pairing: BaekLay
length: 5623 words

Zhang Yixing was the best thing that ever happened to him. Baekhyun felt so lucky being in the same group as the love of his life.

They sang together, danced together, ate together, played together, performed together, and did anything else they could think of together. Idol life was difficult and full of never-ending schedules that took so much energy to carry out every day. But it was bearable because Lay and Baekhyun were in EXO together. Any time they were on the same stage, they felt the fire in their resolve burn even stronger because they were reaching for their dreams together. And they always would be.

--

“We’re not ever going to go public with our relationship, are we?” Lay was laying on a bench with his head on Baekhyun’s lap. They had just concluded their schedules for the day and were resting in an empty practice room.

The younger male tenderly ran his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair, loving the feel of the soft locks brushing against his fingertips. “I don’t think we need to. It’s enough that our members know. Besides, we’re the ones in this relationship. Not the company, not our fans, not anyone else. Just you and me.” Baekhyun paused for a moment before asking, “You’re not disappointed, right?”

“Oh no, of course not,” Lay quickly answered. “I know it’s not because you’re ashamed of our relationship or anything like that.”

“I could never be ashamed of you,” Baekhyun reassured his boyfriend before he leaned down and pressed his lips briefly on Lay’s forehead. “It’s just that we’re going to become outcasts in this country if we reveal that we’re together.” The younger male’s expression darkened as he remember the outpouring of hate that his company senior, Jonghyun, had received for tweeting about his support for the LGBT community several days ago. It made Baekhyun’s blood boil in anger whenever he thought about how his kind, encouraging labelmate had been crucified by Korean netizens for speaking out on the behalf of people like him and Lay. But Korea’s society was still wrought with homophobia, so Baekhyun knew that he needed to protect Lay and keep their relationship a secret until it would finally be acceptable for the pair to be together in the public eye.

Lay nodded in agreement before smiling and saying, “I really don’t mind that we aren’t going public. We’d have to deal with so much backlash and since we've just graduated from rookie status, we need to establish EXO as one of the top groups in Korean entertainment. We can’t afford to have any scandals and our relationship would be the biggest one ever.”

Baekhyun was about to peck Lay’s cheek when he saw several girls walking towards the practice room that the two boys were in out of the corner of his eye. He lifted his head up and noticed that they belonged to one of EXO’s senior groups, SNSD: Tiffany, Yuri, and Sunny. Their voices carried into the practice room through a crack in the door, so the couple listened as the girls spoke without abandon.

“Are you actually going to meet up with Nichkhun again?”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen how love-struck Yoona and Sooyoung have become, and I don’t know if I’m ready for that with Nichkhun.”

“Oh, just go for it! Seeing how happy they are should encourage you to be happy yourself!”

“And at least Khun can’t be as bad as Yong is. God, it’s so annoying how he comes over so much.”

“Don’t say that! You know how hurt she is when you tell him to leave.”

“Yeah, she’s been really sensitive lately, so let’s just support her, okay?”

Their voices faded away after they walked past the practice room. Baekhyun and Lay looked at each other quizzically, having never known that their female labelmates were also in relationships. “Do you know who Yoona and Sooyoung are dating?” Baekhyun asked, his curiosity piqued.

Lay shook his head, answering, “I have no idea. I barely talk to them.”

“I’m guessing Tiffany is seeing Nichkhun from 2PM,” Baekhyun deduced, having heard the Thai male’s name several times. “But who’s Yong?”

“Maybe it’s CNBlue’s Yonghwa?” Lay guessed randomly. “Since he was on We Got Married with Seohyun. Maybe their on-screen relationship continued off-screen after their virtual marriage ended.”

“Oh, I never thought of that.”

And the two boys soon grew bored of the topic, preferring to instead discuss where they wanted to go for their next date.

--

Two weeks later, Baekhyun and Lay found out who Yoona and Sooyoung were dating, along with the rest of the world. Chaos erupted within SM Entertainment as reporters lined up outside the company building, trying to catch either of the girls to give statements on their newly revealed relationships. Employees ran around, trying to keep the reporters away while doing damage control. Both girls were called into the CEO’s office, but no one other than those three knew what was said behind the closed doors.

Baekhyun grew fearful as he saw first-hand how everything turned upside-down after a couple of articles had been written. Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he still looked at the comment sections of these articles and his heart sank as he saw the dozens of nasty things being written. Baekhyun never wanted to see these sorts of comments ever written about Lay and further strengthened his resolution to keep his boyfriend safe from the public.

--

“C’mon, let’s hurry! Suho’s going to kill us if we don’t get to the van in time!” Baekhyun exclaimed in panic as he and Lay ran through the company building, hands tightly clasped together. Lay had been teaching his boyfriend some new dance moves for fun, and the two of them lost track of time until Suho began blowing up their phones with calls and text messages, telling them if they weren't outside in five minutes, he was going to lock them out of the dorm that night.

As they were nearing the back entrance, where Baekhyun knew a shortcut to the parking lot where the van was waiting, they noticed a couple passionately kissing in front of the door. As they came closer, Baekhyun recognized the female to be his company senior, Taeyeon. But he couldn’t tell who the male was.

“Um, Taeyeon, please excuse us. We’re in a hurry,” Lay said respectfully as they reached the couple.

Taeyeon turned around in surprise, an alarmed look crossing her face. “Oh no, what are you two doing here?!”

“You guys are from EXO, right?” The male took off his large sunglasses as he slightly leaned forward to get a closer look at the two startled boys.

Baekhyun let out a small gasp as he found himself face-to-face with none other than G-Dragon of Big Bang. And then the conversation he had eavesdropped on clicked in his mind. “Y-you’re Yong?!”

G-Dragon raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

Baekhyun felt a flush creep up his neck when it dawned on him that it was possible that only the SNSD members used that nickname for G-Dragon. “I-I’m sorry! Please forget I said anything!” he said hastily as he bowed several times.

The Big Bang leader just nodded hesitantly as his eyes locked on to the two boys’ interlocked fingers. “Oh, are you two dating?” Taeyeon immediately followed G-Dragon’s gaze and gasped as she came to the same realization.

Baekhyun instantly pulled Lay towards the door and fled through it, calling out behind him, “Please forget you saw anything!” He was horrified that the two of them had been caught, although it looked like Taeyeon had been even more mortified that the two EXO members had stumbled across her and G-Dragon.

“There you two are!” Suho quickly pushed the pair into the van, and began lecturing them on professionalism and punctuality.

But Baekhyun paid no attention to the leader’s words, worrying instead about people other than the EXO members knowing about his relationship with Lay.

--

Baekhyun waited in parking lot adjacent to the SM Entertainment company building, nervously wringing his hands together. It had been almost two months since he and Lay had witnessed Taeyeon and G-Dragon together. Nothing had been said between either couple since then, which he was grateful for when he thought back to that day.

When the two were at home in their dorm that night, Lay asked quietly, “Are you okay, Baek? You’ve been distracted the whole day.” Even now, Baekhyun was absentmindedly playing with the older male’s hands. “Is it because of what happened today?”

Baekhyun kept his head down as he murmured, “I just don’t want to be caught by people who don’t really know and understand us.”

Lay gently removed the younger male’s hands off of his before cupping Baekhyun’s face, locking their gazes on each other, and said, “You don’t have to worry about them. I’m sure they’re not going to sell us out. It seems like they’re trying to hide their own relationship as well, so I doubt that they’ll say anything about ours.”

“You think?”

Lay firmly nodded. “If anything, we can talk to Taeyeon and ask her to keep our secret. She’s nice enough to do that.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to her when I get the chance.” Baekhyun smiled, thankful that Lay was being more level-headed about the situation that he was, before leaning forward to capture his boyfriend’s sweet lips.

A car soon drove up to him and the window on the passenger’s side rolled down. “Get in.”

Baekhyun obeyed the short command and speedily entered the car, strapping himself in as the car pulled out of the parking lot and began driving into the streets. It was nighttime, so the inside was dark and Baekhyun could barely make out the driver’s face in the poor light. “Thanks.”

The driver just responded with a nod. They drove in silence until they arrived at an empty alley, where the driver stopped the car and turned off the ignition. “So why did you want to meet up?” Taeyeon asked, getting straight to the point.

“Um, I want to talk about our relationships,” Baekhyun answered with a touch of anxiety in his voice, feeling slightly intimidated by her curt tone.

Taeyeon visibly tensed at his answer. “Why are you bringing that up now?”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure that nothing gets out about my relationship with Lay,” Baekhyun explained, feeling slightly more confident when thoughts of his boyfriend flooded his head.

Taeyeon let out a chuckle and replied, “Don’t worry. Jiyong and I won’t say anything. We’ve been in the entertainment world long enough to know that only a scumbag would reveal another idol’s relationship.” Baekhyun relaxed immediately upon hearing her answer but sat up straight again when Taeyeon continued, “But will you two keep my relationship a secret?”

Baekhyun nodded vigorously, placing his hand across his chest. “Of course! Our lips are sealed.”

“Good.” Taeyeon leaned back in her seat before saying with a small smile, “You’re a good kid, Baekhyun.”

“I just really want to protect Lay. I don’t want him to ever feel sad or hurt, not if I can prevent it,” Baekhyun declared with a serious expression. He then asked cautiously, “Are Yoona and Sooyoung okay?”

Taeyeon nodded. “The CEO yelled at them, especially since the news broke out as we were preparing for our comeback. But it seems like the fans have accepted it for the most part at this point, so things are better for our group now.”

“That’s good.” Suddenly, Baekhyun’s phone vibrated with a text message from Lay, asking where he was and when he’d be home. “Do you think you could bring me back to the dorm? Lay is looking for me.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” They sat in silence again as Taeyeon drove the car to the EXO dorm. When they arrived, Baekhyun was about to open the car door when Taeyeon abruptly asked, “What happens if reporters catch you and Lay?”

Baekhyun could feel his blood turn cold as scenarios ran through his mind, all of them disastrous. “I…I don’t know.”

“Well, Jiyong and I talked about it, and he proposed an idea if you’re willing to listen.”

“Okay…” Baekhyun settled back into the passenger seat, waiting for Taeyeon to tell him their plan.

“If anything happens and we need to protect either our partners or our groups, then let’s have a dating scandal of our own,” Taeyeon revealed. “You can protect Lay by pretending to be with me, so no one will know that either of you are gay. I can protect my image, since people will never accept the leader of SNSD dating the leader of Big Bang. Jiyong and I are too different, and neither of our fans will accept our relationship. Luckily, people still believe he’s dating his ex-girlfriend, Kiko Mizuhara, so Jiyong will use her as his cover-up should anything happen. She’s agreed, since she has nothing to lose.”

“This doesn’t seem like a very safe plan…” Baekhyun commented with uncertainty. He didn’t know if he was comfortable telling the world he was dating someone other than the love of his life. It seemed a lot like cheating to him. “Do you really trust that Kiko won’t do anything? She was his ex, right?”

“Kiko and I have long accepted each other,” Taeyeon reassured him. “She knows that Jiyong and I love each other, and she has no intention to split us up. Their break-up was very clean.”

“But what about our fans? Do you think EXO fans and SNSD fans will accept us dating? Especially since EXO is still fairly new?” Baekhyun pointed out. He thought back to Lay’s words when they had discussed why they shouldn’t go public.

“It’ll be a lot better than SNSD fans and Big Bang fans fighting with each other,” Taeyeon answered resolutely. “Plus, we’re in the same company. A lot of fans like it when idols date within the company. Do you know how many people have paired me up with Leeteuk and Kangin?”

“Okay. We’ll do it.” Baekhyun couldn’t think of anything else to counter with and decided to trust his senior who had been in the entertainment industry longer than he had. “But only if we need to. And Lay has to agree with this as well.”

“Sounds good,” Taeyeon said, nodding in agreement. “And to strengthen our story, should we prepare couple items or something of the like? Just in case?”

Baekhyun thought for a moment before replying, “I guess we can use our Instagram accounts. If we’re subtle, the fans might just subconsciously warm up to the idea that we’re dating and then our scandal can die down more quickly. But I think we’ll only need a few pictures, since it’s just for safety measures.”

“Awesome. I’ll let Jiyong know. Sorry for putting all of this on you, Baekhyun. Hopefully, none of it will come to pass.” Taeyeon smiled gratefully at Baekhyun, who bowed his head in thanks before leaving the car.

When he returned to the dorm, he found Lay waiting for him in the living room. All of the other members were in their rooms, so it was just the two of them in the dorm’s main space. “What happened?” Lay asked, worried because it was so late and they all needed to wake up early for their schedules the next day.

“I was talking to Taeyeon.” Baekhyun relayed all that the two idols had talked about in her car, hoping that Lay wouldn’t be upset because of their somewhat ludicrous plan. “We probably won’t even have to go through with it, but it’s nice to have a back-up plan, right?”

Lay was silent for several minutes.

Baekhyun began to feel fear course throughout his body, since his boyfriend wasn’t saying anything. “Y-you’re not mad, right? We won’t do it if you don’t want me to. I told Taeyeon that you have to be okay with it first.”

Lay finally sighed and said, “I’m fine with it. I don’t know why you would put yourself through this, but if you really believe this is the best course of action, then I won’t say no.” Baekhyun was about to wrap his arms tightly around the older male, but Lay held up a hand to stop him. “You’re going to have to make this up to me, got it?”

“Of course. I’ll do anything for my favorite unicorn,” Baekhyun answered with a beaming smile as he embraced his boyfriend and peppered his cheeks with light kisses. Lay’s dimple appeared as he also began smiling, letting Baekhyun shower him with love and placing his trust in the one he knew would never betray him.

--

“It’s not true, is it?” Tao looked at the other ten members who had gathered in the living room of their dorm. “Kris wouldn’t just leave us like this, right?” No one knew what to say, which infuriated the youngest Chinese member even more. “Why aren’t you guys speaking?! SOMEONE ANSWER ME!”

“Calm down, Tao,” Xiumin said as he placed his hands on the young male’s shoulders comfortingly. “We know just as much as you do.”

Tears spilled out of Tao’s eyes as the full weight of the situation finally began hitting the group.

Kris was trying to leave EXO. Just before their first solo concert series began. And he hadn’t told any of them of his decision.

Baekhyun felt so heavy-hearted. He didn’t know what to do. He was tightly gripping Lay’s hands as the older male blankly stared into the distance. Baekhyun knew Lay in particular was feeling the Chinese sub-group leader’s absence.

When the group was brought to the CEO’s office, they were all ordered to give up their electronic devices temporarily. Baekhyun panicked, since the text notifications from G-Dragon hadn’t been cleared from his phone screen yet. If any of the company employees saw that he was talking to the leader of Big Bang and read the full conversation to see why he was on speaking terms with YG’s golden boy, then the four of them would be ruined. So he lied and said that he had forgotten his phone back at the dorm. Lay gave him a sideways glance in confusion, since the Chinese male knew that his boyfriend never went anywhere without his phone, but Baekhyun didn’t move an inch and firmly stood by his lie, knowing he had to protect their secrets at all costs.

Once the boys were finally released from the stuffy office, they were led to the practice room where their choreographers were busy at work, organizing a new formation for the songs that would be performed at the concert. The eleven boys soon fell into step as they adjusted their positions and delegated Kris’ lines among the rappers. Baekhyun fidgeted the entire time, his mind solely focused on his hidden phone. He made more mistakes than usual, but everyone just assumed that he was affected by the news about Kris. Everyone except Lay.

When the EXO members were finally given a break, Baekhyun quickly left the room, saying he needed to use the restroom. He entered the closest restroom and was about to lock himself in an empty stall when a hand grabbed his arm.

“Baekhyun, what’s going on?” It was Lay.

Baekhyun let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was a staff member instead. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Yes, it’s me. Why are you acting this way? Why didn’t you give up your phone like the rest of us did?”

“I can’t.” Baekhyun showed his boyfriend the incriminating evidence and Lay immediately understood the situation. “I came here to erase my conversations with Taeyeon and G-Dragon before it’s too late.”

“Okay, go and delete them. I’ll keep watch,” Lay told him, slightly pushing him towards the nearest vacant stall.

Baekhyun smiled gratefully at his boyfriend before escaping into the bathroom stall and hurriedly deleting the text messages on his phone. Once he finished, the two boys returned to the practice room somberly and practice for the concert resumed.

--

The Korean male slammed his fist angrily on his desk as he saw all of the vicious comments targeting the remaining Chinese EXO members. Baekhyun had never felt so much rage in his life than he had at that moment, seeing people write about how worthless the Chinese members were and that the other three were sure to join Kris in betraying EXO as well. Any time Lay’s name came up, Baekhyun wanted to punch his screen and go find the person who dared to say such horrid things about his beloved boyfriend. Lay was already depressed enough after Kris left. These netizens were not helping the situation at all.

In his emotionally-charged state, Baekhyun sent a text message to Taeyeon, asking her to meet up. An hour later, the two were driving in a more isolated part of the city so their privacy would not be compromised.

“I’m so sorry about Kris,” Taeyeon said sympathetically once her car was parked. “How are you guys coping?”

“Not so well. Tao has been crying for the past few days and Lay is in a daze. Lu Han is trying to put on a brave front, but we all know he’s really hurt as well. Suho’s really angry and Xiumin is trying to keep everything together. The others are just tired of the sudden onslaught of hate that’s enveloping us,” Baekhyun relayed tiredly. His head hurt and he wished this was just a temporary nightmare. “Reading the article comments are the worst. People keep dragging down Lay, Lu Han, and Tao since they say that none of the Chinese are faithful. I hate it so much.” Baekhyun’s fists were scrunched up tightly as he tried to control his anger.

“Hey, calm down. It’s not good to get so worked up about this,” Taeyeon said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Trust me. Jiyong told me how hard it was when Big Bang had all of their scandals two years ago. But despite all of the hate, they kept going and overcame everything that was in their way.”

Baekhyun buried his face in his hands as he murmured, “I just hate it when people attack Lay. I’d rather have them attack me instead.”

“No, don’t think that! Lay wouldn’t be happy if you were attacked, so don’t wish for that,” Taeyeon pleaded her company junior. She had never seen the young male so wrathful before and felt her heart go out to him, knowing that it was easy to hurt when your partner was hurting as well. “Just be as supportive as you can, okay? I’ll ask Jiyong if he’s free one night, and the four of us can hang out and forget that this mess is happening. And if you ever need to rant again, I’ll try my best to set aside some time to take you for a drive so you can spill your feelings freely to me.”

“Thanks, Taeyeon. I really appreciate the support.”

“I’ll bring you home now. You must be exhausted from practice.” Taeyeon stuck her key in the ignition and started the car's engine.

As she drove him home, Baekhyun stared blankly out the window, wondering why all of these things were happening at once.

--

“Baekhyun, the CEO has asked to see you.”

The young male looked up in confusion as one of the EXO managers beckoned for him. “Why?”

It had been about a month since Kris had left the group. Tensions were not running as high as they had been before, but everyone was still exhausted, especially the three remaining Chinese members. But Baekhyun couldn’t understand why he was being called up. He hadn’t done anything remotely wrong this past month, so he was at a loss when he was the only one singled out. Lay gave his hand a tight squeeze before lightly pushing Baekhyun towards the manager.

“You’ll find out when he speaks to you.”

And then, fear grew within Baekhyun as he thought of his relationship with Lay. If the CEO had found out that the two EXO members were dating each other, Baekhyun knew he was toast, especially since the company was still dealing with the messy situation regarding Kris. His insides twisted in panic as he followed the manager to the CEO’s office. To his surprise, Taeyeon was waiting outside the office as well. And that’s when Baekhyun’s panic grew ten-fold.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The CEO tossed several photos onto his desk in front of Baekhyun and Taeyeon. They were paparazzi pictures of the time the two of them had met up to speak about their plan and the several times in the past month when Taeyeon had taken Baekhyun out for a drive so he could clear his head of the immense rage he felt whenever he thought of the hate comments directed at Lay. Baekhyun didn’t know what to do. He looked at Taeyeon, who motioned with a slight shake of her head for him not to speak.

“Dispatch is telling me that they’re going to release this exclusive report of your alleged dating tomorrow. I want answers now.”

Baekhyun stayed silent, his head bowed down.

“Are the two of you dating or not?”

“Yes, we are,” Taeyeon finally answered. “We’ve been dating for a few months now. We never meant to get caught though.”

The CEO rubbed his temples in exhaustion. This was the fourth SNSD member who had been caught dating in the last six months. He thought it was finally over when he had called in Tiffany two months ago, since she had assured him that no one else within the group was dating aside from those who had already been caught. But that clearly wasn’t the case.

“We’re very sorry, sir. This is our mistake,” Taeyeon continued, bowing in her seat. She kicked Baekhyun’s ankle under the table and he also bowed.

“I don’t know what the two of you were thinking. EXO is supposed to be trending right now, but all of these scandals are happening instead.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Baekhyun whispered in fear. He was still shocked by how easily Taeyeon was putting their back-up plan into action. Everything was moving too quickly for him to process. He didn’t know if he could keep up.

“I’m extremely tired of having this conversation, so I’m going to keep it short. The report is going to be released tomorrow. We’re going to spend the next twenty-four hours drafting a response, depending on what ends up in the article. Both of you need to be prepared for whatever happens next. If we’re lucky, it will all blow over within a week. But the more likely outcome won’t be as pretty, especially since the lawsuit with Kris is still fresh in everyone’s minds. I am extremely disappointed in you two, but what’s done is done. You are dismissed.”

“Yes sir. Thank you, sir.” Taeyeon stood up and bowed once more, with Baekhyun rapidly following suit. The two quickly scampered out of the office and once they were in a deserted hallway, far enough away from the CEO’s office, Taeyeon spoke. “I guess it’s really happening.”

“Yeah…” Baekhyun felt his head pound with pain as he thought about how he was now going to be publicly tied to SNSD’s leader.

“I’m going to meet up with Jiyong tonight and let him know. You should prepare Lay and the other EXO boys as well,” Taeyeon advised while she busily texted her boyfriend. “I don’t think they’ll take too kindly to finding out about this through the news, especially after finding out about Kris that way last month.”

“You’re right.” Thoughts spun through the overwhelmed male’s head. Suho was definitely going to kill him. The other boys were going to be so confused and disappointed. And his heart broke when he thought about Lay becoming even more depressed because this plan was actually going into action, even though the Chinese male had already agreed to it months before.

He was not looking forward to going home tonight.

--

After Baekhyun finished reluctantly informing his group members of the articles that were going to be released tomorrow, Suho immediately stormed out of the living room and into his bedroom, slamming the door shut. Xiumin and Chanyeol quickly excused themselves to pacify the angered leader. Sehun, Tao, and Kai all looked at Baekhyun in disbelief. It seemed so surreal that the vocalist had gone through such pains to set up such an elaborate ruse in order to protect his relationship with Lay. Lu Han and D.O were also at a loss for words as they exchanged looks with each other. Chen comfortingly patted Baekhyun and Lay’s backs, a solemn expression on his face.

When the rest of the members left the couple alone in the living room, Baekhyun’s eyes began tearing up as he turned to face his boyfriend. “I’m so sorry, Lay. I never meant for this to happen. I swear it.”

“Hush, I know you didn’t.” Lay cradled the distraught younger male in his arms, knowing that he had taken the bullet for them. The Chinese male felt regretful that he hadn’t been a stronger boyfriend and that he had let Baekhyun shoulder all of the burdens in their relationship. He slowly rocked the crying boy to sleep, murmuring words of love and reassurance that they would overcome this obstacle in the end.

--

Baekhyun never imagined that his dating scandal would be received with so much malice. His Instagram was filled with hateful comments from both EXO fans and SNSD fans. Even though there were many kind fans who tried their best to drown out the hateful comments with ones filled with support, it still hurt to have so many fans turn their backs on him.

But he knew that was nothing compared to the outpouring of hate that Taeyeon was receiving on her end. Her Instagram was filled with twice as many hate comments, which were even more hurtful than the comments left on Baekhyun’s Instagram. The male idol didn't know how his labelmate managed to stay so strong, even when it seemed like the entire world was trying to rip her apart. He saw the articles in which she apologized multiple times to her fans for disappointing them and he felt ashamed that he had never addressed the incident to his own fans.

Baekhyun spent nights just staring up at the ceiling, wondering what he could say about his fake relationship. He would be lying, no matter if he said anything or not, because no one was to know about Lay being his actual boyfriend. So when he finally did write an apology, he kept it as vague as possible and only mentioned his aspirations to become a better EXO member.

G-Dragon called him one day to thank the younger idol for sacrificing so much. The Big Bang leader promised that he was supporting Taeyeon as best as he could behind the scenes and that if Baekhyun ever needed anything, he could contact G-Dragon at any time. YG’s golden boy emphasized that he was indebted to the younger male and that Baekhyun shouldn’t hesitate to ever ask him for help.

Every day, Baekhyun had to remind himself that he had signed up for this all those months ago when he first sat in Taeyeon’s car. This was all to protect Lay. And it was definitely working. All of the hate had been pushed onto Baekhyun and he shouldered it all, knowing that it would be worth it in the end. He grew more accustomed to blocking out the hate as the days passed, knowing that the only opinion that truly mattered was Lay’s. And Lay loved him with all of his heart. So Baekhyun pushed through the pain as best as he could.

--

“Have I ever told you how thankful I am to have you as my boyfriend?”

“I can always hear your spiel again.” Baekhyun smiled with his arm draped around the older male, whose head was leaning against the Korean male’s shoulder. The two of them were on their shared hotel bed. The group was currently touring and traveling in Japan for the last leg of The Lost Planet concert series.

“It still blows my mind that you took so much hate from the dating scandal for me. You did so much to protect our relationship and I hope you know how much I appreciate you being here for me. I don’t have very many close friends, but you make up for all of that and more.” Lay slightly adjusted himself as he lifted his head from Baekhyun’s shoulder. “I know my emotional state wasn’t the best after Kris and Lu Han left, but you’ve been so patient with me. And I want you to know that I will never leave EXO and I will never leave you. Because everything I could ever want is right here with me now.”

Baekhyun’s heart ballooned with love and made the pain from the past half year slowly fade away. Yes, he would go through this all again, a hundred times over, for Lay. Even if he had to endure a million hate comments and dozens of slandering articles written about him, Baekhyun would gladly accept it all if it meant he could shield the one person who mattered most to him in this world. “I am always here for you, Lay.”

“I know, Baek.”

And the two angled their heads to share a sweet, passionate kiss that carried their immeasurable love for each other.

♈♈♈