reminder: i love you.

Byun Baekhyun was your typical top notch student. He aced his exams, received high marks on his card, and was favored by the professors. His classmates would ask him to tutor them and fights would erupt over who gets to be Byun Baekhyun’s groupmates for a certain project. Amazing it may be, it wasn’t entirely easy for someone to achieve all of that.

Behind those excellent grades and above average percentage in tests were sleepless nights and dangerous intakes of coffee. Thick books stacked on top of one another and his lamp shining through the darkness of his unlit shared room as he solved problem after problem.

The only thing, or person, that made everything tolerable was no other than his boyfriend Park Chanyeol.

“Baek,” said boyfriend called from his bed. They shared a room, which was convenient for the both of them because Baekhyun urged the both of them to study while Chanyeol reminded Baekhyun to not overwork himself,

Like right now.

“Yes?” Baekhyun replied, eyes still glued on his paper as he tried to figure out how to balance this certain equation.

“Come here and lie down with me,” Chanyeol pouted. “I want some cuddle time!”

Baekhyun didn’t reply, making Chanyeol frown, “Babe, it’s already nine in the evening, I think you studying from six in the morning is enough.”

The petite boy sighed and closed the book he was using as reference and placed it on top of the paper he was scribbling on. He reached to turn off his desk lamp and turned around and shuffled towards his boyfriend, plopping down beside him on the bed.

Chanyeol smiled contently as he wound his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and pulled him closer to his chest. He placed his chin on top of Baekhyun’s head, breathing in the scent of the strawberry-scented shampoo that his lover used.

“Why are you studying so hard, love?” Chanyeol asked. “Do you have a big test?”

Baekhyun scooted closer, tangling his short legs with Chanyeol’s long ones. He hid his face in the broad chest and nodded. He felt his boyfriend place a small kiss on his forehead, making him look up from his position.

“I’m just scared,” he admitted. Another con that comes with being an honor student was all the expectations people placed on you and Baekhyun never wanted to disappoint anyone.

“I’m sure you’ll do great, you always do,” Chanyeol comforted, hugging Baekhyun tighter. He knew the weight Baekhyun carried, but sometimes he was so bothered that it drained his lover to live up to other people’s expectations. He was already amazing as he is, too bad some only see him for the numbers that could not even begin to define how remarkable Baekhyun truly is.

“You always say that,” Baekhyun pouted. Chanyeol laughed and leaned down to kiss the pout away.

“Because it’s true,” he replied. “Now sleep, you need to rest. You can waste your time studying again tomorrow anyway.”

“It’s not wast-“

“Shhh, sleep.”

Baekhyun smiled as Chanyeol enveloped him in his warm embrace. He let his head lay on his boyfriend’s chest as the tiredness from all the studying finally caught up to him. He felt a small kiss on his head before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, Baekhyun woke up alone. Chanyeol must have gone to one of his classes, he thought before getting up and walking to his desk. He didn’t have any classes today, and the big test was tomorrow, so he ought to study his off until Chanyeol pulls him to rest.

When he reached his desk, he rubbed his eyes again and again to see if what he was seeing was right. The cork board he kept above his desk was littered with post-its containing short messages to encourage Baekhyun as he studied. He looked down on his desk only to see the solution of the problem he failed to solve yesterday with a detailed explanation on the book he used.

“Park Chanyeol,” he muttered under his breath. “I’m really so lucky to have you.”

Baekhyun sat down on his chair and removed the book on top of the paper, and the yellow post-it that greeted him made him smile.

Reminder: I love you.

And underneath was a similar blue one,

Now, go study, love. I know you can do it.

thirty-three — on a post-it note.