For the first time in a long time Baekhyun was speechless as he stared at the boy standing before him. So many different emotions rushed through him in that moment that left him frozen in his spot. Of course there was the initial shock of Chanyeol standing before him, very much breathing and staring at him unblinking. He also felt the overwhelming sense of comfort he always got from the boy's presence. But once he got over the happiness of seeing Chanyeol - that's when the anger came in an overwhelming fit. He knew his mistake once he came to contemplate it. 

For five years Chanyeol had been gone, without even the smallest goodbye or any explanation - he just disappeared. But the thing about the taller male was that in the time they shared he had managed to tear down every wall Baekhyun had built up. When he left - he left Baekhyun vulnerable and exposed to the world. He had left Baekhyun cold and alone with no idea of how to fix himself. His return was cruel and a slap in the face to the small boy. Because he had to ask himself that if Chanyeol was still alive, looking healthy enough, then why did he leave? But most of all he had to ask that after what Chanyeol did, where did he find the courage to return and stand before Baekhyun like he was? That was when Baekhyun realized that he really didn't want to see Chanyeol. He didn't want to be standing there in the chilly night, trembling before the very person who had abandoned him. He realized his mistake in foolishly chasing after him and calling out for him. Chanyeol came back and Baekhyun had seen him. After all this time it was Baekhyun who was standing there calling out for the other - when it should've been the other way around. So he was furious. But not only that, he felt like all his scars had been ripped open to bleed again.

Chanyeol spoke first and time had no mercy on the depth of his voice.

"Baekhyun." The tone of it picked up as he nodded for the mentioned boy to speak. It took a long time for Baekhyun to find his voice. But when he did the words tumbled out. 

"What are you doing here?" There was no strength in his voice. It lacked the force and anger he wanted to show. He bit his lip and hid his trembling hands behind his back. Chanyeol saw it of course, shown in the way his eyes softened sympathetically and he cautiously approached the smaller.

"I know." Chanyeol whispered, closing the distance between them. His warm hand reached out for Baekhyun, first finding hold on his wrist which was exposed in his training clothes, before falling to his fingers and rubbing the chill out of them. He only managed to chase the chills into Baekhyun's spine.

"Don't." He warned, his voice dangerously low when he cut the taller off. He freed himself from the hold, hissing as his nose scrunched up in disgust. He didn't miss the flash of disappointment in Chanyeol's eyes. "I just want to know that after all these years - after disappearing without any clue as to where you went. I want to know why you are here now. I don't want you to look at me like that because it means nothing after everything."

"I got a job." Chanyeol answered simply. Taking an easy step away from Baekhyun that painfully knocked the breath out of him.

"A job where?" He clenched his fist in frustration.

"SM offered me one as a -" Chanyeol looked away into the night like he was trying to remember something. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Special unit or something." He shrugged, his expression completely indifferent.

For the second time that night Baekhyun was left speechless. It hurt to know that he only came back for a job, that he didn't seem to have any intention of seeing Baekhyun. He hated the other - for everything he did and everything he was.

"I see." Baekhyun muttered. He blinked slowly, lethargic in the way he moved. Chanyeol said no more and Baekhyun turned readily to leave.

"Baekhyun, I'm sorry." Chanyeol called out before he could take any steps. Baekhyun glanced over his shoulder. At this point he couldn't tell how sincere the towering boy was.

Those words were exactly what he didn't want to hear but everything that he wanted to feel. He sighed, lowering his head as his face fell. All he could feel was the betrayal rushing through his veins. So he turned to face him in his spite and explain everything he had felt for the past years. Because he didn't want or need Chanyeol at all.

"What is that supposed to mean? Do you even actually care? Do you even know what you've done? I hate you Park Chanyeol. I hate you for everything that you are. So any apologies you might have mean nothing to me." He hissed in a breath through his teeth. "I don't even know why I spent so long making up excuses for you. I told myself that you must have had a reason and that I couldn't be mad at you for that. But now I see that you really don't, so how am I supposed to accept anything you say? I made a mistake in chasing after you when I doubt you even want to see me." He moved away again, his chest heaving with the fire in his lungs.

"Baekhyun." Chanyeol called out again, his face twisting in concern.

"Fine. What's your excuse?" Baekhyun cut in with a growl. Chanyeol froze and his eyes searched the small boy's face. He was clearly conflicted with his answer.

"I don't have one." He sighed out eventually and Baekhyun snorted.

"You just feel guilty, you don't care. But don't worry - you'll get over it. Just move on with your life Chanyeol. Just as you've been doing." He his heels, leaving no room for any more conversation. Pushing the training centre doors open roughly and leaving the red haired boy standing in the night alone. Only moments later did Chanyeol turn and carry on his path down the street.

~'ㅅ'~

"When do you leave?" Kyungsoo asked as he stole the chair at Baekhyun's desk. The wheels glided smoothly against the wood of the floor.

"In two days." Baekhyun was sprawled out on his bed, leaving no room for anyone else. He had felt too overwhelmed after the night that he instantly ran to Kyungsoo for support - without any explanation to the wide eyed boy other then that he wanted some company.

"Jongdae was going on and on about how you have a partner. He told me to check that you are mentally stable." Kyungsoo scoffed, shaking his head at the ridiculousness. 

"Oh, so you answered him?" Baekhyun questioned with a smirk, swiftly moving topics. He sat up and situated himself against his pillow - so he could meet the wide eyes that glared at him.

"Shut up. Why can't he just do his job?" Kyungsoo turned his head away but not before Baekhyun saw the flush on his cheeks. "Listen, I only ever break the rules because of you guys. This is your fault."

Baekhyun threw his hands up in surrender, feigning a look of innocence. "It's just a phone call."

"Right. Well, I want to know why I heard about your mission from that idiot who never stops running his mouth - and not yourself." Kyungsoo gave him a pointed look. All Baekhyun could do was shrug his shoulders in response. It had slipped his mind to mention it and too much was happening all at once that he could barely find the time anyways. The boy in the chair sighed loudly before pulling his phone from his pocket and checking the time.

"I should get going, it's late." Baekhyun was quick to protest, whining with a quick shake of his head and a pout. Kyungsoo glanced at him incredulously but he didn't care. He longed for the boy's presence - just to know that at least one person was there.

"Sleep with me." He demanded, his lips twitching with the childish behaviour.

"I would but I don't like what your smirk is implying."

"I won't bite." Kyungsoo rolled his eyes but nonetheless he gave in with a deep sigh, carefully approaching the bed and laying down on it. They didn't need to curl up on each other, all they needed to do was lay next to each other and they were satisfied.

No more conversation was made, silence being their frequent guest. Baekhyun could feel sleep tugging at the back of his mind and making his eyes heavy. Somehow he always found sleep easily in the presence of his friends. However after a while he couldn't help himself and spoke into the room.

"You didn't turn off the lights." It was quiet for a moment and it seemed like the other had fallen asleep until, "Go away."

Baekhyun couldn't stop the chuckle that spilled past his lips. "But it's my room."

"So you turn off the lights."

~'ㅅ'~

The day before the mission he spent training with Sehun again. This time he convinced the other to stay at the academy and the boy complied easily.

It was later when they had come to a truce and agreed to shower before going out for lunch. Baekhyun stood in front of the long mirror hung above the countertop as he waited for Sehun to finish washing up. His fingers played with the damp locks of his hair, the golden brown now a much darker shade under the weight of the water. He had the sudden desire to cut it, dye it, anything. Part of him felt like he needed to move on into a different part of his life. He spent most of the past few days thinking about how he wanted to push on from this moment. Maybe it was a feeling of spite against Chanyeol - he wanted to push the boy behind him already and he didn't know any other way to express that then in his appearance. 

However, deep inside he knew he was still pointlessly holding on because he could. He could see that in the silver chain tucked safely in his training bag. He felt like if he let go of even the memory he would shatter, but then it was painful still holding on. For the moment he was a mess and he didn't want to be.

Sehun finally came up from behind, fully dressed with a backpack slung over his shoulders.
"Do you need to look pretty?" He teased when he saw Baekhyun running his hand through his hair with a displeased look.

"I was thinking of changing it." Baekhyun mumbled absently, seeing no point in lying. This seemed to pique the tall boy's interest as he came to rest against the counter.

"Your hair?" He asked with a mischievous smirk. Baekhyun eyed him cautiously but nonetheless nodded.

"You should let me dye it then." Sehun's smile widened and Baekhyun wasn't sure the boy ever smiled at him like that - with subdued excitement twitching in his fingertips.

"You want to dye it?" Baekhyun questioned, uncertain. His hand fell away from his hair to rest against the counter. The boy nodded, already tugging at Baekhyun's arm.

"Let's go to my dorm."

"Wait!" Baekhyun didn't get to protest much as he was dragged away, barely able to grab his bag from the floor. Whether or not he wanted it, it was happening. He was kind of grateful for it. For where he hesitated, Sehun came to push him. He only hoped he wouldn't regret it.

When they arrived at Sehun's dorm, Baekhyun noticed that it was on one of the lower floors. It left him wondering how they ended up as partners on the same mission. As he was dragged through the dorm he also noticed that there were only two separate bedrooms. Along with the bathroom that he was thrown into.

"What do you want? Lighter? Darker?" Sehun started rummaging through the cabinets with a smile playing at the edge of his lips. Baekhyun hesitated, not really sure of an answer - in all honesty he couldn't care less. After a moment the taller boy came towards him with a box in his hand.

"Let's try black. I want to see what you'll look like." Suddenly an excited laugh burst from Sehun's lips and he quickly put a hand up to muffle it. Baekhyun couldn't help laughing along.

"Okay." Baekhyun shrugged, completely giving himself over to the temporary stylist. He didn't care how it turned out. He just felt relieved to stop worrying, even for a moment.

Sehun was quick in putting in the dark dye, rubbing it through Baekhyun's hair and making weird shapes. The towel protecting his shoulders was already stained by the process. He found it surprisingly comfortable to sit in the boy's company. Where he teased, Sehun easily teased back with a startling high pitched laugh. When he finally got to wash the dye out Sehun was thrilled. He continued rubbing his hands through Baekhyun's hair until the small boy gave him a displeased look through the mirror. It was striking to see the change. It'd been so long since he last had hair this dark. He reached up to brush a hand through it, pushing Sehun's away in the process.

"Is it good?" Sehun asked and Baekhyun was quick to nod.

"You did really good. Do you dye your hair often?" He turned to the tall boy with a laugh that stretched his lips.

"Both of us. My partner does to." Sehun shrugged, getting to work cleaning up the mess left by the job.

"Your partner?" Baekhyun's face turned down in confusion. "Why isn't your partner going with you on the mission?" Sehun paused in his cleaning, glancing at Baekhyun with a tilt of his head.

"Because he can't. Is that a problem?" Baekhyun shook his head curtly to deny.

"Not at all. I was just curious."

~

Later that night Baekhyun was cleaning out his training bag. Tossing dirty clothes in a pile and scanning over his blades. The silver chain found it's way into his backpack. It had more meaning then it's giant owner did. That was when he pulled the mysterious sweater from his bag. There was nothing on the material, it was just a black piece of fabric. He had no clue who it belonged to or why they threw it on him that night. He tilted his head in curiosity before throwing it off with his dirty laundry.

~'ㅅ'~

He pulled his backpack further up his shoulder. He had very few things in it - his clothes and a few personal items. At his feet sat a larger bag filled with his weapons.

The sun shone down against the glass academy with very few clouds to block it as he waited for Sehun to come out. The scene of it was familiar to that of Jongdae's departure. The dark vehicle already parked and waiting to take them to the airport. 

When he looked up he was surprised to see it was Kyungsoo approaching him.

"You dyed your hair." Kyungsoo noted without any greeting, coming to a stop in front of the now dark haired boy - the dye competing against Kyungsoo's own black hair.

"I did." Baekhyun stated back with a smirk. He noticed the way Kyungsoo scanned over his luggage before looking over Baekhyun himself. As if checking to make sure everything was in order.

"Is there a reason?" He asked looking up to meet Baekhyun's gaze.

"I wanted a change." Baekhyun shrugged nonchalantly. His expression lit up and he pushed away the topic. "Did you really come to see me off?" A smug smirk played at the corner of his lips as he teased.

"Don't flatter yourself. I do have somewhere to be, I just thought I'd stop by and be a good friend or something like that."

"Well thanks ... Or something like that." He tilted his head watching as Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows with the hint of a smile testing him. Baekhyun couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him.

"Don't push it." Kyungsoo frowned.

Without saying a word the wide eyed boy bent down and started looking through Baekhyun's bag, throwing him off guard.

"What are you doing?" His voice picked up anxiously but Kyungsoo continued searching through his weapons.

"I'm just making sure you packed well since I couldn't help." Baekhyun rolled his eyes with the answer, a scoff making it's way into the daylight. His shock instantly fading away.

"I can in fact pack on my own." Kyungsoo glanced up at him from where he was crouched in front of the bag, sending him a disapproving look.

"I would hardly say so. Don't use any of these to kill your partner." Before Kyungsoo could stand, Baekhyun caught sight of Sehun exiting the academy behind the crouched boy.

"Speaking of which." Baekhyun nodded towards the building and Kyungsoo stood, his gaze following Baekhyun's as he turned to face the academy himself. Sehun was dressed up more today, with his black locks parted and carefully styled. He wore an open jacket over his shirt and dark jeans. His clothing was all black contrasting against Baekhyun's white, over sized pull over and ripped skinny jeans. Kyungsoo scrutinized him the entire time with a look even Baekhyun noticed. However Sehun seemed unbothered by it - simply sending a curious glance to the wide eyed boy.

"I'm Kyungsoo." The introduction was cut in quickly as to not prompt any questions. Sehun nodded with a small bow of his head towards the smaller.

"Sehun." He replied smoothly, blinking slowly. "You are friends?" There was hardly any question in his voice - like it was an obvious statement. All he got was a small nod from Baekhyun as confirmation.

"Well we should leave." Sehun continued on when he noticed no one else was going to speak, something the other two were accustomed to. Then without anything else he went to the dark vehicle and slid into the passenger seat with ease, tossing his own bag at his feet.

"I was going to sit there." Baekhyun muttered under his breath, staring at the vehicle with daggers in his eyes.

"Don't kill him." Kyungsoo warned again, eyes stuck in the same spot. His tone was teasing but there was still a hint of seriousness to it that made Baekhyun snort.

"I'll try." Kyungsoo opened his mouth to retort but Baekhyun cut in quickly. "See you soon!" 

He waved enthusiastically as he dragged his bag to the back and jumped into the car. Only when he could no longer watch Kyungsoo's retreating figure did he slide back into his seat and relax.

~'ㅅ'~
(Bonus)
<><><><>

Very few times had Baekhyun allowed someone so close to him - and most of the time they had to be persistent in nature. For Jongdae it was only a matter of time before he got under the older boy's skin. Jongdae was loud, energetic and very pushy when he wanted something. 

For Jongdae he'd been at the academy since he was fifteen - about five years after Baekhyun. His hyper, active personality made him a social butterfly and he got along with everybody he crossed paths with. 

When he met Baekhyun it was a rainy night at one of the academy gym's on the border of the city. At first he was thrilled to see the skilled assassin that the other trainees talked about, he'd already been there for about a year and rarely passed the other boy enough to even exchange fleeting smiles. Jongdae almost never saw Baekhyun around. 

He opened up his umbrella to shield himself from the rain. He had no intention of bothering the other assassin but something froze him in his spot. Perhaps it was the fact the other boy had no umbrella himself - but he seemed unbothered by it, staring up at the sky blankly as if he was satisfied to just drown beneath it. Perhaps it was the silent tears that ran down his pale cheeks. Jongdae would've pushed it off as the rain if the other wasn't sheltered by the extended roof and if it wasn't for the glisten in his eyes. Baekhyun stared on not noticing the extra presence. His face twisted, conflicted as his eyebrows twitched down. Jongdae hated that look, that look of vulnerable despair written all over the other boy's features.

So with the brightest smile he could muster he approached the tear stained boy. Until he was standing by his shoulder and the umbrella was raised proudly over them both.

"I'm Jongdae!" He greeted enthusiastically with a bow of his head. He held out his hand and the other boy only glanced at him - like he was seeing right through him. No effort was put in to hide or remove the tears, they continued on their path escaping dull eyes. Jongdae let his hand fall dejectedly.

"I thought you might want an umbrella for the rain." Jongdae continued, determined to cheer up the unresponsive boy. "So what's your name?" Although he knew already, he thought it would be uncomfortable to address him as such when they've never met - and he figured it a good way to prompt conversation. He expected nothing in return, but the other blinked slowly and his lips parted.

"Baekhyun." The name hardly slipped in with the sound of the rain but Jongdae heard it.

"Baekhyun! Do you want to go back to the academy together? I doubt you drive so let's walk." Although all he got was a small nod it was still some sort of response, so he accepted the progress. They walked out into the down pour together, protected in their small bubble while Jongdae linked their arms together. Tears still stained Baekhyun's cheek and he made no move to change that.

~

After that Jongdae was persistent in greeting Baekhyun whenever the crossed paths and even invited him for lunch a few times - although he got harshly denied, he wasn't going to give up easy. Eventually Baekhyun gave in and they began enjoying each other's presence. Although Jongdae never saw Baekhyun with tears again, he still saw that desperate look pass over every once in a while and he always moved to replace it with a smile, no matter how small. When they became roommates he was surprised whenever Baekhyun came into his room late at night with that same vulnerable expression. It was easy to talk themselves to sleep but it still left Jongdae confused. However he wasn't one to pry into sensitive topics. He might be over bearing and maybe annoyingly pushy but he knew when not to push. So instead he was satisfied enough just to bring smiles to the other boy's lips everyday.