“Soo?”

Kyungsoo looked up from his food and found Baekhyun once again fidgeting nervously in the doorway.

“Yes, Baekhyun?”

Said boy raised his head and looked directly at him.

“I want to ask you something… Can I?”

Kyungsoo’s facial features softened at the request and he nodded his head, patting the chair next to him.

“I think I’m sick,” The pink-haired singer announced once he’d made his way over and sat down.

“I thought you wanted to ask me something?” Kyungsoo asked, confused. “Either way, you don’t look sick,” He said, taking a good look at the younger for any signs of sickness.

Baekhyun flushed under his intense stare, his slightly-chubby cheeks turning soft pink in colour and he avoided eye contact.

“I… feel warm sometimes. My face feels warm, sometimes other parts, too. Am I sick?”

Kyungsoo thought it over for a moment. Baekhyun didn’t seem to have a fever, so it couldn’t be that. What else makes you feel warm? Oh.

“When do you feel warm, exactly?”

“Uh…” Baekhyun’s flush turns a few shades darker and spreads further across his cheeks, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think it was the cutest thing ever. “It only happens when I’m with Chanyeollie.”

His words were so quiet when mentioning Chanyeol’s name that the other almost missed it. He felt warmth course through him and he stared at Baekhyun with a sense of wonder – is what Baekhyun and Chanyeol have true love? Or is it simply mistaken platonic feelings? He wants to believe that it’s true love, because something that is so real that others feel the effects of it as well isn’t true love, then he doesn’t know what is.

“You’re not sick, Baekhyunnie,” He assured the boy with a few pats to his soft hand currently resting on his leg. “You’re in love.”

Baekhyun looked up at him, confused.

“I’m in love? Being warm means you’re in love?”

“Not necessarily,” Kyungsoo starts. “Love is something that forms a link between body and mind, and psychological warmth is mistaken for physical warmth. You feel warm around Chanyeol because you love him. If you felt warm around anyone and everyone, it wouldn’t be the same. Do you feel warm around the other members, Baekhyunnie?”

Baekhyun’s eyes were twinkling as he nodded enthusiastically, and for what felt like the thousandth time since meeting him, he felt that the world didn’t deserve someone like Baekhyun.

“Is it the same warmth that you feel with Chanyeol?”

The other thought for a moment.

“No.”

“See? You love us, but not in the same way you love Chanyeol. You love us like brothers – family. Chanyeol, on the other hand, you love differently. You love him like couples love each other.”

That was when the happiness seemed to fade from Baekhyun’s eyes and the panic settled in.

“Is that bad? It’s not bad, right? That I love him? Should I stop?”

“No, Baek. Don’t stop loving him. Never stop. There are people who will be against it, but don’t let them change you, okay?”

“Why will they be against it?”

“Because there are a lot of people who don’t like it when a boy likes another boy.”

“Why?”

“Because they’ve been told that it’s bad and they believe everything they’re told, even if it’s not true.”

“I don’t understand.”

Kyungsoo smiled.

“It’s probably better if you don’t.”

“Hey, Baek. Come here for a sec.”

Baekhyun’s head snapped up at the familiar deep voice and he found Chanyeol leaning on the doorway to the living room, wearing his usual style of a black hoodie and black shorts. He got up and followed Chanyeol, unsure as to what the older actually wanted.

Chanyeol led him into his studio and sat down in his kind of strange-looking chair. The smell of instruments invaded Baekhyun’s senses and he immediately felt relaxed.

“Come, sit.”

Baekhyun looked around for a chair but couldn’t find one. Chanyeol seemed to notice his confusion and patted his lap.

“Sorry, I don’t have any other chairs in here. Just sit on my lap.” He smiled and Baekhyun returned the gesture full-force, not noticing the taller male’s cheeks pink at the sight.

“Okay.” Baekhyun sat himself down on Chanyeol’s lap and made himself comfortable, not caring much whether Chanyeol himself was comfortable with him squirming around. “What did you want to show me?”

Baekhyun saw Chanyeol grin sheepishly from the taller male’s reflection in the computer screen.

“Well, I wrote a song,” He began, playing with a loose thread on Baekhyun’s sweater. “And I wanted you to listen to it.”

“Why me?”

The taller let out an awkward laugh, but Baekhyun didn’t really register the change in atmosphere.

“It’d be weird if I showed it to any of the other guys.”

Baekhyun looked a little confused at this, but didn’t say anything.

A few moments were spent in silence as Chanyeol went through the files on his computer to find the right one, and Baekhyun spent those few moments watching his reflection.

“Ah!” Chanyeol exclaimed, startling the younger male. “Here it is.”

He pressed play and the music started. Baekhyun honestly hadn’t known what to expect. He knew Chanyeol was a relatively good composer and his lyrics were always very sweet, but this time around he couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt at the lyrics.

As the song ended and the music filling the silence in the room faded, Baekhyun craned his neck in an attempt to look at Chanyeol.

Huffing at his futile attempt, he squirmed around in yet another attempt – this time to turn around. Chanyeol noticed his struggle and laughed, but decided to help him in the end.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Did you not like it?” Chanyeol asked once he’d managed to get Baekhyun facing him. He stared directly at the latter’s face in an attempt to ignore the fact that the pink-haired male’s thighs were currently right at his fingertips and he could quite literally just reach a little more and touch them- but he won’t.

Baekhyun’s pout became more prominent at his words, but Chanyeol was too immersed in his inner thoughts to notice.

“Chan, do you like someone? And I mean like as in like-like. Like how couples like each other, not how brothers like each other.”

The question was totally unexpected, and Chanyeol was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a few seconds. Or maybe it was his heart that stopped beating. There’s no way Baekhyun could read his thoughts, right? Right? Because if he could, Baekhyun would’ve been out of there in seconds with Chanyeol’s not-so-innocent thoughts about one minute prior.

“Uh, why?” He stuttered out.

“Because the lyrics were about you liking someone, right? Or is that not it?”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I do like someone, yeah.”

“Oh. Is she nice?” Baekhyun asked, and Chanyeol was too preoccupied with his internal mild panic attack to notice that the other’s eyes were glistening and his voice didn’t sound quite right.

Do I tell him? Is now the right time? Should I use the song as a way to confess? Will he be grossed out? He’ll probably be grossed out. Better not risk it.

“Yeah, she’s really nice. Nice smile, nice eyes, nice nose, nice lips, nice personality. You know – all the good stuff.” He laughed awkwardly, hoping his little friend wouldn’t pick up on his lie.

It was only then, when he finally took in Baekhyun’s appearance, that he saw the look. The hurt, the sadness, the confusion, and the disappointment. Whether or not Baekhyun was trying to hide his feelings, his quivering lower lip and eyes shining with tears was enough to give away his emotions.

All of this, however, only confused Chanyeol.

“Hey, Baek, what’s wrong? Why are you upset?” He asked softly, rubbing his hand soothingly along the smaller male’s arm.

Baekhyun sniffled and tried to discreetly wipe at his eyes.

“Um. Nothing, I’m not upset.”

Chanyeol wanted to laugh at his blatant and unconvincing lie, but he decided that now would not be a good time to laugh.

“That’s not true. You look like you’re about to cry. Is it something I said?”

Baekhyun looked up at him with those same eyes as before.

“No… I just- I have to go and, um, find… Sehunnie. Yeah. Bye-bye, Chanyeollie. The song was good, too.” He said with an obviously fake smile and running off before Chanyeol had the chance to stop him.

Said male sat in his kind of strange-looking chair and tried to make sense of what happened.

He’d shown Baekhyun the song, Baekhyun asked him if he liked someone, he said yes, then Baekhyun started crying.

There’s no way…

“Sehunnie…” Came a weak voice from the edge of Sehun’s bed, accompanied by soft sniffles and hiccups. He couldn’t see who it was in the darkness, but he knew that voice anywhere.

“What’s the matter, Baek? Who do I need to beat up?”

He heard Baekhyun give a soft, almost inaudible laugh before the pink-haired boy crawled into his bed and cuddled up next to him.

“I want a hug,” Was the only response he got to his question.

“Alright,” He said before wrapping his arms tightly around the younger and pulling him closer. “Who did what?”

“No one…”

“Don’t lie, Baek.”

Sehun’s stern tone must have made Baekhyun relent, because in seconds everything that had just occurred between him and Kyungsoo and him and Chanyeol came flowing out like a river, accompanied by tears.

Baekhyun was basically a blubbering mess by the end of it and Sehun decided that he really kind of did want to beat Chanyeol up.

“You know, Chanyeol-hyung is a bit of an idiot.”

Baekhyun laughed at that, and Sehun high-fived himself mentally.

“He does like someone, I know that much.”

He felt Baekhyun tense against him at his words.

“But you’ll probably be surprised at who it is. And happy. You’ll definitely be happy.”

Baekhyun murmured something against his neck that he didn’t quite catch, he did hear the word “me” in it, though, so he hopes it meant what he thinks it meant.