Baekhyun blinked. Why does he want to know why I’m living alone? Maybe he thinks he’s not old enough to take care of himself. Baekhyun thinks otherwise. He’s gotten this far, so he must be doing something right, right? Either way, he doesn’t want to keep Sehun waiting so he types out a reply.

‘Because I am old enough to.’

‘No, Baekhyunnie, you’re not. I don’t even think I could handle living alone, and you’re four years younger than I am.’ But Baekhyun is old enough to live alone, he’s been living alone since he was sixteen. It’s not that hard.

‘I’m fine. I’ve been living on my own since I was 16. I’m okay.’

‘Why are you living alone, though? Where are your parents? Remember, you don’t have answer if you’re uncomfortable.’ His parents? He doesn’t know them. He lived in one of those big houses with a bunch of other kids that didn’t know their parents. He forgets the name.

‘I don’t have any parents.’

‘What do you mean? Where are they?’ His parents could be anywhere, but in all honesty, Baekhyun thinks of the nice lady that took care of him in that big house as his parent. She was always very nice to him. She even gave him extra plates of desert on his birthday.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Who did you live with before joining YG?’

‘I lived with a bunch of other kids in a really big house! I forget the name of the place, but there was a very nice lady there who would give me an extra plate of desert on my birthday!! She was very nice!!!’ Baekhyun smiled at the memory.

His smile widened at Sehun’s reply. ‘She does sound very nice. Thanks for telling me, Baekhyunnie.’

An orphanage. Of course. Of freaking course. As if Baekhyun’s life couldn’t get any sadder as it was. He has to give it to the kid, though, he’s awfully positive for having a life like that. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t understand it, but Sehun doesn’t really know what goes on in a mentally challenged person’s mind, so he can’t say for sure.

However, he doesn’t know what to do with this newfound information. It’s not really his place to tell. Maybe he should ask Junmyeon to ask Baekhyun himself. He doesn’t want to go spilling Baekhyun’s life story out to anyone with ears, that would just be rude, even though he knows Baekhyun probably wouldn’t mind – or care.

But Sehun has morals. And he is going to stand by those morals. So when Junmyeon walks into the room ten minutes later and asks him if he’s spoken to Baekhyun, he says yes, but he tells Junmyeon that he doesn’t really want to ask Baekhyun about his family and to do it himself. Surprisingly, Junmyeon agrees, saying he’ll do it a little later.

He ends up joining Chanyeol in playing games, currently brutally beating up his Pikachu in Super Smash Brothers with Samus. Who even plays as Pikachu? It’s always everyone’s target, regardless of whether or not they like Pokémon, everyone wants to beat up Pikachu. Because, why the hell not?

Junmyeon wondered whether or not he should send the text now. It was fairly late and he was pretty certain that Baekhyun would be in bed by now. Though, he could just send it now and that way Baekhyun can reply when he sees it in the morning. Yes.

‘Hey Baekhyun! How are you? Hope you slept well. I noticed that you live alone, Baekhyunnie. Why is that?’

He was surprised, and a little concerned, when the reply was almost immediate. Why was he not asleep?

‘Sehun just asked that hahaha!! I am old enough to live on my own :)’

Old enough? Old enough? He’s seventeen! How on Earth is that old enough in the slightest? He frantically typed out another message.

‘What do you mean old enough? You’re not even a legal adult!’

‘I’m fine! Ask Sehunnie-hyung, he will tell you!!! :)’

Sehun? First of all, when did they become so close that Baekhyun gave him a nickname? And second of all, didn’t Sehun say he didn’t want to ask him? He smells a conspiracy. However, rather than dragging out the day by going and confronting Sehun now, he decides to leave it until the morning, sending Baekhyun one last text.

‘I’ll ask him. I’m going to bed now, though. You should, too. Goodnight Baekhyunnie.’

‘Goodnight!!!’

Jongdae literally loves Baekhyun. Okay, not literally, per se, but he really adores him. He thinks he’s overly loveable with his cute slightly-curly-sometimes-fluffy hair, his droopy eyes that make him look kind of like a puppy, his soft-looking skin, the cute little moles he has in random places, and last but not least, his smile. That bright, rectangular smile that pushes his cheeks up until his eyes look like they’re shut is literally the cutest thing ever. One would think that Chanyeol would be the one to go crazy over him – which he probably is, even more so than Jongdae – but Jongdae can’t help it.

It’s because of all this that Jongdae doesn’t mind it when Baekhyun doesn’t call him ‘Jongdae-hyung’, and he knows it’s the same deal for the rest of them, albeit at varying degrees. He wonders why no one protects this kid. What do the staff do when Baekhyun is being hit by his manager? They obviously know what’s happening, how could they not? Do they just stand there and let it happen? They’re honestly just as bad as the manager if that’s the case.

He knows they’d probably lose their job for speaking up about it, but how can someone stand by and let a kid like Baekhyun get hit for literally no reason at all? If Jongdae was in that situation, he wouldn’t care if he landed himself homeless for speaking up about it.

Why is he thinking about Baekhyun in the middle of practice? It’s all Junmyeon and Sehun’s fault. If they weren’t speaking oh-so-discreetly about Baekhyun apparently being an orphan on top of all the other crap he has to deal with in the middle of the kitchen that morning, he wouldn’t be thinking about him right now.

Seriously, though. The amount of crap Baekhyun has had to deal with is sickening. He can’t wait for the end of the week. Hopefully they will be able to convince Baekhyun to quit YG and join SM. Jongdae is worried about what will happen after, though. What if there’s a waiting period and Baekhyun has to stay at the company for a while before he’s allowed to leave? That would be dangerous. If he quits and has to stay there, who knows what his manager would do to him during that time. He really doesn’t want to wake up one day to the news that Byun Baekhyun has been hospitalised.

“What’s up with you?” Jongdae thanks the lord that Jongin interrupts his thoughts as they were quickly becoming rather depressing.

“Just thinking about stuff. It’s been pretty stressful lately, don’t you think?” It’s true. While EXO’s comeback isn’t for quite a while, and they’re only practicing their singing and other things at the moment, things have been rather stressful. From the whole ordeal with Baekhyun to trying to improve on their skills enough to be able to blow their fans away next comeback, it’s becoming one of those periods in time where you just want to sleep. And never wake up.

But alas, that is not an option.

“I guess. It could be worse, though,” Jongin slides his back down the wall to sit on the shiny hardwood floor next to Jongdae. “We could be actually preparing for a comeback right now. I don’t think I’d want to see us trying to drag Kyungsoo out of Korea, he might tear our limbs off. With him knowing about Baekhyun’s situation, he’d never want to leave.” He chuckles dryly.

Jongdae hummed in agreement. Kyungsoo was one of those people who really liked to get pissed off and was kind of rough, but only to people who actually annoyed him. Like himself and Chanyeol. But if you’re someone who needs protecting, he’ll be there in an instant. He also gives really, really good hugs. Jongdae would be lying if he said he wasn’t the slightest bit bitter about it.

He looks over to where Kyungsoo is standing with Minseok and the rest of the vocal line, indulging in a very serious conversation by the looks on their faces. Whatever, he’s had enough of moping around. Practice won’t do itself.

Chanyeol was admittedly not very happy. When he’d heard the news that Sehun – Sehun, of all people! – was the first to be given a cute nickname by Baekhyun, he felt betrayed. By who, he wasn’t sure. He just felt betrayed. When did they get that close? Chanyeol thought for sure that he was the closest to Baekhyun so far after their gaming session yesterday. But apparently he was incorrect. Unless Sehun forced Baekhyun to give him a nickname. That was probably it. Typical Sehun. Chanyeol was not in denial. At all.

Maybe if he asked Baekhyun to give him a nickname he would. If he can’t be first then he should try for second, right? Because second is better than third.

‘Baekhyunnie! How come you gave Sehun a nickname before me? I’m hurt!’

Yes, Chanyeol, perfect. You’re such a nice human being, guilt-tripping Baekhyun into giving him a nickname. Well, Sehun did worse than he did. At least, that’s what he tells himself.

‘I’m sorry!!!!! I didnt think that would make you sad!!!!! I will call you Chanyeollie!!!!’ Came the immediate reply. If that didn’t make Chanyeol feel guilty, then the sky wasn’t blue. But what’s done is done.

‘It’s fine, Baekhyunnie! It just means that I’ll have to be the first one to buy you a present, okay? ;)’ He doesn’t know what the hell he’s going to buy Baekhyun, but as long as it makes his conscious free of guilt, he’ll buy Baekhyun a freaking house. If only he could buy him a new manager.