Convincing the CEO to let Baekhyun join their group was a lot easier than Junmyeon had anticipated it to be. With the recent events, he’d assumed that the company wouldn’t have wanted any drastic changes to EXO to occur. Maybe they took pity on him, or maybe they figured the more publicity they got the better.

But Junmyeon didn’t want to think the company would stoop as low as to use someone who’s gone through so much already just for publicity. Then again, he wouldn’t really put it past them. Some of the people in this business truly were heartless. Truly.

The fans were quite obviously not happy with the new revelation. As they made their way through the airport that morning there were screams of horrible obscenities, the fans had no shame in showing their distaste for Baekhyun, apparently for ‘replacing’ the ex-members.

Junmyeon could not have been more grateful to the fact that Baekhyun hadn’t asked questions when he’d told him to put his headphones in and turn the music up. They knew what was going to happen, but that didn’t mean Baekhyun had to.

Chanyeol had clutched onto Baekhyun, protecting him from the more aggressive fans even though the security guards were quite capable of doing so. It was cute, honestly; how attached Chanyeol had become to Baekhyun and vice-versa. He figured the two would become good friends, seeing as though their personalities are so similar, but they had clicked together faster than he would’ve thought.

It wasn’t until they’d boarded the plane that they’d allowed the newest member of their group to remove his headphones. They didn’t exactly like controlling him like this, but they knew it was for his own good. Baekhyun is a sensitive kid if what they’ve seen of him so far is anything to go off, and the fans’ words would hurt him deeply whether he realised it himself or not.

The leader detested the way the fans were treating Baekhyun, but he knew that they were feeling an extreme sense of betrayal. He didn’t blame them for being angry, but the person they were directing their anger to was not the right one.

He could never hate his fans, but sometimes the things they do make it a little too easy to. They would eventually calm down, he hoped. As did the rest of them.

Baekhyun had gone along with everything without so much as an objection, the normally talkative and happy boy had been reserved recently which worried the other eight members, but they knew it was just the aftereffects of what happened and he would get used to things and come around eventually.

Sehun and Chanyeol were sitting with the smaller male on the plane. The height difference made him look like a child, but they were all equally as childish in personality. The sight of the three of them laughing and joking was something that made all of the other members smile, the light was slowly returning to Baekhyun’s face and they couldn’t be more grateful.

“I’m serious! I was a mess back then.” Chanyeol groaned as Baekhyun and Sehun nearly choked on their laughter.

“You still are, hyung!” Sehun teased and Chanyeol whacked him lightly on the shoulder.

“What were you like in school, Sehunnie?” Baekhyun asked, eyes full of curiosity.

Sehun smiled at the nickname, still not sure why the brunette never called him hyung but never had the mind to call him out on it. “I can’t really remember, to be honest.”

Chanyeol snorted at this. “You’re not old enough to be able to say that.”

Sehun glared at him playfully. “Okay, maybe I just don’t want to talk about it. Honestly, I was pretty reserved back then.”

“But you’re really handsome, you were popular, right?” Baekhyun asked with a cute smile on his face.

“I suppose. I mean, I never really paid that much attention to girls.”

“Are you gay?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Is there anything wrong with that?” Sehun hesitated. The other members were fine with gay people, even if Sehun wasn’t really sure whether he was gay or not he needed to know if Baekhyun was okay with it, just in case.

Baekhyun looked a little scandalised. “Of course not!” He yelled, “It happens, right? There’s nothing wrong with it. Right?” He smiled.

Sehun gave Baekhyun a soft look and nodded, thankful that the smaller male was supportive of gay people. Most idols were, seeing as though quite a few of them were gay themselves. It was kind of hard to grow up seeing so many attractive men or women around you and not feel something at least.

They quietened down once the plane took off. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were quietly whispering to each other while playing some game on the taller male’s phone. Sehun had long since fallen asleep and the others were doing their own thing quietly. Overall it was a relaxing start to their journey as nine members.

They were headed to some location that Baekhyun didn’t know the name of. He’d been told but he wasn’t exactly listening, too preoccupied trying to learn all of EXO’s previous releases. He was happy to have joined them, he didn’t really like the thought of going solo again in case the same thing happened again.

They were all very nice to him; they took care of him, didn’t ask too many questions, didn’t hurt him, and they actually cared. It had been a long time since someone had cared, and at first Baekhyun hadn’t really known how to react and always got flustered, but he was slowly getting accustomed to it and couldn’t wait for them to release an album together.

Towards the end of the flight he and Sehun had gotten bored and decided to attempt to have a conversation entirely using facial expressions and gestures. Their conversation mainly consisted of smiles and confusion but it was entertaining enough – not only for them, but for the people around them – for the rest of the flight.

“Okay, Baekhyunnie,” Junmyeon said as he grabbed his bags from the high overhead compartment. “Put your earphones back in and turn the music back up.” He smiled.

“But why?”

“Well, you have to learn all our songs, don’t you? And you’re not used to the number of fans we have so you’ll probably get a headache if you don’t block out the screaming somehow.” He chuckled, giving a knowing look to Chanyeol who was hovering over Baekhyun’s shoulder, reaching out to grab his bag from him.

The small singer pouted but relented nonetheless. ‘Run’ blasted through his earphones and he couldn’t help but mumble along a small ‘Ayo-o-o-o, ayo-o-o’.

The walk through the airport was eventful as always. Chanyeol protecting Baekhyun as though his life depended on it, the others making a not-so-subtle circle around him to stop the fans that were attempting to throw things at him and/or hurt him. Honestly, he’s had enough hurt for a lifetime.

Baekhyun being oblivious to everything but the music pounding his eardrums and the warmth of the arms wrapped around his small shoulders just happily continued to walk through the airport.

A-yo, a-yo, geommeokjineun malgo yeogi naega isseo (A-yo, a-yo, don’t be scared I’m right here)