baekhyun looks at him he smiles and raises his eyebrows, as if waiting for Baekhyun to say something. Throwing a quick look around, Baekhyun notes the looks of confusion on Jongin, Sehun and Junmyeon’s faces, reassuring him that he’s not the only one left out of the loop. “I’m sorry, what?” he asks, slightly embarrassed.

Minseok snorts and Yixing rolls his eyes fondly. “I was telling them about what happened in Lyon,” Jongdae explains kindly, reaching out to take Baekhyun’s hand in his own and giving it a light squeeze. “Wanna fill them in?”

Ah. That, Baekhyun can do. He tells his story up until the moment he met Jongdae and triggers a series of stories from all the men in the room, sharing their tales from the time they spent apart.

Minseok found an apartment and a job at a local Korean eatery, where he could at least understand what was being said to him (“Wait, , I didn’t tell my boss I was leaving, -”). Over his link to Junmyeon and with the help of his senses he figured out where some of them were, but neither he nor his Parallel knew how to assemble them all in the same place.

Junmyeon got by. Slept on park benches and wandered around aimlessly, trying to come up with a plan to get back to his friends and assure their collected safety. Since Baekhyun was the only one in the same actual country as him, he tried to figure out how to get to him, then Minseok, but he had no money and didn’t know any French, so he settled on waiting. Maybe someone else will think of something.

Having lived most of his young adult life restrained in a facility with no freedom, only to escape and end up with way too much freedom, Sehun was scared out of his mind. He stole from convenience stores just so he could eat and survive, and frantically hoped that one of his friends would come and save him; he had no doubt in mind that they will, eventually.

Jongin was afraid of using his power to get to his friends, even though he sensed them nearby. London was a big city with eyes all over the place, and he was gripped by the unrelenting fear that if someone saw him teleport, he’d be sent back to that horrible facility. He was surprised (and relieved), then, when he teleported along with Baekhyun and Jongdae, and later on Junmyeon, Minseok, and Sehun, and nothing happened.

He wasn’t scared anymore.

“Wait, wait,” Yixing interrupts, brow furrowed in confusion. “You teleported all of these guys halfway across the world, and you’re fine? You could barely teleport me to my cubicle from the common room before!”

Jongin flushes at that statement, a reminder of his once-weak power, and shrugs. “Honestly, I feel great,” he says with a tiny smile, shrinking under the weight of all of their combined looks. “Really! Not even a tiny bit tired.”

Next to him, Baekhyun feels Jongdae tense. Looking over at him from the corner of his eye, Baekhyun studies his boyfriend’s expression: cryptic, carefully guarded, like someone just told him some terrible news and he was trying to keep a straight face.

The fingers woven in between Baekhyun’s tighten; he thinks he can smell copper in the air.

“That’s great,” he smiles at Jongin before anyone else can notice Jongdae’s sudden tenseness. “You know what else is great? Kyungsoo’s alive.”

Of course mentioning Kyungsoo would make Jongdae loosen up- it’s almost ridiculous how quickly his expression changes from stony to an all-out beam. There are loud cheers from their friends and a shower of questions rains on Jongdae as they try to get more information about their resident earthbender. Jongdae answers them all happily, eyes glinting with that light that’s reserved just for Kyungsoo. Baekhyun stands next to him and tries not to let any of the momentary panic he felt show on his face.

The minute he gets Jongdae alone, he will find out what the is going on.

------

Baekhyun can’t sleep.

After their catching up session in Yixing’s tiny apartment, they went out to eat at a cheap restaurant just down the road from where Yixing was staying. Sehun literally devoured anything edible placed in front of him, which made Baekhyun wonder how much he actually had to eat when he was alone. He was quickly distracted, however, by the conversation going on over the food on the table.

“We’ll rest here tonight,” Minseok said around a mouthful of fried duck meat. “No point in testing Jongin’s boundaries, strong as they may be.”

“Hey!” Jongin protested, affronted. Sehun patted his thigh sympathetically before turning back to his plate. Minseok shrugged apologetically, even though the smile on his face didn’t look like one of remorse.

Yixing nodded and swallowed his mouthful before speaking. “The apartment across from mine is empty. I can talk to the landlord, see if some of you guys can stay there for the night. The rest can stay at my place. The couch opens into a bed.”

“Awesome,” Baekhyun said, raising his head from Jongdae’s shoulder. “I call Yixing’s couch.”

“I’m with Baekhyun,” Jongdae added immediately, even though no one was thinking otherwise.

Junmyeon rolled his eyes over his chopsticks. “We’ll talk about sleeping arrangements later. What matters now is the plan for tomorrow.”

“Well, I mean,” Jongin started, shifting in his seat uncomfortably, “I can probably teleport everyone over to Kyungsoo and then go and pick up Chanyeol. Where did you say Kyungsoo said he is?” he asked Jongdae, who was caught unguarded while raising a spoon to his mouth to take a sip of his soup.

“Um,” he said, putting his spoon down with a disappointed pout that Baekhyun thought looked adorable on him. “Arizona, I think.”

Sharing a wary look with his Parallel, Junmyeon cleared his throat. “If you’re sure you can do it,” he told Jongin cautiously. “We don’t want you to keel over or something.”

Jongin deadpanned at him, annoyed. Baekhyun stifled a laugh in Jongdae’s shoulder and was pleased with the kiss to the crown of his head he got in return.

They paid for their meal and returned to Yixing’s apartment; the healer managed to score the flat across from his for the night, so Junmyeon, Minseok, and Sehun moved there to sleep. Jongin settled next to Yixing on his bed, which required quite a lot of shimmying, and Jongdae and Baekhyun took the folding couch.

It wasn’t comfortable; the mattress was thin and springs dug into Baekhyun’s back and sides, making him toss and turn just to find a position where he wouldn’t feel like a pin cushion. Eventually he settled on laying on his side with his chest pressed against Jongdae’s back and an arm thrown over his boyfriend’s waist, breathing in the familiar scent of his hair and the pleasant sensation of Yixing’s sleeping mind buzzing at the back of his skull, but then something else interrupted his sleep.

Thoughts.

More specifically, thoughts about Jongdae. He was worried sick about his boyfriend; his strange behaviour, how he reacted to certain things, how he almost lost control over his powers back in Lyon. It was concerning. It was unlike him, and it made Baekhyun uneasy. Jongdae was hiding something, that much was obvious, but the fact that he wasn’t sharing it with Baekhyun made him think that it had something to do with him- with all of them, their little ragtag group of friends. Which made Baekhyun think that something was wrong. Deeply, seriously wrong.

Jongdae would tell him if they were in danger, right? If there’s one thing Baekhyun knows, it’s that Jongdae would never hurt them, nor would he let them be in danger, either.

So what the was he hiding?

“I can hear you thinking, and I’m not even your Parallel.”

Jongdae’s whispered words cut into Baekhyun’s train of thought and effectively stop it short. A hand made warm from being covered with sheets covers the one Baekhyun has on Jongdae’s stomach, tangling their fingers together. It’s a sweet gesture, but Baekhyun is way too bothered with his thoughts to appreciate it properly. “What are you thinking about?” Jongdae whispers, moving so his backside is pressed more firmly against Baekhyun’s front, snug against his crotch.

On another occasion, Baekhyun might’ve taken the bait, but not tonight. “You’re hiding something from me and I can’t take it,” tumbles out of his mouth before he can stop himself. His voice is a little too loud; Jongin stirrs in his sleep on the bed and Baekhyun mentally curses. Jongdae, however, makes a small noise of confusion and flips himself over so he’s facing Baekhyun, eyebrows furrowed together in his concern. His thumbs come up to Baekhyun’s face, rubbing just underneath his eyes and smearing away the moisture there. With a jolt, Baekhyun realizes he’s crying.

“You always tell me everything,” is the only way he can explain his outburst, voice carrying shame even when pitched to a whisper.

“That’s not true,” Jongdae counters with a playful grin. “I didn’t tell you I had a crush on you for like, what, a year?”

The snort that leaves Baekhyun is entirely justified, and so is his eyeroll and the smack he delivers to the lightning bender’s chest. “That was something different. You’re hiding something big. Something that has to do with all of us.”

This is an accusation and they both know it; Baekhyun’s tone left no doubt about that. Jongdae bites his lower lip and looks away, over Baekhyun’s shoulder and out the window on the opposite wall. In the silence that follows Baekhyun can hear the steady breathing from the bed that means his Parallel is alive and well, the way the wheels in Jongdae’s head spin when he thinks, and little slivers of Mandarin and Cantonese he learned to recognize thanks to Wufan. He shifts a little under the covers and notices how Jongdae’s eyes flick back to him and turn soft; it makes Baekhyun’s heart beat that much faster.

Carefully, hesitantly, choosing his words, Jongdae speaks. “There is something I’m not telling you, and it does have to do with all of us,” he confirms. “But you’ll all find out soon. I just- I need to talk to Kyungsoo, face-to-face. Then we’ll tell you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes narrow at that last part- so Kyungsoo knows. There’s a tiny part of him that loudly protests over the fact that Jongdae didn’t confide in him first, but most of him- the logical part of his mind- knows that it makes sense, that Kyungsoo is Jongdae’s Parallel and is therefore the first to know what Jongdae’s thinking, and that the two always had a connection between them that was more than the connection between Parallels. Kyungsoo and Jongdae- they were special like that.

That doesn’t mean that Baekhyun can’t feel jealous, though. He doesn’t like it, but he does feel like that sometimes, even though Jongdae reassured him many times that the relationship between him and his Parallel wasn’t at all like what he and Baekhyun had. It’s irrational and stupid, Baekhyun knows- hell, he cuddles with Yixing all the ing time, and you don’t see Jongdae throwing a tantrum over that- but knowing that doesn’t stop him from feeling it.

Pushing aside his petty thoughts, Baekhyun sighs and holds Jongdae’s wrists, looking into his boyfriend’s dark brown eyes in search for answers. “Just- just tell me,” he starts, closing his eyes tight in fear of what he might hear, “are any of us in danger?”

He feels Jongdae’s long exhale on his face and his thumbs across his cheek bones. Under other circumstances it might’ve been calming, but Baekhyun’s too on edge to appreciate it at the moment. Jongdae’s answer takes him by surprise- he was honestly waiting for Jongdae to say something confident, like “Never” or “Of course not”, but all that leaves his boyfriend’s mouth is a soft, “I don’t know.”

His voice. Something about it isn’t right. Was it fear Baekhyun heard? If it is, they’re definitely screwed. If Jongdae’s scared, they all have a good reason to be ing terrified. He lets out a defeated whimper and burrows his face into the lightning bender’s neck, clutching the front of his shirt. He just wants to hide.

“Hey, hey now,” Jongdae whispers, tone urgent as he wraps his arms around Baekhyun and presses him as close as he can against his body one hand coming up to play with his hair, lips pressing against his temple. “It’s gonna be okay. Whatever’s going on, we can control it. I have faith in you guys, okay? I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.”

I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. To Baekhyun, it’s clear that he’s not just talking about all of them, but referring to Baekhyun, specifically. It fills him with warmth that spreads from his chest out, making his fingertips tingle; he has absolute faith that whatever happens, Jongdae will protect him.

“I love you,” he mumbles into Jongdae’s skin, sniffling a little. The last time he said those three words was before their escape from the facility, before everything got royally ed up. He’s never meant them this much until now.

The arms around him tighten ever so slightly. “I love you too. So, so much.” A light kiss settles on his forehead. “Go to sleep, babe. I’m here.”

Closing his eyes, Baekhyun lets his body relax. If something happens, Jongdae will wake him up.

u bet ur ing i made exo m speak mandarin to each other

sorry if this took long to update, things have been kinda hectic lately?? some stuff went down and i didnt have any time to write, so thats why. anyways. baekchen fluff galore! also chensoo are kind of life. im platonic chensoo trash. youll see.

last chapter will most likely be the last! anticipate chensoos reunion and ot9 finally being together, yeah.  what exactly is jongdae hiding will also be revealed. so, yeah. s going down.

listen to oh my girls liar liar ;))