Time went on, gradually. Their misery and loneliness increased steadfast.

Chanyeol stopped waiting for Baekhyun to come home but continued his antics with him simply to keep appearances up. He had to pretend they were fine, as if he didn't know Baekhyun's new secrets or that he was being deceived by his own best friend. He had to smile, every time it hurt, remembering Baekhyun was hiding more things from him.

But that didn't mean he stopped trying. Chanyeol took any opportunity he had to provoke Baekhyun. He used jokes, teasing, and other forms of annoyances, even subtly accusing him of his nightly activities, to exploit Baekhyun and get him to confess to whatever he didn't want Chanyeol to know about. He promised to himself that he would be by Baekhyun's side whether either of them wanted it or not, and Chanyeol wasn't planning on breaking a promise with himself. He didn't need two betrayals.

Unconsciously, Chanyeol sought to spread his heart elsewhere. Without having Baekhyun as a release, he chose to target the rest of the members; D.O and Sehun being the most unfortunate, as they dealt with Chanyeol's teasing side.

Nevertheless, Chanyeol would give love equally as much as possible. On a whim, he would hug any of them, tell them compliments or things he loved and appreciated about them. He would praise them, give them gifts as his 'token of friendship and gratefulness that they were in his life, supporting each other,' as he stated. It had been a long time since he embraced Baekhyun or shared his world.

Because of the frequent affection they were receiving from Chanyeol, EXO began to have shorter and now rarer, Sentimental Sundays. They were more than thankful and eager for Chanyeol's love. On the downside, they had fewer excuses to be together as a group for fun, meaning they saw Baekhyun as rare as the family time they now had.

Baekhyun continued his never-ending schedule of work, all the same, coming home with hidden scathes or kisses in shades of pink and red. There was a time it was a bright, glittering orange; Chanyeol was extremely confused if it was from a man or woman. He dared not ask. He rather not know. It upset Chanyeol to even think about it or consider the possibility. To think, someone would dare lay their hands on Baekhyun...that he himself would even let them, upset him even more.

Baekhyun still came home when everyone was deep asleep. He ate, entered their shared room, checked on Chanyeol, and tucked him in, silently apologizing to him every night before he left to take a nap on the couch. He stopped seeing any of his social media open on Chanyeol's phone. He knew he was winning. He was breaking Chanyeol, but he couldn't bare to watch.

The hole in his heart grew larger, as Chanyeol's arms felt emptier, colder.

EXO watched the two interact. To everyone else, their smiles, their abundant laughter as they fall to the floor, was all the same. But to the rest of the members, they knew there was an unexplained strain in their friendship. Chanyeol's and Baekhyun's once fulfilled souls were now disconnected. The sparkle in the two's eyes and their boundless energy was still ever-present, but they lacked pieces of one another. Chanyeol no longer contained Baekhyun's powers in his dark brown orbs, the light in his eyes were now empty, hollow, with anything he did. Baekhyun became cold as the flames that once danced in his eyes, and the fire in his passion for life had dissipated.

EXO felt stripped of their powers, unable to help, unable to do or say anything to save them. They could only watch the two crumble apart, and fall, as if a bridge couldn't hold on nor hold together anymore. No, even that paled in comparison. EXO knew Baekhyun's and Chanyeol's friendship, the bond they had was like no other, not even like Siamese twins nor a pair of high school sweethearts in their 90's. There was something between the two that made everyone believe soulmates existed.

EXO was left dumbfounded. Their hearts had died as they watched. The energy they brought to fans during concerts was now almost artificial. It transformed to a forced procurement rather than an involuntary effort. What once was as simple as breathing air, was now a constant battle to stay afloat as to not drown.

Tension rose in the household.

EXO was one after all. If there was a problem between any of the members, it was a problem between all of the members.

They did what they could, going according to their plans, but to no avail.

Sehun had finally taken Baekhyun out and deeply apologized for his words to alleviate some of the tension, but it soon rece he set up a meeting between Baekhyun and Chanyeol without their knowledge. The two of them hung out as they normally would, but the tension still stayed.

Suho tried to have one on one meetings with them, as well as ones together. Meetings with all three of them ended with jokes. They didn't take it seriously, calling it a marriage counseling session. Separately, they dismissed the tension and issues as nothing, merely something that would pass. When Suho pushed them further, they barely said a word and said to leave it be.

Kai taught Baekhyun dance routines and new choreography he made him. Xiumin made him his workout buddy to take out Baekhyun's stress. The only successful results were Baekhyun's skills and body changes. Baekhyun took them out to eat as his thanks.

Sehun tried the same approach. In order to reduce stress levels, he hung out with Chanyeol often, playing video games, going to arcades or billiard halls with Chen. Sehun became penniless. Chanyeol only thanked him for the fun before paying him back fully, covering the cost for himself and his maknae.

Chen and D.O would take Chanyeol to bookstores, cafes, and music stores, but they came up with the same results as Sehun shortly. Chanyeol ended up buying them and the rest of the members thank you gifts.

D.O took both of them to the movies, but that failed miserably. Chanyeol laughed hard at Baekhyun getting scared during a scene, hitting him while laughing. Baekhyun hit him back and sulked. Once Chanyeol jumped and screamed, Baekhyun made his revenge. The night ended with a tense, silent car ride home.

As the rest of the members had fallen short of results, Suho simply concluded with asking Baekhyun to slow down and take a break from work. Baekhyun was about to refuse until Suho stated that he and everyone else was worrying about him overworking himself, that tension had grown between them from the copious amounts he was exerting. Baekhyun stayed quiet and obeyed his leader.

Baekhyun became more of a bother at home, not having anything to do. His stress levels had risen, becoming more apparent, making the house more awkward, tense, and irritating.

It had to stop.

Without much to do and having exhausted himself from all the idleness, D.O was forced to take Baekhyun under his wing. Everyone agreed that D.O had been griping and nagging the members for help in the kitchen. Their answer: Pushing both problems in the house together.

Baekhyun had enough playing games alone and began to get antsy. The rest of the members had already left for the morning, except for D.O and Chanyeol. Baekhyun, of course, avoided their shared room where Chanyeol was resting at the moment, sleeping in. Out of his many choices to busy himself, Baekhyun looked towards his new Master. Kyungsoo.

"...Can I help with...anything? ...Anything?" D.O looked at Baekhyun, his eyes begged him for a job, no matter how menial.

D.O looked around the kitchen. He had already chopped all the vegetables and cleaned up the kitchen. He stood, simply stirring a stew. "Um... You can...make a drink? Use the lemons and mint that's about to go bad."

Baekhyun hopped to it excitedly, having a momentary distraction. He skipped to the fridge to pull out all of his necessary ingredients, then grabbed a pitcher from a cabinet. He set to work.

Momentary, indeed.

Baekhyun regretted making a simple mint lemonade, glaring at it. It was too easy of a task that ended shortly, way too shortly. He cursed himself for not knowing complicated recipes. "I'm done..." Baekhyun reported as he placed it in the fridge to cool. He leaned against the counter.

"Thanks." D.O continued to stir, tasting every once in awhile or offering some for Baekhyun to taste.

Baekhyun laid his head on the counter as he stood, staring.

D.O sighed after fifteen minutes had passed of having Baekhyun's pleading gaze on him. Baekhyun stood in such close proximity, D.O bumped into him several times while stirring or getting spices from various cabinets above the stove. Baekhyun opted for moving with D.O as to not get in the way or receive deathly glares. He rested his head on D.O's shoulder, following him with every turn and movement he made like a hungry son bugging his mother when dinner would be finished.
 
Exasperated, D.O fought his urge to slam the ladle against the counter. He took in a long breath. "...If you tried more in the kitchen a long time ago, maybe you would have something more to do or you could have made a drink that takes longer to make. You can't stay here forever," he offered with a subtle scowl.

"Well... I would know more in the kitchen if you stopped trying to kick me out of it. I'm learning right now," Baekhyun drawled.

Already done with Baekhyun's attitude for the day, he went for the blunt option since the subtle one didn't work. "I'm stirring, something you knew how to do as a kid. Go talk to Chanyeol if you're bored."

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and imitated D.O immaturely, word for word with exaggerated gestures of stirring, placing his hand on his hip. He snapped, "Go talk to Chanyeol, aish... He's my roommate. How much closer do you guys want us to be? Even we need space," Baekhyun laughed it off as a joke.

D.O took a deep breath in and out before pulling out the ladle, banging it slowly yet aggressively on the side of the pot to get the sauce off and to keep his sanity. He gripped the ladle firmly and turned towards Baekhyun with a stoic, more threatening than a calm expression than he intended. His patience was wearing thin, but he simply sighed, knowing Baekhyun wasn't himself.

He placed the ladle down nicely, carefully, then wiped his hands on his apron. "What's wrong, Baekhyun?" D.O turned to look at Baekhyun, staring into his eyes for more answers than he was going to get from Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looked down solemnly, dropping his act tiredly. “...nothing..” he muttered while walking away towards his room. 

D.O watched him leave. He swore he heard Baekhyun say, “'I'm nothing to him...'”
 

Baekhyun's jokes had been dry as of late, and his usual antics were toned down, even with Chanyeol his partner in crime. D.O assumed it was because he was just really tired from his schedule, so he shrugged it off. Even comedians have their bad days. He thought nothing more and focused on work.

Chen had even compared one of Baekhyun's joke as funny as Suho's. Even that idea, was funnier than Baekhyun at the moment.

D.O realized it now.

It was a long time since he had seen Baekhyun have a talk with Xiumin in private. Talking to Suho would only make him hide away more, causing more stress.

That was only the start of it all.

D.O felt as idiotic as watching Baekhyun and Chanyeol dance around each other, with all the wrong moves, in all the wrong directions...then blaming each other and getting angrier at each other and themselves.

D.O turned off the stove and headed towards his room. He had calls to make.

Baekhyun gulped as he stood outside the door, holding the doorknob.

What am I supposed to do now? ...I don't have anything to talk about with Chanyeol since I'm stuck here doing nothing... I don't even have anything prepared since everyone's been pushing us together! I don't even understand why! We're still normal...enough. ...Has it been that obvious...? What if they saw...? No, I've been careful. They're just worrying... Chanyeol has been acting strangely after all. I wonder what happened to him...? I-I shouldn't think about it. At least I can rest, but I can't relax when Chanyeol's around. Ugh, there has to be something I can do... I rather... Ugh, no... I really don't want to clean any more than I've been the past few days! No! This is my room too! I don't have to speak to him! But what if he's on my bed, is it natural if I just go to his or...? Why does he even use my bed?! UGH! Just go in! Go in Baekhyun!

"...What are you doing? Lose your key to our ro