Baekhyun was pretty upset that he’d ruined their day off. He hadn’t meant to disappear like that and make them use their spare time to look for him. Even if Minseok said that just his presence was enough, he wanted to do something to repay them all. He didn’t know what he could do, though. Buying them all something would be hard to do while he’s with them.

Maybe he should write them a song? He could ask to use Chanyeol’s studio. Or Yixing’s. They would let him, right? Or maybe they won’t, as payback for ruining their day.

On his quest to find one of the two, he stumbled upon an obviously exhausted Jongdae half asleep on the kitchen bench.

He walked towards him, trying to figure out if he was truly asleep or not. The small singer poked his now-bandmate in the side.

“Jongdae, are you asleep?” He asked in a soft voice.

“I wish I was.” Came the muffled response. Did he wake him? Baekhyun’s only good at ruining things for people, it seems.

“Did I wake you up? Sorry.”

“Nah. I don’t know why I’m even sleeping here. It’s too uncomfortable.” Jongdae complains as he removes his head from his arms and moves to make himself some coffee.

Baekhyun watched as Jongdae got a mug out from the cupboard and took a photo of it.

He turned to the smaller male with a cheeky grin on his face. “Hey, look,” He says, moving his phone into Baekhyun’s field of view. It was the photo he just took of his cup. He was trying to hold in his laugh to get the pun in, “it’s a mugshot.”

They both looked at each other for a split second before bursting out into laughter. Kyungsoo, who had only just walked into the kitchen, looked at the two of them as if they were insane, mumbling something about Jongdae poisoning his mind and left.

“Where’s Yixing? Chanyeollie?”

“Yixing-hyung will be in his studio or his room and Chanyeol is probably asleep. Maybe. I’m not sure, you’d have better luck asking Kyungsoo. Or Junmyeon-hyung. They always know where everyone is. It’s kind of creepy, to be honest.” Jongdae replied before shivering and walking off to do whatever it is that Jongdae does in his spare time.

Baekhyun decided to find Kyungsoo, he was there not too long ago so he couldn’t have gotten too far, right?

“Kyungsoo!” He yelled into the hallway, hearing his voice echo back at him.

A few moments passed before a head of black hair popped out from one of the doors some way down the hall.

Kyungsoo registered Baekhyun standing in the walkway and called out to him, “Yes?”

Baekhyun’s face lit up and he speed-walked over towards the older singer.

“Where’s Chanyeol or Yixing?” He questioned with a bright smile on his face.

Kyungsoo pondered for a moment before replying, “Chanyeol’s in his studio; Yixing-hyung went out. Do you know where Chanyeol’s studio is?”

Baekhyun’s smile grew – even though Kyungsoo was pretty sure that it couldn’t have – “Yes! Bye!” And in seconds the smaller male was gone. The vocalist simply shook his head and went back into his room to finish watching the finale of the Prince of Tennis. No one would see him cry this time.

“Chanyeol?” Sounded a tiny voice from the doorway to his studio. He recognized that voice anywhere.

He swivelled around in his chair to face the short male peeking in, his head of fluffy newly-dyed pastel pink hair almost long enough to cover his eyes.

“What’s up, Baek?”

Baekhyun pushed the door open and walked I hesitantly, “I want to um… write some songs, but I didn’t know where to do it so I was going to ask you or Yixing but I couldn’t find either of you, but Kyungsoo told me you were here. Am I allowed to stay? I will try not to bother you.” His voice got smaller as he went on, as if he was slowly losing hope.

Chanyeol grinned at the boy, which eased the other’s nerves somewhat.

“Sure, Baekhyunnie. You’re a part of this group just as much as we are, now. You don’t have to ask.” He assured.

Baekhyun still looked a little hesitant.

“Are you sure?” He whispered.

If Chanyeol said he wasn’t a little disappointed in the other’s lack of trust, he’d be lying. But he knew that his lack of trust had nothing to do with anything Chanyeol had done. It’s those bastards’ fault. He thought bitterly.

He chose to stop his thoughts before they went too far, though. He didn’t want Baekhyun thinking he was angry at him or anything. He smiled, “Don’t worry, Baek. You’re allowed to be anywhere you want to be and you’re certainly not a bother. If anything, you’re the opposite of a bother.”

At this, Baekhyun let out a sigh and a small smile took over his lips. Of course, he wasn’t one hundred percent convinced, but the small reassurance would be enough for now.

They sat together and composed for what seemed like minutes but was actually hours. They joked around, made some silly songs singing about food and how to stay up all night playing video games. They did make a proper song, though. Well, started. And Chanyeol decided to post part of it on Instagram to show that Baekhyun is truly being helpful and is part of the group.

The 12-second long video consisted of 7 seconds of song and 5 of Baekhyun and Chanyeol giggling about something that the fans couldn’t distinguish. Nonetheless, some found it cute, some found it annoying.

By now the initial shock of Baekhyun joining the group had died down as the news of their comeback was released, but there were still plenty of fans that did not like Baekhyun being in the group.

Baekhyun was, thankfully, oblivious to it all. He was simply enjoying his time with his new members and trying his best to practice and learn how to be part of an idol group rather than just being solo.

Chanyeol looked over to Baekhyun who was currently being amused by something on the taller male’s phone. It was cat videos. The ones where they jump away from cucumbers. Of course Baekhyun would find cat videos funny, he really was too innocent to be in this industry.

“Cats don’t like cucumber, either. Cucumbers are evil.” He stated, making Chanyeol chuckle.

Only you would think that, he mused.

“Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean they’re evil, Baek.” He teased.

Baekhyun’s head shot up to look at him, scandalized.

“No!” He exclaimed, “They are evil! I ate one once at it made me sick.” He pouted.

The taller couldn’t help but laugh at him.

Baekhyun thought that the other was laughing at him being sick, his chest felt like someone was pinching it and he avoided the rapper’s gaze.

Chanyeol, upon realising that Baekhyun was avoiding looking at him, asked him what was wrong.

When all he got in reply was Baekhyun swivelling the chair to face his back to him he rolled his own over towards him.

“What’s the matter? Did I do something?” He questioned in a soft voice.

He still got no reply, and so he tried to turn Baekhyun’s chair around himself. But the smaller had planted his feet on the ground with a strength one would not expect him to possess.

“Baek~” He whined, hoping that he might be able to win the other over if he uses aegyo.

Still no reply.

“Is it because I laughed?” A slight twitch gave him the answer he needed.

“I’m sorry~ I wasn’t laughing at you.” He continued.

Baekhyun reluctantly turned to face Chanyeol, his face looked so disheartened that it made him feel like he kicked a puppy, and the rapper put his arms around the vocalist’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

“I was laughing because you were acting really cute.” Yes, Chanyeol thought, if you up to him he might forgive you.

He didn’t get a reply, but Baekhyun leaned ever-so-slightly into his hold, signifying forgiveness. Chanyeol smiled and pulled him closer, though their chairs kept them a small distance apart.

“Am I forgiven?” He asked, just to make sure. The smaller nodded and rested his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

A comfortable silence fell over the two, but soon enough Baekhyun became fidgety. Chanyeol noticed this, however, and asked him if he wanted to do something else.

Baekhyun didn’t really know what he wanted to do, but as a result of prior situations he didn’t really like answering questions with ‘I don’t know’, it made him feel like something bad was going to happen to him every time he did.

He took several minutes to try and think of something, but ended up with nothing. As if sensing his distress, Chanyeol suggested that they go find Jongdae to mess around with.

Baekhyun was really glad to have someone like Chanyeol around. Someone who seemed to understand him and didn’t treat him like he was an invalid. He really liked the others in the group, too, but he felt closer to the taller male than he did the others.

Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Jongdae all came in a close second. Kyungsoo he went to for comfort, Sehun he went to because he makes him feel safe, and Jongdae he went to for fun. Chanyeol, however, he could go to for all three. Which is why he really likes him.

He loved all the others as well, but he wasn’t very close to them yet. Minseok, Junmyeon, and Yixing were all much older than him and he didn’t really know what to talk to them about. Jongin he was close to, but not quite as close as Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Jongdae. He bonded with Jongin over his love for food – particularly Kyungsoo’s cooking.

So when they failed to find Jongdae and instead found a very tired-looking Jongin on the couch watching a soccer match, they decided to join him. While Baekhyun didn’t know much about soccer, he wanted to spend time with Jongin.

When he cheered for the opposing team Jongin had looked at him strangely, and asked “You don’t know anything about soccer, do you?”

Embarrassed, the singer had simply nodded his head and looked away. Chanyeol had already left so there was no one to save him from his embarrassment.

Happy to be able to teach someone about something he liked, Jongin ended up narrating everything the players on the TV did; what they were doing and why they were doing it. Jongin’s husky voice was calming, and it resulted in Baekhyun’s eyelids closing all-too-soon.

When the dancer had noticed Baekhyun fast asleep next to him, he’d simply laughed and moved the younger one’s head onto his lap so he wouldn’t wake up with a sore neck.