Chanyeol was struggling to think of something to buy Baekhyun. He’d tried to enlist the help of the other members, but none of them had been able to come up with anything either. Well, Jongdae had suggested buying him a Rilakkuma plush but Baekhyun already has plenty of those and he doesn’t want to be basic. He’d made a list of everything he knows about him in his head, but even then nothing came to him. Junmyeon suggested he should buy him clothes or something, but again Chanyeol didn’t want to be basic.

That’s how he’s ended up where he is now; spending his free time walking around the shopping centre aimlessly, trying to find at least something. He thinks his disguise is working pretty well, no fans have come running up to him asking to marry him or whatever, and he hasn’t heard any high-pitched squeals either. Which is a good sign.

He’d scavenged multiple stores looking for something that seemed Baekhyun-like and sure, he’d found a few things but none of them were exactly what he was looking for. How can he say that when he doesn’t even know what he’s looking for? Whatever.

Of course, all good things had to end and once he heard that high-pitched squeal from somewhere close to him, he ran. He didn’t even look back to see if they were actually screaming about him, he just ran. He isn’t going to take any chances. And when he heard whispers of ‘EXO’ and ‘Chanyeol-oppa’, he knew he’d made the right decision.

He landed himself in some tiny jewellery store at the far end of the mall where not many people actually go, because all of the name brands are up the other end. He decides to take a quick look around – for his mother, not for Baekhyun, obviously.

Well, that’s what he’d thought. But when his eyes landed on it, he knew that that was exactly what he was looking for. Even if Baekhyun doesn’t like things like this, he’ll love it. He just knows he will.

The end of the week came faster than any of them expected it to. Before they’d realised it, their manager was giving them word to get Baekhyun there by 2:00PM for their meeting. It caused a bit of panic amongst the group as they still had yet to even tell Baekhyun that Lee Sooman-seonsaeng-nim wanted to meet with him to talk about switching companies. Of course, they weren’t going to mention that part, they’d leave that up to him.

“Should visit him and tell him? I don’t even know if he’s free today!” Junmyeon yelled to himself.

“I don’t see why not. He’s free. He told me his schedule the other day. I would’ve already said something about it if he wasn’t.” Kyungsoo spoke up, fixing his shirt that had been crinkled when he’d attempted to stop Sehun and Jongin from bickering like children over the last little bit of milk, only to be brought into their mess himself.

“Is he home now?” Junmyeon asked, sighing in relief.

“He should be.” Kyungsoo replied.

Sehun chose that moment to appear from the kitchen, apparently having won the fight with Jongin as he had a cup of coffee in his hands. “When are we leaving, then?” He asked.

Junmyeon looked down at his watch. 12:30 PM. “Once everyone’s got their crap together. Where’s Jongin now?”

Sehun shrugged and continued to drink his coffee.

Kyungsoo sighed. “I’ll find him.”

It took everyone about half an hour to get ready, leave, and get to Baekhyun’s house. Jongdae called him on their way up to his apartment to give him a bit of a heads up, but he wasn’t expecting to hear a half-asleep Baekhyun mumble out a small “Hello?” before yawning.

He looked over at the others who were all crammed into the tiny elevator and mouthed ‘He was asleep’ to them, and their eyes widened simultaneously. It was actually pretty funny to watch.

He turned his attention back to the phone where Baekhyun was currently mumbling incoherently. “Hey Baekhyunnie, we’re coming up to your apartment now. Is that okay?” He asked, biting his lip slightly.

“Huh? Yeah that’s okay, I don’t mind,” He spoke absentmindedly. “Wait, now? Right now?” Now he sounded one hundred percent awake.

“Um, yeah. That’s cool, right? Sorry we didn’t warn you beforehand. We have to ask you something.” His voice got steadily quieter as he went on, unsure of whether or not to just tell Baekhyun now.

“Yes!” He nearly yelled, with all the rustling Jongdae could hear he guessed Baekhyun was trying to get dressed in a rush. “It’s fine!”

“Okay, well, we’ll see you soon, then. Bye.” Jongdae said as Minseok knocked on the door firmly.

They could hear a series of bangs and a faint ‘Coming!’ as Baekhyun rushed to the door. It flung open to reveal a slightly heaving, just-woken-up Baekhyun who was wearing blue skinny jeans and a shirt that was put on backwards in his haste to get to the door.

“Good morning!” He beamed.

“It’s almost half past one, Baekhyun,” Baekhyun’s eyes widened a little at this and Minseok smiled. “But good morning anyway.”

“Sorry I just woke up. I slept too long.” Baekhyun explained as he moved aside to let the other eight men in. Kyungsoo was quick to hug him, which Baekhyun returned gleefully.

“That’s alright, Baek,” Kyungsoo let go of Baekhyun and smiled at him sheepishly, feeling a little guilty for waking Baekhyun up like this on his day off. “We should have called you earlier than we did.” But Baekhyun was quick to disagree.

“No, no, it’s fine! I shouldn’t be asleep past twelve anyway…” He trailed off, eyes trained on the floor.

Jongdae walked up to him and pat him on his back, “Nah, it’s your day off! If you want to sleep all day, then you sleep all day!” He said cheerfully.

They continued their casual conversation for a few minutes until Junmyeon brought up the real reason for being there.

“So, Baekhyun, about why we’re here… You see, our CEO heard us talking about you and he said that he wants to have a talk with you. I’m not sure what it’s about,” Lie. “but it won’t be anything bad, don’t worry. He said he wants to see you at 2 today, which is in about half an hour, sound good to you?”

Baekhyun looked really confused. His eyes kept moving from one member to another until he finally shared his thoughts. “Yeah. Okay.” The way he was looking at the members told them that there was something else on his mind.

Yixing’s expression turned from his usual blank stare to one of concern. “What’s wrong? If you don’t want to go, we won’t force you.” He assured.

Baekhyun fidgeted in his seat for a moment. “It’s not that… I’m just – confused. Why does he want to speak to me? Did I do something wrong to your company?” Honestly, the amount of times they have to tell this kid that no, he didn’t do anything wrong, is starting to become a little frightening.

“No, Baekhyunnie,” Sehun spoke softly. “You’ve done nothing wrong, trust us. All we know is that it’s something to do with the company, but it’s nothing bad. Don’t worry yourself too much.” He ended with a smile to try and lighten the mood.

Baekhyun seemed a little reluctant to agree, he’d probably convinced himself that he’d done something wrong. Another habit they would have to break because his pathetic manager had poisoned his mind.

“Okay.”

And with that, he left to fix his shirt and his hair – and clean himself up a bit, having only just woken up. Their manager and the other chaperone for the day were waiting in the car park below the apartment building. After apologizing for taking so long, they headed towards SM Entertainment.

Baekhyun didn’t know what to think. Why did SM Entertainment’s CEO want to see him? He couldn’t help but think he’d done something wrong, despite what Junmyeon and Yixing had assured him. Maybe one of the songs he’d composed was too similar to one of theirs? That’s a possibility. Sometimes he gets inspiration from other songs. That’s not illegal, though, right? As long as he doesn’t actually use anything from that song it’s safe, right? Baekhyun isn’t so sure anymore.

He’d gotten over the initial embarrassment of having opened the door with his shirt on backwards, and he’d ended up having to almost run away from Kyungsoo when he tried to help him get dressed properly. Baekhyun isn’t a child, he can do these things himself. Sure, sometimes it’s nice to get help but Baekhyun is desperate to prove to his new friends that he is more than capable of doing things on his own.

Of course Baekhyun knows he has a mental disability. He’d gone through enough teasing about it back in school to make him well aware of that fact. He might not entirely get what it is all about, but he has a basic understanding.

At some point in his life he’d given up wanting people to treat him the same as they treat everyone else because he knows that it’d never happen. So he’s grown accustomed to being treated a little differently to others, but that changed when he met EXO.

They didn’t treat him like a child. They didn’t try to tell him that he can’t do things on his own. They let him get dressed on his own and they let him make his own choices instead of thinking he can’t use his brain at all. They did try to help him, of course, but only in ways that Baekhyun thinks are the ways friends would help other friends. Like teaching him to play games.

But the most important part, is that they didn’t blame Baekhyun for getting things wrong. They didn’t think it was Baekhyun’s fault for getting hit – something Baekhyun has yet to fully believe – and they didn’t blame any of the mistakes he’d made on him or his disability, like when he didn’t dry his hair.

So he trusts them. He doesn’t trust everything they say, but he trusts them. That might not make sense, but to Baekhyun it does.

And for him, that’s all that matters.