If the fans were impressed, they didn’t show it. At least, not towards Baekhyun. Of course they were impressed, performing two consecutive high notes like that, but a few still refused to cease glaring at the boy.

“Wow! What an amazing performance! A very intense song,” Heechul exclaimed, clapping wildly as the members sat back down. “Baekhyun-ssi, does your throat hurt yet? Those were some amazing notes!” He laughed.

The pink-haired male’s head shot up at the mention of his name and he appeared a bit flustered at the sudden attention, but managed to let out a small “thank you” at the complement.

“So, I hear EXO actually had a hand in the composing of a few of the tracks in this album.” Heechul began, gesturing to Junmyeon to continue.

“Ah, yes,” Junmyeon started with a smile, “Baekhyunnie in particular actually composed a few of the songs in the album. Lay, Chanyeol, and Chen also wrote the lyrics for them, too.” He finished, looking at each member respectively.

Jongdae nodded and grinned his signature grin. “Yeah. Originally we were going to use songs that were written by other composers but then Baekhyunnie showed us some of the stuff he’d been working on and it was really good. None of us knew he had that kind of talent, to be honest.”

Baekhyun flushed at the complements, not really knowing what to do in this situation.

“Really?” Heechul exclaimed, “What songs other than ‘El Dorado’ did you compose, Baekhyun-ssi? Would you mind explaining them to us a bit?” He asked.

The singer in question opened and closed his mouth a few times before composing himself.

“Uh- well, I composed a ballad song called ‘My Answer’ and one called ‘What If…’” He spoke into the microphone. “Chanyeollie wrote the lyrics to ‘El Dorado’ and Yix- Lay wrote the lyrics to ‘My Answer’ and everyone helped with ‘What if…’” He trailed off, not sure what else to say.

“What are the songs about?” Heechul questioned, not to Baekhyun in particular but rather the entire group.

As various members of the group went into explaining the lyrics and concepts of the songs, Baekhyun sat there feeling particularly proud of himself. He’d managed to not stuff up while speaking, and while he doesn’t normally stuff up on variety shows, this was a whole new situation to him. He hadn’t had the chance to have a full live concert or anything and he hadn’t been in the industry long enough to have had a fan meeting with more than about one hundred people, so a showcase with so many fans there was something he’d never experienced before.

He didn’t realise he’d gone off into space until he heard his name being called.

“Baekhyun-ssi, would you like to add anything?” Heechul asked, probably trying to encourage him to speak more.

His eyes widened and he shook his head quickly, not even knowing what they were speaking about. The fans seemed to think that was cute, however, and a chorus of screams of “Cute~” sounded from the fans and Baekhyun blushed, making the fans scream even louder. The other members were happy at the sound – the fans were finally warming up to him.

“No?” Heechul chuckled. “Alright then. Well, it’s time for us to play a game, yes?”

The fans chanted a ‘yes’ in response.

“It appears so. What game do we have planned for today?” He inquired.

Yixing was the one that answered this time.

“Actually, today we have a special thing planned. A segment called EXO News.” He announced, accompanied by the nods of the other members.

“Yes. Today you’ll all get to learn about the recent events in EXO’s life!” Junmyeon added and the fans seemed very excited.

“First up we have Chanyeol! What’s your number-one event so far this year in terms of EXO?” Heechul asked.

Chanyeol appeared to be thinking it over, but he already knew what his answer was going to be.

“Well, obviously the biggest thing that happened is our Baekhyunnie joining the group!” He announced happily, and the other members anxiously anticipated the fans’ reactions.

They weren’t expecting the fans to cheer like they would any other member, though. Of course it wasn’t nearly as loud as some fans were still opposed to the idea of Baekhyun in the group, but it was a better reaction than they’d thought it would be.

Baekhyun was flustered for the umpteenth time that night, but he was also ecstatic that they were cheering for him. It felt nice to be appreciated.

“Ah~” Heechul breathed into the mic. “Yes, I suppose that is the biggest news!” He smiled.

The members each went through their top news stories, Jongdae’s one being the most intriguing as he exposed Junmyeon’s habit of not cleaning up after himself and blaming the others for the mess, to which Junmyeon adamantly denied.

“Baekhyun-ssi, what’s yours?”

Baekhyun knew exactly what the biggest thing that happened to him was. He joined EXO. The first people who were always nice to him. They never hit him, never said mean things that made his chest hurt, never made him feel bad, told him nicely when he did something wrong and never blamed him for things he didn’t do. He really loved all of them.

He didn’t notice that the smile on his face had grown into one that anyone couldn’t help but love. The kind of smile that made you smile in return regardless of how you felt at the time. As the fans cooed “cute~” to him, he snapped out of his thoughts and struggled to form the words that he needed to convey what he wanted to say.

“Um. I- well, I met you guys… and… Uh, I learnt how to dance!” He exclaimed, frustrated with himself at his inability to say what he wanted to say. Nonetheless, everyone found his answer cute.

“You learnt how to dance? That’s probably the most productive news we’ve heard so far.” Heechul laughs with a playful look in the other members’ direction.

“Hey! I was the one who taught him! Does that count as productive?” Jongin asked in mock offense.

“I’m not sure, Kai-ssi~” Heechul singsonged, making the audience laugh.

Baekhyun laughed along with the audience, his cute giggles making it into the microphone that he was holding a little too close to his face. He realised his mistake and pushed his microphone away from his mouth only to make it stab into his thigh. Sehun, who had been watching the entire thing happen, erupted into laughter, leaving the rest of EXO confused as to why their previously youngest member was laughing his off and their new youngest was pouting like a small child while rubbing his leg.

“What is this?” Jongdae whined, hating being out of the loop.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Sehun said after finally calming himself, smirking at the small pink-haired singer sitting next to him.

They then proceeded with the game; Baekhyun participating more enthusiastically than he was before, feeling much more comfortable.

Their performance of ‘Call Me Baby’ went well, with no voice cracking or mistakes to be mentioned at all. All in all, the showcase was a success. Their album would be released in a few hours and the fans somehow had a newfound love for Baekhyun, whether they wanted to or not.

There were obviously still quite a few fans that hated him, but the number was drastically less compared to before the showcase.

Sitting in the car on the trip back to the dorm, Baekhyun was reminded with exactly why he loves them so much for what felt like the billionth time. He was in the car with Junmyeon, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Sehun. Junmyeon and Kyungsoo were in the back bickering about something in hushed tones, Sehun was asleep in the front and himself and Chanyeol were simply enjoying the peace and lack of screaming.

“Do you think the fans don’t like me, Chanyeollie?” Baekhyun muttered, unable to conceal his saddened tone.

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun for a moment, and the pink-haired singer couldn’t read what emotions were on the other’s face. He was never good at that.

“They don’t dislike you, Baekhyunnie,” He began, his tone warm and comforting, and Baekhyun thinks he’d be able to fall asleep to his voice. “They dislike the fact that you are new to the group.” He continued, not missing the hurt look on the smaller male’s face at his words.

“They’ll come around. They’re just a bit upset about the others leaving and someone being added to the group was like pouring salt into the wounds, I suppose.” He patted Baekhyun’s head. “But regardless, don’t let it get to you. You’re loveable, and I know for a fact that a lot of them found that out today.” He smiled, and the singer couldn’t help but return the gesture.

“How long…” Baekhyun started. “How long will it take?” He asked, biting his lip and looking up at Chanyeol.

“How long will what take?” he asked.

“How long will it take until they like me?”

Chanyeol sighed and gave Baekhyun a sweet smile.

“It’s not a matter of how long, Baek. There are some that may never like you, but that’s not your fault. There are people out there that will hate on you for no reason other than the fact that you’re a celebrity, or that you sing better than they do, or that you’re prettier than they are.” Chanyeol honestly had no idea where the last part came from, but he kept going, paying no mind to it. “It’s really ty, but it is how it is. I’d like to say it will change, but it won’t. There has to be one ugly personality for every beautiful personality out there, and there is a hell of a lot of beautiful people in the world.”

The change in mood was not a pleasant one, but neither of them minded. Baekhyun didn’t know why, but even though Chanyeol’s tone was sad and the words he said were sad, it was comforting.

“Does that mean people hate you, too? And Sehunnie? Kyungsoo, too?” He asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

The taller sighed.

“Yeah. We all have people that hate us. Some more than others, but we generally just ignore them. Granted, it’s hard sometimes. Man, is it hard. But you get used to it.”

He turned to look at Baekhyun with the same soft smile from earlier.

“You’ll get used to it.” He reiterated before closing his eyes and resting his head against the back of the carseat.

“But I don’t want to get used to it…” Baekhyun mumbled, low enough for only himself to hear it.

Chanyeol fell asleep soon after their conversation ended, and left Baekhyun to his own thoughts.