vi.

Over the following weeks, Chanyeol went to every single one of Baekhyun’s beginners ballroom classes, no matter the weather or how tired he was that day. There were a couple of reasons for his perfect attendance: naturally getting to see Baekhyun was a big part of it, but somehow he also felt he’d be letting both of them down if he didn’t show up. It didn’t take long for him to discover a third reason — he loved dancing. Some of the people he got paired with were better than others, but he always really enjoyed himself; he even found he could get through most classes without feeling the urge to fall sleep, which was itself a revelation. If he did feel unbearably tired, he would excuse himself from a class a bit early, saying that he wasn't feeling well, or he would go to the bathroom, splash water on his face and hope it was enough to keep him going. His newfound love for ballroom dancing seemed to be reason enough for Chanyeol’s body to push itself through the barriers of exhaustion.

Dr. Kim was right, it seemed; regular exercise really did help.

He began to practise alone in his spare time, sometimes at home, other times going down to the beach to ‘shadow dance’ in the same way he used to watch Baekhyun doing. He would practise whenever he could — in whatever way he could. His feet relived each dance style whenever he sat at his office or in his music room at home; he counted the steps under his breath for each one — Merengue, Quickstep, Foxtrot, and Rumba — and it soon became such a habit that he wasn’t always aware of it. He even sometimes did it while waiting for clients to arrive, and was occasionally embarrassed when one of them walked in on him, catching him twirling around the cramped little office with his arms held up to support his imaginary partner.

His efforts showed, apparently. “You've been practising on your own, haven't you?” Baekhyun said to him during class one evening; he was doing the rounds as he usually did, stopping at each couple to study their movements.

Chanyeol wondered if he'd been spotted in public somewhere, and felt slightly embarrassed. “Why do you ask…?”

“I can just tell. Your posture is much better than it was before.” Chanyeol felt warm hands on the back of his shoulders, moving up over his arms to straighten them a little. “I’m very impressed,” Baekhyun whispered in his ear, “keep it up.”

Chanyeol didn’t know if there was any such thing as a dancing bug, but if there was one, he’d been bitten right in the arse; the secret thrill he got from winning Baekhyun's admiration didn't hurt, either. The benefits of dancing seemed to extend to other areas of his life; lately he’d been more inspired to sit down at home and muck around with the piano or guitar, and was beginning to write some things down — parts of melodies, little musical bits and pieces that he came up with while experimenting. It felt good to be getting back into the swing of things again. He still hadn’t told his friends about his new pastime, and he didn’t really feel the need to. It was nice to have something he did purely for himself, and he wanted to keep it that way. But there must have been something new in the way he held himself, something noticeable; something he was blind to, but everyone else could see clearly.

“There’s definitely something different about you,” Jongdae said while the five of them were out for dinner one night, at the same fried chicken place Chanyeol had gone to with Baekhyun. He looked to Amber for a second opinion. “What do you think it is, Amber? I can’t put my finger on it.”

Amber studied Chanyeol for a moment and shrugged. “He seems… I dunno. Taller…?”

“He seems more lively, to me,” Joohyun said thoughtfully. “Maybe even happier.” She had a mischievous smile on her face all of a sudden. “Yeol, are you dating someone…?”

“No!” Chanyeol blurted out, a little too quickly to be convincing, even though it was true — he wasn't dating anyone. He cleared his throat and said, “I don't know what you're all on about. Nothing’s changed. I'm the same boring old fart I’ve always been.”

His friends all exchanged glances with each other, making no effort to hide the fact. Kibum wiggled his eyebrows at Amber.

“Stop that,” Chanyeol said, looking from one to the other. “Stop communicating with your eyes.” He looked up then to see a head of blazing red hair bobbing through the front door of the restaurant, and froze in his seat. A part of him knew who it was before he even saw Baekhyun’s face. Baekhyun had just seen him too — Chanyeol wasn’t exactly hard to spot, being that tall — and now he was waving. Chanyeol just gawked at him, trying to formulate a plot that would somehow keep these two worlds he inhabited separately from colliding with each other; but Joohyun had already noticed that he was looking at something behind her, and she turned around to see Baekhyun grinning and waving at them from where he stood in front of the take-out counter.

“Hey, do you know that guy over there?” She turned around again, smiling at Chanyeol. “He’s really cute.”

“What, as cute as me? Surely not.” Jongdae turned around too, very quickly. He narrowed his eyes for a moment, then turned around again to get a second look, as though trying to remember something. “Damn, he is cute… are you hitting that, Yeol?”

“No,” Chanyeol replied. I wish.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him before,” Jongdae said. “Is he a friend of yours?“

Chanyeol froze, searching his panic-addled mind for the correct response. “Um… sort of?”

“Well, I’ve definitely met him somewhere… couldn't miss that hair. He must have come into the pharmacy at some point. Let’s tell him to come and join us.” Jongdae started waving Baekhyun over, and Chanyeol tried not to look like he was dying on the inside, even though he was. Baekhyun said something to the girl at the take-out counter, and then started walking towards them. His gait was a little lopsided today, but he didn’t have his cane with him and didn't seem to be in any pain. His footsteps were light, but somehow Chanyeol heard each one inside his own head. It was a deafening, ominous sound, like hammers hitting piano strings, or lightning striking the earth, getting closer and closer. Baekhyun was just about to reach their table when he slipped over and landed on his backside on the restaurant floor, sitting there in the middle of it with a look of surprise on his face. Without thinking, Chanyeol was up and out of his seat so fast he nearly fell on top of him.

“Baek! Are you alright?” He held out a hand to help Baekhyun up. Baekhyun just sat there on the floor, blinking up at him, looking bewildered. Then, at last, he laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” he said, accepting Chanyeol’s hand. “Sorry… I made a bit of an entrance back there, didn’t I?”

“Are you okay?” Joohyun asked. “That was quite a fall.”

“I’m alright, I promise,” Baekhyun said, dusting off the back of his pants. “I’m just a bit of a klutz sometimes.”

“Well, we’re Chanyeol's friends.” Amber gave him her biggest, friendliest smile. “Would you like to sit with us?”

“We’ve over-ordered, as usual,” Kibum added, “so please dig in. Don’t be shy.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun said, with a nervous little laugh, “I don't want to intrude or anything… I actually just ordered some take-out, but then I saw Chanyeol sitting here and I thought I'd better come and say hi.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding at all.” Jongdae grinned at Baekhyun, sticking out a hand for him to shake. “I’m Jongdae, this is my girlfriend Joohyun, and this is Amber and her partner Kibum. And it appears that you already know our good friend Chanyeol.”

“I’m Baekhyun. It’s lovely to meet you all,” Baekhyun said pleasantly. Jongdae's eyes met Chanyeol's, and he wiggled his eyebrows, but Chanyeol didn't humour him. He pulled out the empty chair next to his place at the table. “Here, Baekhyun; have a seat.”

“Well, alright. I won’t be cramping your style, I hope.” Baekhyun smiled and sat down next to Chanyeol. He caught the attention of a passing waiter and asked if he could get his take-out order to eat in instead, and then ordered a beer to go with it.

“No cramping whatsoever,” Jongdae said, still grinning at Baekhyun like he was the second coming or something. “Any friend of Chanyeol’s is a friend of ours.”

“So how long have you two been friends, Baekhyun?” Joohyun asked politely. “Chanyeol's never mentioned you before.”

“Oh. Well, we met at Starship a little while ago… how long has it been, a couple of months now?” Baekhyun said, turning to Chanyeol. The waiter returned with his beer and he nodded his thanks, picking up the glass and taking a sip.

Jongdae feigned an expression of shock. “The legend himself! So you must be the mystery guy Yeol had a bit of a dance with that night… wow. What an honour this is.”

“In the flesh and everything,” Kibum said, with due reverence.

“We never even saw you two at it,” Amber said, winking at Chanyeol. “We thought he was making the whole thing up.”

“Your fault for running off on me.” Chanyeol chewed savagely on his straw, leaving it bent in several places. “Rotten deserters, all of you.”

“He completely out-danced me that night,” Baekhyun said, giving Chanyeol's shoulder a playful nudge. “I was very impressed.”

“Baekhyun’s a ballroom dancer,” Chanyeol explained to the group. “As in, the real deal. He used to compete and everything.”

“Chanyeol out-danced an actual dancer? Pull the other one.” Jongdae chuckled at the thought. “Got a thing for dancers, don’t you..?” Chanyeol kicked him under the table, shooting him a shut-the--up! kind of look, but Jongdae just smirked and looked away.

“Chanyeol’s great. He’s one of my star students, actually.” Baekhyun leaned forward a little, as though about to tell them all a secret. “I like to think it's because he has a little crush on his teacher,” he said in a loud whisper, “although I might be wrong.”

Chanyeol nearly choked on a mouthful of Coke.

“Holy ,” Amber shrieked, clapping her hands in delight. “Yeolo, you’re learning ballroom! Why didn’t you tell us?!”

Jongdae leaned across the table to punch Chanyeol on the shoulder, nearly upsetting several beer glasses in the process. “That's great, man… good for you. I mean I’m surprised, you know, considering.”

Baekhyun lifted his glass of beer to take another sip, and then he dropped it. It hit the edge of the table and smashed on the floor, shards of glass flying everywhere. “Taxi!” Jongdae yelled out, which was followed by a moment of silence around the table.

“Um, oops.” Baekhyun laughed sheepishly. “Sorry.” He turned to Chanyeol and said, “between you and me, we’ll probably end up breaking every glass in this place.”

“Are you okay?” Joohyun asked.

“Oh, I'm fine.” Baekhyun held one of his hands in front of him, stretching out his fingers a couple of times. “I’m just having a bit of trouble feeling my fingers today.”

Jongdae gave him a quizzical look. “Is that normal..?”

“Yeah, it's all good,” Baekhyun said, waving a hand around casually. “I have a bit of the old MS, that’s all. Numb extremities, shaky hands… sometimes I drop . It happens.” He looked a bit shaken, Chanyeol thought. I have a bit of the old MS, that’s all… he talked about it so easily. Might as well have been telling Jongdae that he had a headache, or a zit on his forehead. Chanyeol wondered if he should start referring to his own condition in such a frivolous way. I have a bit of the old narcolepsy, that’s all. Sometimes I fall asleep in weird places and hallucinate about people trying to murder me. It happens.

“Oh, I see.” Jongdae looked thoughtful for a moment. “I didn’t realise.” Then he looked at Chanyeol, and it was a knowing look; Chanyeol could see his brain chewing this over, how he was drawing parallels — Chanyeol making friends with another chronically ill person, oh how cute. Maybe they could go on medication runs together down at the pharmacy, and link arms sweetly while they each tossed back their pills every morning; a match made in Spoonie heaven.

“I know where I’ve seen you before,” Jongdae said, after a moment’s silence. He clicked his fingers. “You picked up an Avonex prescription from me not too long ago, didn’t you? I work at the pharmacy.”

“Ah! I was thinking you looked really familiar too,” Baekhyun said, laughing. “Now I know why.”

“I thought it was you. There aren't too many people with fire-engine-red hair around here,” Jongdae said. “If I recall, I asked if you were alright with self-injecting, and you said to me very casually, ‘yeah, I usuall