Prompt: Sentence that must be used in the fic: “Just shut up and be mine.”

Written by: anonymous until the fic fest ends

Warnings: None

Sehun looked around, disoriented, uncomfortable. Everything seemed so foreign yet disturbingly familiar. A soft breeze floated by and he felt the grass tinkle his feet. He looked down, frowning, to see that he was indeed not wearing any shoes. What had happened? His eyes started to search desperately for something familiar, tangible, something to hold onto. His prayers were answered in the form of a small house, curiously placed in the middle of this green space, as if it was not supped to be there in the first place. Goosebumps erupted on his skin at the sight, a strange, bittersweet feeling overcoming his senses, for a reason he couldn’t quite point out.

The house was nothing special though; just a brick house with square windows, a bit of moss forming on the roof. His feet moved on their own, carrying him in that direction, step by step. And the closer he got, the more his anxiety grew, the more a reassuring feeling sneaked into him. Soon, he noticed two boys, probably around his age, sitting in front of the house, talking calmly while looking at the sky. And when Sehun set foot in the small garden and they turned their eyes to him, they didn’t seem surprised to see him. They both sent a smile in his direction, but the feeling that came along with it couldn’t have been more different.

One was bright and carefree, with shiny eyes. It was welcoming, excited, as if Sehun was exactly what this boy had always been waiting for. And when Sehun’s heart started to beat harder, faster, he wasn’t sure if he liked the sweet feeling or hated the unknown ache that came along with it.

The other was calm and composed, almost knowing. This smile didn’t let any teeth show, as if it was just a sign of acknowledgement, even though in the deep brown eyes that seemed to gaze into his very soul, he found something faint, a want, a pull, almost a need. His heart immediately calmed down, finding the kind of peace that brought by comfort and warmth, everything he seemed to need at that moment.

Before he could dwell anymore on it, the first boy, all fluffy pink hair and suffocating cuteness, spoke up, his melodic voice as excited as his smile. “Hi Sehun! You’re finally here! We’ve been waiting for you, you know!” The boy proceeded to shake his hand energetically, a small giggle escaping his lips at Sehun’s confused and startled state. The latter looked between the two, racking his brain in hope to find a memory of them, but to no avail. He then let out in a voice so small that he wondered if it was his own: “I… I’m sorry, but I’m lost right now…”

The boy in front of him offered him an understanding smile and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, warmth spreading from the simple touch. “Not anymore, don’t worry. I’m Baekhyun, and this guy”, he pointed at the second boy, who was looking at the whole exchange from his spot on the grass, “is Kyungsoo. You’re going to spend a whole lot of time with us from now on.”

Sehun let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and the feeling of relief didn’t let him disagree with what the other had just said; he wasn’t alone and that was the most important. That was the moment Kyungsoo chose to get up and offer him his hand to shake. And when he spoke, his voice was unexpectedly sweet and deep, as if it carried more than just words. “Nice to meet you, Sehun.”

Sehun somehow didn’t manage to say a word then, his hand in Kyungsoo’s and Baekhyun’s own on his shoulder. In between the warm tingles and the soothing aura, it felt like no words really mattered at that point, as if everything relevant had already been said. Tiredness suddenly crashed onto him in waves, his eyelids growing heavy. His gaze automatically dug into Kyungsoo’s orbs, almost instinctively. The other’s eyes flashed with understanding and his voice softly made its way in their extending silence. “What about you come inside and get some sleep? You seem exhausted.”

The tired boy slowly nodded and let the man before him take his hand like a child to lead him inside. As he felt Baekhyun’s hand fall from his shoulder, he heard a loud complaint, almost in a scream. “Soo! That’s not fair! You always just do whatever you want!” Sehun frowned at the way the whine seemed to drill into his tired brain, abusing his ears. Kyungsoo’s soothing voice brought a nice contrast.

“You’re annoying him, Baek. He’s tired, let him sleep for tonight. He’ll see you tomorrow.”

A second of silence followed, and when Sehun looked at Baekhyun, he looked terrified, or extremely sad, or maybe both. The voice that left the cute boy’s mouth had almost nothing to do with the excited tone from earlier. It was small, frail, laced with doubt. “Promise?”

In response, the other’s calm voice was still as neutral. “Promise.”

However, Sehun, seeing the other’s crestfallen expression, decided to say something that seemed logical yet sounded wrong, even to him, as soon as he let the words out. “Why aren’t you coming in? Don’t you live here as well?”

Baekhyun blinked at him a couple of times, then offered him a small smile, the one you use when you try to explain to a child something that you know is out of his grasp. “No, Kyungsoo and I don’t really get along well enough for that.”

Sehun just hummed, too tired to ask any more. He let Kyungsoo lead him inside and watched the other’s retreating back through the door as it closed slowly. The inside of the house was just as it looked on the outside: simple, sober, nothing out of the ordinary. Wood seemed to be omnipresent, giving off a cosy feeling along with a comforting, natural smell. He immediately felt at home there. And as Kyungsoo led him up the stairs and into another room, explaining things on the way, Sehun couldn’t find it in himself to listen to the words, his brain only focusing on the sweet tone and on the way it was slowly putting him to sleep like a lullaby. As soon as his body touched the soft fabric of the bed covers, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

When he woke up, slowly shaken by a sweet voice and careful hands, he wondered if he had slept at all. He opened his eyes to find Kyungsoo’s and managed to utter a small “What time is it?” through his dry throat. The other ruffled his hair, which didn’t answer his question, but somehow dissipated it. Instead came an explanation: “I promised Baekhyun he could take you out today.” Without another word, he turned around and left the room, leaving Sehun with an empty feeling. He would have drowned once more into the softness of sleep if it weren’t for the sudden loud protest coming from his stomach. Reluctantly, he rolled to the edge of the bed and swung his legs off, his bare feet finding the polished wooden floor. He looked around the room, as he didn’t have enough energy to do so the day before.

It was quite small, and everything made it obvious that this was meant to be a child’s room. The sheets on the bed were decorated with small, colourful dinosaurs, there was an unfinished Lego set in a corner, and a weird handmade snow globe was proudly standing on a shelf, as if it were a trophy. His stomach screamed for attention once more, so he got up on his feet and made his way downstairs, easily finding the kitchen where Kyungsoo was waiting for him, placing various dishes on the table. He tried to offer his help, but the other just told him to sit down. That’s what he did, taking the time to observe Kyungsoo. He had jet black hair and pale skin, big, curious eyes and everything about him seemed calm, almost still.

Only when Sehun started to eat, his stomach finally settling and seemingly directing enough energy towards his brain again, did questions start to form in his head. He slowly came to realize that he didn’t know. It wasn’t a where, a why or even a who; even his own existence seemed blurry at the moment. As the seconds passed, the extent of his ignorance increased exponentially, almost making him dizzy as the borders of the unknown quickly disappeared from his sight, from his grasp. He stopped eating all at once, setting his fork and knife down, and looked at Kyungsoo. He opened his mouth, wondering what should come out first, looking at the other eating his food without a care for the questioning glance directed to him.

However, when he finally decided to speak, Kyungsoo beat him to it and said in his ever so calm voice: “Now is not a good time to ask questions.” Sehun didn’t know if the ‘why’ that was on his tongue actually got out or if the other just assumed it. “Baekhyun is coming, any minute now.”

Sehun almost jumped when, only a couple of seconds later, a loud knock resonated through the house. Kyungsoo sighed, grumbling something about Baekhyun ‘always being so loud’, but still got up to open the door. As soon as the wooden panel slid open, an excited ‘Good morning, Soo!’ could be heard and a mop of pink hair popped in, Baekhyun’s dazzling smile making it really hard for Sehun not to get that bubbly feeling too.

He joined the other in the doorframe and was momentarily blinded by the intensity of the sunlight. Baekhyun’s expression was almost as dazzling as the warm rays when he asked if Sehun was ready.

“Ready for... what, exactly?” A laugh followed, eyes sparkling in amusement. “We’re going on an adventure!” Sehun frowned at that, partly because he felt like he had already heard that somewhere, partly because he had no idea what the other had in store for him. And as he watched Baekhyun skipping away in the garden, his fluffy hair bouncing with the movement, he hesitated between the pull of tagging along and the safety of staying behind. The decision came in the form of a black-haired boy, putting a big lunch box in his hands and lightly pushing him outside.

“He’s going to make a scene if you don’t go with him, you know.” Sehun turned to him and thought he caught a spark of amusement in those deep brown eyes. He looked down at the box in his hand and, as always, the answer came before the question. “Baekhyun eats quite a lot. And he’s so exhausting that you’ll probably need it too.”

He looked down at the boy and offered him a smile. “Thank you, Kyungsoo. Even if you say you two don’t get along, you sure take care of him, don’t you?” Then he turned around and went to Baekhyun, who was happily whistling while looking at the sky. With food in his hands, the sun shining brightly above his head and the electrifying melody escaping the other’s lips, all his doubts were forgotten and he just felt light and excited. He put the lunch box right under the other’s nose. “Hey Baekhyun, look what Kyungsoo made for us!” The whistles suddenly stopped and Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo, a bit lost, alarmed maybe. Sehun looked between the both of them, feeling like he was missing something again, especially when he saw the dark-haired boy open his mouth just to close it again. However, Baekhyun quickly eased the tension with a laugh, shoved the lunchbox in this huge backpack whose colour mirrored that of the sky, and said in his usual chipper tone that it was time for an adventure.

Sehun wondered for a second why he was suddenly so excited to follow, why the idea of the unknown didn’t seem so scary anymore, what made him suddenly race across the field with Baekhyun on his heels screaming that it wasn’t fair because he hadn’t said ‘go’ yet. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to care, in between his uncontrollable laugh and his tired huffs. The thought just went flying away, maybe getting lost with the few white clouds that were slowly making their way over their heads.

After a while, he understood that they were going to the forest. Indeed, they were walking towards this massive stretch of trees, the soft rustle of the wind in the branches getting more audible as they approached. As they stepped in, Sehun revelled in the way the appeasing shade cooled down his skin. Baekhyun pull on the taller boy’s sleeve to get his attention, a weirdly childish action for a boy that seemed to be in his twenties.

“Do you hear that?” His eyes were scanning Sehun’s, a spark of excitement and a hint of malice in them. The other listened closely to find the noise and when he understood, his smile was apparently enough of an answer, because Baekhyun took the lead between the trees, talking above his shoulder. “It’s quite close! This place is amazing, you’ll see. I searched for it for quite some time actually, because it’s not that easy to find. But I knew it had to be there, somewhere!”

Sehun followed him under the shade of the branches and the murmur of the birds lost in the green mass, listening to the boy’s humming and joining him whenever the melody seemed familiar.

It took more time to get there than Sehun had expected. He was starting to think that they were going around in circles, walking through some shallow paths and almost crawling under huge rocks, when he finally saw it. The water was spurting out of the rocks in heavy waves to meet the grey stone underneath and calmly finding its rhythm on it before suddenly being thrown down and crashing on the surface of the small lake below in a beautiful dance of shining droplets. The whole place, with the green grass on the side of the lake and the rare, brave sunrays that managed to find a way through the foliage, was surreal.

Only when Baekhyun poked his chin with a playful finger did Sehun realize that his mouth was hanging open. And by the time he decided to move, the other was already halfway down to this small paradise hidden between its protective walls of rocks and roots. Sehun quickly followed him, but ended up being way more slow, since he wasn’t as used to this as the other. It was more tricky than it seemed, climbing down the rocks, using the roots as anchors, but it was definitely doable.

When his feet finally touched the ground, he saw a small rabbit running away from the corner of his eye and he couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for disturbing the peace of such a beautiful place. But then Baekhyun sprinkled some water on his face while laughing like a child, in a way that was amazingly contagious, and his remorse disappeared.

In what seemed like a few minutes, they both ended up completely wet, to the point where Sehun didn’t even care when the other pushed him into the lake and he felt the cool water all around him. His first idea when he saw Baekhyun standing on the edge through the blurry lens of transparent liquid, was to drag him down, but he didn’t even have the time to, because the boy just jumped in with a loud splash, the waves creating colourful sparkles. The boy emerged from the centre of it all, his pink hair stuck to his forehead and falling in front of his eyes, his bright smile exactly how Sehun expected it to be. The latter felt a bit exhilarated by it all, a little drunk at the sight.

The thought of hugging the boy in front of him, giggling as he kept splashing water his way in a vain attempt to getting him even wetter than he already was, came onto him with a force he didn’t know he possessed. And even though his common sense tried to block this instinct for a second, it was just as quickly pushed down with the strange, eerie realization that feelings were all that was left to him. So without a second thought, he tiptoed in the other’s direction, his movements slowed down by the shining water, and took Baekhyun in his arms as soon as he was close enough to. He hugged him close, as close as he could, as if this exact closeness was all he needed, was going to erase all his doubts and incomprehension.

The pink-haired boy remained motionless for a few seconds, before circling the other’s waist and giggling under his breath. Sehun felt his skin warming up and tingling at the contact of the boy, as if his energy, his joy, his soul maybe, was slowly seeping into him. It was a nice feeling at first, but after a while the tingling turned to burning and the world started to spin, as if his own feet were the heart of a full-on storm. He felt like he was falling, turning, as if the air around him was not enough, was not what his lungs needed. He let go abruptly, pushing Baekhyun away, his vision blurry, his limbs shaky, his footing lost. He fell back into the water that suddenly felt cold, so cold. His limbs moved in every direction, uncoordinated, and he found the surface again, taking a breath of fresh air and feeling the cold piercing his lungs like needles. He coughed, fell back down. The water seemed to be pulling him in, taking him down.

Soon after, he felt hands grabbing at his arms, and he didn’t know in his confusion if he was trying to follow them of to push them away. After a few more long seconds of struggle, he was dragged onto the grass and he found himself coughing on the ground, at the edge of a lake that didn’t seem as welcoming as it did a while ago. He was trying to make sense of everything, trying to calm his trembling hands, trying to breathe, when he heard a laugh next to him. Slowly, he turned his head to find Baekhyun laughing, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Sehun felt a mix of anger, incomprehension and fear come over him. The other stopped laughing, but a smile was still on his lips when he spoke.

“Oh come on, don’t look at me like that! You should’ve seen your face, it was so funny!”

Sehun blinked a few times. The more seconds passed, the more anger seemed to take over. When he spoke, his voice came in a scream. A scream broken in the middle by the strain imposed by all the coughing he just did and by all the emotions stuck in his throat.

“Are you seriously laughing right now?! I almost ing died, Baekhyun!”

The other rolled his eyes, as if what the other had said was simply ridiculous. “Of course not. I was here.”

The scoff that came out of Sehun’s mouth was followed by more coughs. “You were here? You were here? It was your ing fault in the first place! What is even this place? What did you do to me?”

Baekhyun’s smile slowly disappeared, only to be replaced by a frown. “My fault? What did I even do?” His voice was low and laced with a complaint of unfairness.

The other’s tone, almost fragile, fuelled even more Sehun’s anger. If Baekhyun wasn’t at fault, then who was? Why had he even followed him in the first place? All of this could be a trap, that guy could want to kill him for all he knew, and he just followed him without thinking. That guy who was just like this place: beautiful and tempting, on the surface. His anger grew and grew until he spat a small ‘get away from me’. He didn’t miss the hurt on the other’s face, his hair still sticking to his forehead, his eyes not shining anymore.

Soon enough, he was left alone. And only then did the weight of his mistake fall onto him, as he looked around. The place didn’t look as welcoming anymore. The water seemed dark, the grass damp and faded, and even the sunrays were nowhere to be found. Everything felt grey and looked depressing. He slowly got up, jumping at a small noise between the trees, to make his way out of there. It would be a long way.

The remnants of sunlight were only lingering on the horizon when Sehun finally made it out of the woods and saw the light coming out of the small square windows that seemed more welcoming than ever. Had he had enough energy left, he would have run. Instead, he winced as he continued walking, his muscles sore due to all the walking, climbing and jumping around he had to do to find his way back. The way to the house seemed at least twice as long as when he had walked it the other way.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally found himself in front of the door, which opened before he could even knock. Big, round eyes scanned him calmly, taking in his state, only to find his when Kyungsoo offered him a small smile that seemed almost apologetic.

The warmth and the comfort of the place came as suddenly as Sehun set a foot into the house, and it only took Kyungsoo’s hand on his shoulder for him to burst out crying. He fell into the shorter man’s embrace as if he belonged there, breathed in the comforting scent of the house and cried his eyes out, thinking about how he should have never left in the first place. The hands slowly rubbing his back comforted him, silently letting him know that it was alright, that everything would go back to normal, that he didn’t have to care about a single thing. And even though there was a small voice at the back of Sehun’s mind screaming that he was making the same mistake over and over again, he believed those hands, believed the way Kyungsoo’s eyes dragged him in for a while when he pulled back to softly ruffle his hair. He was fed in a warm blur, then taken to the bathroom to change. The other, seeing his tiredness and his reluctance to move a single one of his aching muscles, slowly peeled his clothes off of him, replacing them with fresh ones that shouldn’t have fitted given their height difference, but strangely did. Sehun let himself being taken over, because the feeling was light, soothing and incredibly easy. It seemed that Kyungsoo knew what he needed before he himself did, as if he wasn’t even reading his mind, but his soul. And with the way the boy’s big eyes bore into his, he believed that it was indeed possible, because those deep brown orbs seemed to contain way more than just a person’s thoughts.

Only when he was taken to his small child-like room and he sat down on the bed did Kyungsoo let his hand go and Sehun was suddenly overtaken by a terrifying feeling of emptiness. He didn’t want to be alone, not again. So he quickly grabbed the other’s hand before he could leave and uttered a rushed question, his voice more hesitant as the words came out.

“Can you stay with me tonight?” It was only when the sentence was over, when silence followed, that he realized the meaning it could hold, and a blush creeped up on his cheeks. He couldn’t say that the way was looking at him, scanning his face, wasn’t part of the reason for the rue hue on his skin. In those unreadable eyes, a hint of surprise – or was it doubt? – was born, and if the change was almost imperceptible, Sehun still noticed it. He almost took it back right there and then, shame growing as he was facing the boy’s silence. However, he didn’t have the time to, as Kyungsoo ruffled his hair, reassuring him that it was alright. “We can go to my room if you want, I have a bigger bed.”

Sehun looked down at his small bed, then around the room, and slowly shook his head. He wanted to be there. As always, Kyungsoo seemed to understand, as he lit the small lamp on the nightstand to turn off the one on the ceiling and told Sehun to make some space for him. As the tall boy tried to make as much space as he could, the other sat down and was about to switch off the light when he was stopped in his tracks once more. “Can you leave the light on?”

A low chuckle escaped Kyungsoo’s lips, a small amused smile grazing his lips, and Sehun felt his heart calm down at the sight, finally at peace. “You’re still such a child, aren’t you?” The other would have replied something, the pout already present on his face, but he forgot his snarky remark as soon as Kyungsoo’s arms circled him again and he found his head finding its rightful place in the crook of the wide-eyed boy’s neck, the comforting smell of wood and coffee silently composing a lullaby that soon helped him drifting into a well-deserved sleep.

He woke up to the sound of the rain against the window and the peaceful, regular breathing of the boy in his arms. He looked down at the other, his hair ruffled, his lips parted, his chest heaving up and down in rhythm with the small puffs of air he could feel against his collarbone. He had no idea how they even managed to sleep so comfortably into such a small bed, but the question didn’t quite bother him as his hand found the other’s face, slowly tracing his features and revelling in the smoothness of his skin.

The sound of thunder outside, too close for his comfort, startled him and woke up the other, whose eyes slowly blinked into awareness and found his. Sehun couldn’t help but think he looked angelic with the way the next streak of light illuminated his face, but the thought was quickly dissolved by the noisy rumbling that was bound to follow. Kyungsoo, unfazed by it all, offered him a small smile. “Let’s go eat something, shall we? I bet you’re starving.” Sehun wanted to reply that no, he wasn’t hungry, that all he wanted was to lay in this bed all day, possibly with Kyungsoo’s comforting presence in his arms, but at the same time there was this tiny, uneasy part of him that was once again startled by the thunder and insistently whispered to him that he had to get up.

They went down to eat a gigantic breakfast, then decided to watch a movie, nicely settled in the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate. Kyungsoo didn’t ask what happened the day before and Sehun didn’t feel the need to tell him. However, as one movie turned into two, then into a whole marathon that continued well into the afternoon, Sehun’s ears couldn’t help but catch the sound of the rain hitting the windows, slowly pushing down the sound of the movie to a background noise. There really was something about the rain, something that made him uncomfortable, a bit fidgety. After a while, he started to regularly throw quick looks at the windows, painted with small transparent rivers that modified the world behind, distorted it in the most beautiful way. At some point, he completely forgot about the movie and simply stared out at the vast stretch of grass. He didn’t notice Kyungsoo staring at him from the side, but after a while, he noticed a silhouette surrounded by all the green, a silhouette that had pale skin and pink hair, a silhouette that was curled up onto itself in the midst of the storm.

Sehun got up before his brain even had time to process the information and he dropped his mug on the coffee table with a loud bang. His legs carried him closer to the window, his hands laying on the cold surface, tingling. When he spoke, he did so in a whisper, his voice slightly shaking at the question whose answer he already knew. “Is that Baekhyun, over there?”

He soon felt Kyungsoo’s presence behind his. “Mhm. He’s been there for a while now.” His arms circled Sehun’s waist and his forehead rested in between the tall boy’s shoulder blades, as if it was already a habit, and Sehun would have believed it if it weren’t for the nagging voice in his head and the sickening feeling in his stomach. Sehun took a deep breath and thought of the day before. His mind wandered to a small lake where he almost drowned, where Baekhyun saved him, where he had been left alone. He went back to the feeling that overcame him as Baekhyun’s laugh resonated in the clearing, back to shining eyes, to light-headed hugs. He tried hard to reminisce the feeling of terror, that of emptiness, and the cold that seeped into him, but he realized that the memory was already fading, drowned by the worry and utter guilt that had crashed onto him as he saw the small figure of Baekhyun under the rain. “I need to go to him.”

The arms around him hugged him a little tighter and he wasn’t sure if the small ‘are you sure?’ he heard was real or if it was a product of his imagination. He still looked over his shoulder before heading out, having freed himself from the embrace, and let out a small, guilty ‘I’m sorry, Kyungsoo’ when he saw the other’s eyes weren’t quite meeting his.

He stepped out and closed the door behind him, only to regret it. The first thing he felt was the wind piercing through his clothes, creating goose bumps all over his skin, then the rain slapping his face in waves. He quickly realized he was underdressed for this cruel weather. The sweatpants and t-shirt he was wearing would be soaking wet in less than a minute. He could very well turn back and put on a jacket, take an umbrella or just give up this crazy idea of going out in this storm, but something inside of him decided against it and pushed him forward, towards the silhouette that stayed there, unmoving in the midst of this chaos.

He walked closer and closer, pushed around in every direction along with the will of the wind. And as he was approaching, he swore he could hear the cries, even though the sound of the storm should have made that impossible. When he finally reached Baekhyun, the sight was worse than what he was expecting and his heart squeezed painfully in response. The other was sitting there, hugging his legs while his face was buried in his knees. He was soaking wet and his shoulders were shaking with every one of his cries, or maybe with every hit of the cruel wind.

Sehun fell onto his knees in front of the other and was momentarily frozen by the pain of seeing the other in that state. Never had he heard someone crying quite like that, like it was the only thing that was left to them. Slowly, he raised his hand to place it on the pink hair. He could feel the boy jump at the contact. His hands slid down to his face and lifted it when they reached his chin. He found no resistance, but almost regretted his gesture and was tempted to go back running into the house when he met the other’s eyes. They were bloodshed and contained so much hurt, mixed with other undefined emotions, that he had to fight to find his breath back.

The whisper of his name that followed didn’t quite reach his ears, but it surely struck his heart. A second later he fell back against the grass at the impact of Baekhyun throwing himself into his arms, clinging onto him as if his life depended on it. The loud cries that now resonated close, so close were completely unrestricted, just like everything Baekhyun did. Sehun wrapped his arms around the smaller frame and looked up at the grey sky, the droplets falling on him, on them, his skin craving for the small puff of hot breath in the crook of his neck, the only warmth his body could find in this cold world. He was feeling so many emotions in that moment that he wasn’t sure which was which anymore. There was guilt, sadness, helplessness, fear, and above all a strange feeling of warmth, of excitement and relief. It took him a while to realize that the raindrops were accompanied by his own tears, both of them mixing on his face to roll down and end up in his tangled hair.

He didn’t know how long they stayed there, hugging each other on the ground, in the middle of a storm. It could have been minutes, it could have been days. But at some point, the rain disappeared and Baekhyun’s breathing calmed down enough for Sehun’s tears to stop. When the pink-haired boy looked down at him, the sun was shining shyly, just enough for Baekhyun to look golden, just enough for Baekhyun to be the one blinding Sehun. The sight of the boy looking at him, hair stuck to his forehead, eyes exhausted, but mouth somehow waiting on a smile, caused such a tremor in Sehun chest that he couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face, along with a furrowing of his brows and a weird sob, leftover of all the crying he himself had done. It was both beautiful and painful, and he was overwhelmed. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say, to do, to think even. The only certainty his world knew in that moment was that Baekhyun was gorgeous, Baekhyun was precious, Baekhyun was exactly where he needed to be, in his arms.

He didn’t really know what broke the moment, if it was the rumbling of Baekhyun’s laugh at his weird expression, the loud grumble of their stomachs, or the realization that the both of them had a blue hue to their skin due to the cold. But he knew everything was forgiven when he mumbled a low ‘I’m sorry’, his hand around the other’s wrist and Baekhyun offered him a smile, scrunching his nose in the cutest way.

They walked to the city, a grey mass that Sehun had never noticed before. But when he looked around and noticed the forest much farther than what he remembered he thought that maybe he needed more sleep after all. They went to a small shop, where they bought clothes after the shorter boy made Sehun try on all the horrible pieces he could find, and threw their old ones away. Sehun had a second thought, wide eyes and a peaceful smile flashing into his mind, but decided that those clothes were too damaged to use again anyway.

They wandered a bit through unknown streets, grey everywhere, shadows in every window. Sehun looked through the windows, one by one, seeing only shadows of people, blurry silhouettes. Some of them were moving past them, fast and unreachable. A feeling of fear and sorrow slowly started to fill him. He looked down at Baekhyun, who seemed unfazed by it all, humming happily.

“Baekhyun… Why are they… like this?”

The other looked up at him, blinking a few times as if he didn’t understand his question. Then he looked around and scanned a few of those silhouettes, cocking his head on the side, before looking back up in the other’s eyes. “They’re busy with their own lives.” The tone he used was that of an obvious answer. But then his eyes got lost somewhere where no one could reach him for a split second and he said as an afterthought, more to himself than for anyone else: “Always so busy…” His smile was back up again in an instant and he took Sehun’s hand, dragging him along, a destination in mind. “Let’s go to a funnier place, ok?”

It appeared that the ‘funnier place’ was a karaoke room, where Baekhyun could let all his energy out, singing to his heart’s content. They sang and danced like the idiots they were for what felt like hours. Only when Sehun dropped his heavy body on the couch and looked through the window did he realize that the night was already dark, the sun having fallen asleep hours before. He let out a tired sigh and avoided Baekhyun’s smiling eyes.

“I don’t want to go.”

He felt a hand ruffling his hair and a voice that, for once, was quiet. “You don’t have to. Just stay with me.”

Sehun looked up at the other’s eyes then and saw them sparkle with promises, shining whispers and golden secrets. He was tempted to just indulge in them, to let himself go, and he almost did. Instead, because he had learned that maybe if Baekhyun was so much of a free spirit, one of them had to stay a bit grounded, he opted for a balanced solution. “Okay, but just for a while then.”

The bright smile he got in return was enough to make him think he had taken the best possible decision. They went out of the karaoke and back into the grey streets, that were even darker than a few hours before. The only light Sehun could see seemed to radiate from Baekhyun himself, but then it might have been the effect of the few beers he had downed. The darkness didn’t bother him as much as he would have thought, not with Baekhyun’s delicate hand in his, warm and soft. They chatted away in the streets, surrounded by the white noise of the everchanging world around them. At some point, they stopped under a street lamp, next to a closed supermarket and a small 24/7 diner that radiated its white, almost blinding light on the street. They started to talk in whispers, as if their small, mundane conversation had to remain a secret from the shadows passing by, because this world should only be theirs.

The light of hope and secrecy in Baekhyun’s eyes was growing with every passing minute and Sehun was so, so tempted to just drown into it. The pull was irresistible, drowning, ever present. His trembling hand slowly made its way to the boy’s face and, when his fingertips grazed the soft skin of the other’s rosy cheek, it felt like a jolt of electricity suddenly ran through him. However, the feeling was short-lived, as he found himself on the floor a fraction of second later. One of the shadows had passed by him too quickly, too close. He rubbed his aching wrists and looked up at Baekhyun, who was frowning, looking at nothing in particular. He thought he could hear a small ‘not again’, but he couldn’t be sure, not when he was taken down again just as he tried to get up. It happened once, twice, three times. His body, that was already tired after the weird and emotional day he had, was starting to ache all over. He thought the light of the diner was fading away, but then he realized that it was the effect of every one of the step Baekhyun was taking away from him, looking sad and sorry.

Sehun got up on his knees. “Baekhyun, w-what? Don’t go, help me!” Another blow threw him back down again and he saw the other shaking his head.

“I’m sorry Sehun, I can’t. There… There’s nothing I can do about this, I can’t.” He kept shaking his head, his fists clenched and a few tears forming in his eyes, mirroring those in the taller boy’s eyes.

Sehun stopped trying to get up and thought that maybe, all the shadows wanted was for him to stay still, but he was proved wrong when he felt a blow on his left shoulder blade, so strong that his breathing got caught up in his throat for a few seconds. His eyes remained on Baekhyun, all pink hair and golden light, silently begging him to do something, anything, to explain what was going on.

In response, the pink haired boy just kneeled to be at the same level as Sehun, but still too far away, his light out of reach. “I’m sorry Sehun, I’m sorry… It will pass, I promise. Just- Just bear with it for a while, okay? It’s ty, but it will go away eventually, don’t worry.”

The taller shook his head, tears now flowing down on his cheeks. Why were they doing this to him? Why couldn’t Baekhyun just do anything? His expression changed little by little, and the fear got mixed with a feeling that had invaded him a while back, though he couldn’t remember when: anger. Wasn’t it Baekhyun’s fault again, that he was there again, scared and hurt?

The other apparently immediately understood the change in Sehun’s emotions, because when he spoke again, his tone was even more pleading than earlier. “Sehun, please don’t. Don’t look at me like that. I swear it’s not my fault, I promise. It’s… Please, just hang in there, then everything will be fine again, alright? You…” He tried to shoot him a small smile, but it just ended up in an awkward curl of lips that was nothing close to the cheerful expression he used to wear. “You trust me, right?”

Sehun wanted to answer that yes, he trusted him, he would follow him to the end of the world, because that was what he felt every time he looked into those golden eyes, but in that moment, with the rough blows and painful hits not leaving enough time to breathe properly, he just felt scared. So terrified in fact, that he couldn’t find the light in the other’s eyes anymore, tainted by regret, doubt and the desperate need of comfort. The last word came to his mind along with the gentle, reassuring face of Kyungsoo, along with the feeling of warmth and cosiness that small house brought. For the first time for what felt like forever, he broke eye contact with Baekhyun, because he couldn’t find any reassurance in them anymore. Instead he curled onto himself and called Kyungsoo’s name once, twice, three times, like a mantra.

A few seconds later, he felt warm arms calmly hugging him and the incessant hits stopped. He snuggled closer to the warmth, his body immediately relaxing as he inhaled the soothing scent of Kyungsoo. He wanted to stay there, in those arms that shielded him from everything bad. He heard a low ‘let’s go’ and the sweetness of that voice made him nod automatically, made him lose a bit more of his drifting consciousness. He nodded lazily, just before he heard Baekhyun’s plead.

“Don’t! Kyungsoo, please don’t. Let him stay with me, please… You know how it’s like, it can be cruel and hard sometimes, b-but it will get better, even you know that, r-right?”

The world got silent for a moment, before Kyungsoo answered in his calm voice. “I don’t, Baek. And he called me, so I’m taking him. End of discussion.”

The painful cries that followed seemingly tore something inside Sehun, and he would have looked back and reassured the shining, pink-haired boy crying on the grey pavement if he had enough energy to. But he didn’t. He could feel his conscience seeping away and sleep welcoming him with open arms. As his eyes closed on their own, the cries resonated and echoed again and again in his tired mind and in his equally exhausted heart.

All he wanted was a peaceful sleep, but he didn’t get it. He dreamt of pastel pinks and colourful laughs, of shining promises and playful tunes. He turned and turned, so much that when he woke up in the small bed of this children room in Kyungsoo’s house, he was alone, although he was certain that the other had been there with him. Reluctantly, he got up and went down to find Kyungsoo in the living room, silently sipping on a cup of coffee while staring out the window, sitting on the windowsill. Sehun leaned against the wall opposite to him and looked down at the boy, his wide eyes slowly scanning the garden, his fingers patiently tracing the outline of the cup.

“You came.” It wasn’t a question, just a simple statement, because for Sehun, all that mattered in that moment, when he was attacked by nameless shadows, faceless strangers, was for someone to be there. The answer was just as simple.

“You called.”

He didn’t really know how to express how grateful he was, how important and meaningful it was for him, in that moment when he had nothing left but himself. So he just said the only thing he could, even though he knew it wasn’t enough. “Thank you.”

Kyungsoo’s fingers stopped around his cup and he looked up at the other, his eyes slowly digging into Sehun’s, holding something the other could not fully understand. Silence followed. But silence is made to be interrupted, so he let out in a voice that was still as smooth but held a bit of sadness that wasn’t there before: “Why did you call if it’s just to leave again?”

Sehun’s breath got caught in his throat as just one sentence unveiled something in the other’s eyes he had never noticed: a deep, creeping, drowning loneliness. He stumbled on his words as he slowly took the smaller in his arms. “I-I’m sorry, Kyungsoo. I know I left unexpectedly, but…” The end of his sentence, the ‘I’m not leaving this time, I’ll stay with you’ was hanging above him, swimming in his head, ready on his tongue. However, something inside of him stopped him, leaving space for Kyungsoo’s words.

“Do you have any idea how lonely it is here?” His voice was shaking a bit and that was the most emotion Sehun had ever witnessed in the other boy, and it was overwhelming. “But I know, Sehun. I know. I would hate myself as well if I could, I really would.”

Sehun held him a bit closer at that. “Don’t say things like that, stupid. How could I hate you? You’re the one who always gets me when I’m in trouble.”

The other’s answer came in the form of hands clinging onto the back of his shirt. He was pretty sure he felt a couple of droplets in his collarbone, right where Kyungsoo’s face was resting, but he didn’t mention it.

Kyungsoo went back to his neutral self after that and Sehun went back to feeling extremely comfortable. They watched movies, cooked and read, told stories in front of the fireplace and slept as much as they wanted, and as the days passed by, Sehun felt like he could probably get used to this, to being inactive, comfortable and lazy. With time, he felt like doing less and less, and Kyungsoo didn’t complain, he would accompany him for every single one of his naps, even though Sehun would often wake up alone and he would know it was because he moved too much in his agitated sleep. He wondered if he was sleeping that much because he couldn’t relax when he did.

All this time, Baekhyun was in his mind, his begging voice, his broken sobs. But the memories were getting more and more blurry, sleepiness now accompanying his every move. One day, when he almost fell asleep at the table after finishing his lunch, Kyungsoo offered him for the second time to go sleep in his room. The other pondered it for a while before slowly nodding. He took Kyungsoo’s hand and let himself being carried away, much like the very first day. However, they had only taken a couple of steps towards the staircase when the door suddenly opened, loudly crashing against the wall at the force of the action. They turned around and when Sehun saw Baekhyun, all pink hair and flushed cheeks, all golden aura and sparkling eyes, his hand left Kyungsoo’s one on its own.

And as Baekhyun set a foot into the house and what seemed like a growl came out of Kyungsoo’s throat, he took a step in the other’s direction before he could even process the information. The thunder was booming under the blazing sun when Kyungsoo’s voice resonated, both scared and threatening. “You can’t do that, Baek. You can’t be here.” But neither of them listened to him, Sehun’s and Baekhyun’s eyes having found each other, their feet moving in the same direction, finding each other in the middle. Sehun grabbed the hand that was extended towards him and they went to the door. However, they stopped when Kyungsoo grabbed Sehun’s wrist and found themselves in the small garden, where everything had started.

There, in between the comforting bubble that Kyungsoo always provided for him and the scary, exciting, nonsensical world that Baekhyun opened for him, Sehun found himself cruelly divided. And the contrast made his head cloudy, exactly like the very first day, where nothing had been explained. He freed himself from both of the hands that were on his skin, desperately trying to grasp the situation. His breathing was laboured, as if he had been running, as if the simple fact of getting away from those two guys was draining his energy so much that he needed to take a break. However, he knew when he saw the others’ expressions that a break was not something he could afford at this point. Baekhyun was the first to talk, his expression angry and impatient. For once, his voice was strangely calm, trembling with contained emotions. “Let him go Soo.”

The other huffed and put his hands on his hips, like an adult trying to reason a disobedient child. “No. Baek, you shouldn’t even be here in the first place, it’s all over.”

“Says who? It’s not over!” The trembling was more present than ever, his voice low and menacing. He looked at war with his emotions, at war with himself.

Kyungsoo shook his head slowly. “It is. And you broke the rules by coming inside, so you’d better go now, before I lose my patience.”

“That’s because you took him away!” His voice was now a mix of outrage and plead. It was like trying to win an argument, being possessed by the want of getting his point through, but painful memories making it impossible to hide the creeping sadness laced within.

The other countered in a breath. His tone was harsher than usual, strict and unforgiving. “He called for me, Baek. And you know what that means.”

Sehun, who had been looking between the both of them during the argument, frowned at that. “Well,” he started, his lips, and the other two suddenly fell silent, “I don’t.”

Baekhyun huffed. “You don’t need to know. That’s between me and him.”

Sehun’s blood boiled at that. Apparently, he didn’t need to know anything, but he was in the centre of everything. Instantly seeing his anger, Kyungsoo placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Well you know what, Baek? It’s true, I don’t need to know and you can just go. I can never understand a single thing you do or say and you always just get me in trouble. So no need to come back here.”

The other looked at him with his mouth slightly open, tears prickling in his beautiful eyes. But he gulped and kept on trying to suppress his feelings that were usually so all over the place. “Sehun, wait… It’s just that I can’t really tell you. We can’t tell you. And I told you, I don’t want to get you in trouble, I just don-”

“Well you still do! Every time!” His reply was sharp, annoyed and angry, because he found it easier to be angry than sad, easier to scream than to break down crying into someone else’s arms once more. He shrugged Kyungsoo’s hand off, tired of feeling so… attended all the time.

Baekhyun tried once more. “Listen to me, please. You can’t go back to Kyungsoo. Please, don’t, please. Can you please trust me? It-”

Sehun cut him once more. “Trust you, Baekhyun? Kyungsoo is the one who’s always dealing with the consequences of your actions!” He could see the other’s barriers and self-imposed limits breaking one by one, so clearly in fact that he could almost feel the breaking point. “I don’t want to see you again. I was kicked down and you just watched, not doing anything! Kyungsoo, he-”

“Just shut up and be mine!” The dam had broken, and the scream that resonated through their whole world held nothing of those tremors that concealed all the emotions that made him complete. Baekhyun grabbed Sehun’s hand and pulled. He hugged the taller boy as close as he could and Sehun was surprised when he felt cold tingles on his skin, along with the ever-flowing warmth that was Baekhyun. He looked up to see snowflakes slowly making their way down under the sun, beautifully silent in the middle of the thunderstorm. “Don’t leave me, Sehun. You can’t go to Kyungsoo, you can’t let him win, please.” In his arms, Sehun kept silent, torn. “Don’t you realize, Sehun? You left him because you wanted to, but every time you left me wasn’t a choice. It was because something bad happened. But you want to stay with me, you know you do. There’s something about you screaming that you’re not ready to go with him, to stay with Kyungsoo. Not yet.”

Sehun tried, he really tried to think of Kyungsoo’s tears, of the loneliness he had seen in those eyes, but he knew it couldn’t be enough. He knew Baekhyun was right, because he was unable to promise anything to Kyungsoo, even though he was always there, even though he felt like comfort, like safety, like home. Slowly, he took a step back from the boy whose arms had lost their strength around him with the passing seconds of silence. He turned to Kyungsoo, who was sitting on the floor in the doorframe, tears slowly streaming down his cheeks. He looked tired, he looked like someone who had given up.

Sehun’s voice was a whisper that didn’t hold all the sadness it probably should have. “I’m sorry.”

The other shook his head and offered him a small smile. “It’s okay. He’s right, you know. I already told you, I’m someone you should hate, Sehun. But it’s okay, we’ll see each other again someday.”

When he turned away and faced Baekhyun again, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted from his chest. And as the other’s hand found his face and caressed his cheek, his beautiful eyes scanning his face as if he was the most beautiful person that could ever exist, Sehun felt like everything was exactly how it should be. Everything around him disappeared – the house, the woods, the small garden, even the grass under his bare feet – and all that was left in the world was him and a gorgeous pink-haired boy with a warm, shining smile.

Said boy took another step forward and place cupped both his cheeks, his eyes bearing into Sehun’s ones. The next words that left his mouth took the other’s breath away. “I love you Sehun, don’t ever forget that.”

Then Baekhyun’s lips were on his own and it felt like a firework of emotions and sensations. He was warm, so warm, but the cold snowflakes were still there, fighting their way on his burning skin, and in the distance, he heard the thunder, low and threatening. And suddenly everything started to spin and he was falling, falling, falling. The only thing that kept him sane were Baekhyun’s soft lips. It was still the only thing he could think about when pain woke up in him. He wanted to kick and scream, but he couldn’t, not when Baekhyun’s skin was urging him to breathe, to hang on, to live.

When he cracked an eye open, his body heavy and his whole existence painful, he was blinded by the sharp whites, deafened by the bright sounds. He didn’t know how long it took to be able to see or to understand what was going on, but when he did, the first thing he noticed, in that small hospital room, surrounded by his crying family, was the weird handmade snow globe on his nightstand, the one he had made when he was a kid and never had the heart to throw away.

* * *

“Death was… calm and soothing. Incredibly attractive and so, so lonely, giving you that feeling that you’re needed. Death was easy, comfortable… homey.”

He saw the woman jot down a few notes on the sheet of paper in front of her. She asked in a measured tone: “Why did you chose life then?”

Sehun spent a few seconds looking down at the people in the street below, trying to memorize every single one of their faces as if they were going to suddenly disappear, before he answered. “Because I realized I was in love.”

A big, professional smile that was supposed to feign interest formed on the woman’s face. “Oh, with whom?”

The smile on Sehun’s face was small, but genuine. It held affection, longing and a tiny bit of sadness. “With life.” Silence followed, only interrupted by the sound of a pen quickly running on paper. He turned to her. “You think I’m crazy, right?”

She gave him another one of her fake smiles. “No, of course not, Sehun. It’s completely normal for someone who’s been in a coma for so long to be a bit… disoriented.”

Sehun scoffed and went back to watching people passing by. She continued to ask him questions, but his brain had opted out and he thought she would drop it in the end if he refused to answer, just like all the others had. She wouldn’t understand, nobody really could.

But then suddenly he was on his feet, running out, running into the streets, the woman calling his name in panic. She followed him until the elevator then wondered if she should take the stairs when the doors closed right in front of her. She decided against it, it was too much of a bother and she had better things to do. She turned away, her shadow following her.

To Sehun, it didn’t matter. He bolted out, ignoring the calls of his name, because he had seen something in that street, something he was craving for, a colour. It was pink, and it was shining.

Still on his hospital bed, he pondered the question, measuring his words while looking at his sister without really seeing her.

“Life? Life was unpredictable, stubborn and unstable.” He let out a small scoff, along with a loving smile. “But it was full of beautiful surprises and laughter and music. And even when blamed, life keeps on loving you, because it’s just in its nature.”

Note: The title is the name of a song by Nell. I just thought it fit really well.

[Link for voting can be found in chapter 1]