“Are we there yet?” Chanyeol asks as he pushes on the button to roll the window down. They are in the middle of a neighborhood in Itaewon, going to the place where he will shoot his newest variety program. His heart beats faster in anticipation as the car makes a turn to the left and stops in front of a house.

“We’re here!”

The house looks big, at least from the outside. It’s definitely needed, with how much people will be inside the house most of the time. Chanyeol sees some of other cars like his (the black van celebrity car) parked near his own, and lots of people busy coming in and out from the entrance of the house. Chanyeol steps out of his car as his manager wheels his suitcases to him, leaving him with them as he goes inside first to tell the PD that they have arrived. Someone who looks like a staff approaches him with a mike in her hand, Chanyeol lets her put it on him.

Ah, Chanyeol hasn’t mentioned anything about his new variety, has he?

Let’s go back to few weeks ago.

It’s usual for his manager to drop by every Saturday morning and discuss what schedule he has for next week. Chanyeol will usually eat whatever his manager brought him, and lets him shuffle through scripts, papers and other things Chanyeol doesn’t know about, once in a while asking Chanyeol’s opinion.

“You have an offer for a new variety show,” his manager flips the paper some more, “it’s kind of interesting.”

Chanyeol averted his attention from the TV to his manager, the spoon on his hand hanging in the air. “What? What kind of variety?”

“It’s called… roommate.”

“Tell me more about it.”

“So you’ll be living in a house with another,” His manager scanned the paper, “another 11 people. And…. that’s basically it. It’s like a boygroup living in a dorm, but of course there will be planned activities and all.”

Chanyeol nodded as he chews his breakfast, the variety show sounds interesting. He’d meet lots of people, making new friends and connection, which he loves. He’d always been a people person, he lives off of interaction with people. To be added, it was starting to feel lonely living alone in his apartment. A change wouldn’t hurt anybody. “Do they give us the names of the other celebrities that will join?”

His manager shook his head, “I think they are still waiting for confirmation. You can find out from the internet later, though. So, how about it? Do you want to join or not?”

“Hmmmm,” Chanyeol thought for a while, there was no harm in trying. And it’d be his variety appearance after a long time focusing only his music. “Yes, I think I’ll take it.”

So here he is, big suitcases full with his stuffs by his side, looking like a lost puppy as he waits for his manager. Fortunately it doesn’t take long as his manager comes out again. With a single suitcase on his hand, Chanyeol walks toward his manager and follows him inside the house.

His first thought, Wow, it looks even bigger inside.

From the entrance, he can see the living room and a peek of a garden right beside it. He doesn’t see any single camera so he assumes that it’s hidden somewhere.

He sees a few pairs of shoes and almost immediately, he can hear loud talking on the second floor. He takes off his shoes and sets it aside, then walks through the house. He finds a kitchen on his left and the dining room next to it, big enough for twelve of them to eat together. The living room also pack with sofas and big LED tv.

“There’s your room,” his manager points out to him and Chanyeol strides towards the direction.

To he honest he didn’t have any expectation at first, but the room looks nice. There’s a twin beds right beside each other with bed side table right between it. He dives right into the bed and can’t be more thankful that his feet are not dangling at the end. When he was a rookie, the bed was too short that he needed to bend a little bit, causing him to wake up with sore body at the morning.

He remembers that the show needs content and there’s no way they will be satisfy with watching Chanyeol rolling around on his bed, so he quickly gets up and randomly opens of the closet right in front of the bed. It’s big enough for his stuff although he mostly will keep half of it on his suitcase.

He notices that the bed beside him is still clean, implying that his roommate is not here yet.

He wonders who’s gonna be his roommate. He heard few rumors here and there, like there will be some actress, even a member of famous girlgroup, but at the end roommate’s PD has confirmed that they’ll go with all boys instead of co-ed for the first season and released the full list of their participants.

Speaking of that, he hasn’t meet the other members who’s already here before him. He decides that he can unpack later, so he quickly steps outside the room and climb the stairs up to the second floor.

---

There are sounds coming from the second floor, and Chanyeol is met with the sight of three other people lounging on the common room sofas. He recognizes them; the first one who sits on the left end clad in all black attire from head to toe is Do Kyungsoo.

“Hello everyone,” the man bows, before pulling himself up again and smiles at the camera. His infamous heart lips stretch wide into a polite smile. “my name is Do Kyungsoo, a singer and actor.”

‘How do you feel when you first heard about the offer to join this show?’ one of the writer asks.

“Definitely surprised. I was actually surprised I was casted because I’m not exactly one of the talkative celebrity out there.” Kyungsoo chuckles, and the screen is filled with heart-eyes emoji (courtesy of the woman PD-nim). “At first I wanted to reject the offer, because I was afraid. The reason why I’m not talkative because I’m shy. But then, I accepted because it is a new challenge for me.”

‘For someone who said he is not talkative, you actually talk a lot though.’

“I guess that means it’s a good sign.”

‘We wish so! So, have you heard about the line-up before? From the news articles? Is there anyone who attracts your attention? Someone you want to get close with?”

Kyungsoo nods excitedly, while recalling the names inside of his head. “I want to be close with everyone, this is the perfect chance to make friends on the industry. I am especially interested with Kai. I’m a fan of EXO.”

‘We hope you have a great time in roommate, Do Kyungsoo-ssi.’

“I’ll make sure I will, thank you very much.”

Kyungsoo seems to recognize him immediately too, which is not surprising. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo are in the same agency, and they did a collaboration project once for the company’s weekly song release before Kyungsoo jumped to the actor road. It’s good to see a familiar face first time in the room, Chanyeol thinks. He hugs Kyungsoo as greetings before turning to the other two in the room.

The one sitting not far from Kyungsoo, all tall and lanky (a 180 degrees change from Kyungsoo) is the actor Kris. He was not a familiar face on Korean TV until months ago, originally a famous actor back in his mainland China. Chanyeol saw the article of his new drama project in Korea, with famous names like Song Joongki and Bae Doona.

“Hello, I’m Kris.” Kris introduces himself with a slightly broken korean, but Chanyeol is impressed at how it’s lacking the usual accent non-native korean has.

This time it’s Kris in the interview room, his pale complexion is a contrast with the all black background. He has his usual expression on, the one that makes him looks like he has walked right from the manga book. At first, he may seem intimidating but seconds later his face breaks into a smile when he introduces himself to the viewers, surely making all the fangirls heart flutter.

‘How do you feel when you first heard about the offer to join this show?’

Kris is silent for a while, thinking. The seconds pass in silence, before he scratches his hair in embarrassment and asks in Chinese, “Can I answer this in Chinese? I have a hard time translating the words inside my head.”

A fit of laughter breaks behind the camera (some junior writers are even squealing from the cuteness of the giant actor), breaking the awkward ice inside the room. The PD quickly answers that yes, Kris is allowed to talk in Chinese. This is his first time after all, he doesn’t have a time to practice what he’s going to talk like in the dramas.

“I was happy, and excited! I always like making new friends. And I always feel lonely whenever I am in Korea, because I don’t really have time to make friends in between the filming. Joongki-gege and Doona-tjietjie are nice, but for now we only shoot the scene together around.. twice? So yeah, I feel lonely.”

There are ‘Kris Wu, hwaiting!’ all over the screens, alongside some hug emoticon.

“This is my chance at making friends in Korea. I like being here, having friends will make being here more exciting.”

‘Have you heard about the line-up before? From the news articles?’

“Yes! I saw that there will be three other chinese celebrity like me? But the designer.. what’s his name once again…? Lu…?”

‘Lu Han’

“Lu Han! I searched him up on the internet, haha.” Kris laughs, “Not with bad intention of course. I’m just curious. He’s the one that is more, if not most, familiar with korea. I’m sure he won’t have any difficulty, because his korean is really good already.”

‘You’ll do good too, Kris-ssi. Have a little faith in yourself.’

“Thank you, I’ll do my best to learn korean more.”

‘Is there anyone who attracts your attention? Someone you want to get close with?’

‘The MC… Junmyeon! I really like to watch his talk-show, and in a way it helps me in practicing my korean. So.. yeah, Junmyeon. He seems interesting.”

“I’m Chanyeol. It’s nice to meet you, Kris-ssi.”

And to the last one in the room, all kind smiles and he has this friendly aura that Chanyeol knows it’s what making him so lovable in korean public’s eyes. This man graces the Naver homepage top-10 search list at least twice a week, be it because of his works or just because mere things like spotted on the street with Mocha bread in his hands (Chanyeol heard Mocha breads were sold out in every bakery across Seoul that day).

“Hello, I’m Minseok.” the actor offers his hand first, which Chanyeol accepts with a soft smile. Chanyeol definitely can’t look away from the muscles on the actor’s arms, already imagining the workout he should do if he wants to have muscles as good as the other’s. “I’m Park Chanyeol, just call me Chanyeol.”

He looks around in the interview room with his feline eyes, excited. His frame small looks even smaller with the way he folds himself to the middle, both palms sandwiched in between his light blue jeans-clad thighs. The PD-nim already can imagine the screenshot of this scene on the Naver homepage during the time the first episode is released.

‘How do you feel when you first heard about the offer to join this show?’

“I was kind of confused, actually.” Minseok smiles shyly, “Because I’m one who is really shy around others.. So I wondered why you guys casted me..”

‘’The Nation’s Search Engine-Angel is a shy person??’

“Haha don’t call me that.” Minseok laughs, “I am a shy person, so that’s why I don’t really have much friends. Through this program I hope it’ll help me to be more brave and also make friends.”

‘Is there anyone you’re really interested in knowing closer?’

Minseok is thinking, his eyes turning into a full round and it’s adorable, really. “Probably Lu Han?”

---

“Good afternoon,” he says while bowing to all the PDs in front of him. Despite only debuting for six month, Baekhyun doesn’t look nervous at all. Instead, his eyes are sparkling with excitement and his smiles is so wide it affects the PDs as well.

‘You seem to be excited, Baekhyun-ssi.”

“To be honest, yes, I am,” he chuckles, “This is my first variety show ever and because I just debuted, I don’t really have time to interact with others singer, not mentioning people from different fields with me. I hope from this show, I can get more friends.”

‘I think you’ll do good, Baekhyun-ssi.’

“I hope so. I just wish they don’t mind me talking too much, I can be too loose sometimes.”

The PDs laugh at that. ‘And have you seen the list? Is there anyone that you want to be close with?’

Baekhyun doesn’t answer it right away as he props his chin with his palm, letting out a long hum. “I think... Chanyeol-ssi? He’s a good singer and he produces so many good songs. I’d look up to him a lot so I hope he doesn’t mind if I cling to him later.”

---

It’s already passes midnight the moment Baekhyun arrives at the Roommate’s house. He’s been busy with preparing his comeback - filming for the music video, photoshoot for the album, memorizing the dance routine, everything - and he’s just finished and able to go home just now.

He signs, somehow wondering if he can make friends like what he wished before. It’s not like everybody will be awake at this time, so he can’t greet any of the members now. He’s not sure if he can do that tomorrow as he will have to go as soon as he wakes up and starts the routine all over again.

“Baekhyun-ssi, you can enter now,” one of the crews tells him and he nods his head before saying ‘thank you’ and gives a bow.

His manager already left so with a single suitcase beside him, he enters the house alone and completely amaze by how big it is. He lives alone in a single room apartment that looks nothing if he compares it with this house. He twirls on his spot, looking here and there while letting out an ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’.

He remembers the staff saying that his bedroom is at the second floor, but not saying anything about his roommates, which means he has to find out by himself. But before that—

He wonders if it’s okay to go to the kitchen first.

The last time he ate was at lunch time, and it’s only a small portion of bento. As he rubs his stomach and feels it growls, he decides that it’s okay to eat first before going to bed.

He pulls his suitcase further inside the house and when he notices a long dining table on his left, he immediately turns to direction and finds a kitchen as he expected.

But he also finds someone else, standing in front of the fridge and drinks a cardbox milk.

It’s Park Chanyeol.

His breath hitches and Chanyeol must have heard him as he turns his head to him in surprise. “Oh, hello,” he says, bowing to him before throwing the (Baekhyun assumes) empty cardbox milk to the trash beside it.

“H-hello.” He bows back immediately and his hand starts to sweat.

He didn’t expect that the first member he’s gonna meet is Park Chanyeol, the one he mentioned on his interview and the one he looks up the most at the moment. Chanyeol’s been in the industry for a while and even before Baekhyun became a trainee on his company, his day has been filled with Chanyeol’s songs and his passion with music grows as he listened to it.

He knows he should have said something but honestly, he doesn’t know what to say because he’s actually tempted to ask the staff for a paper and pen, then asks Chanyeol for a sign first.

But at the end, he settles with introducing himself. “I’m Byun Baekhyun, nice to meet you, sunbaenim.”

“You don’t have to call me sunbae, just call me Chanyeol,” the other man says. “I’ve heard a lot about you lately.”

I hope it’s only good things, he quietly thinks but then Chanyeol laughs and adds, “Yeah, it’s only good things, don’t worry.” He can feel himself blushing because he accidentally said it out loud and now he’s making a fool of himself.

“Are you busy at the moment?” Chanyeol asks, pointing at the suitcase. “You came pretty late.”

Baekhyun nods. “I’m preparing for a comeback right now, so I’m pretty sad that I just arrived and missed the opportunity to greet the others.”

“It’s fine, you can greet them tomorrow. Are you going to your room now?”

“Um, actually—” And that moment, his stomach thinks it’s the perfect time to growl loudly.

Both of them freeze and not saying anything for a moment. Baekhyun is ready to dig a hole and buries himself alive because God, it’s so embarrassing and there will be a chance that the crew won’t cut it from the show. He already imagining how their viewers will watch the scene and laugh their off.

Chanyeol simply breaks the silence with a laugh. “Are you hungry?”

He scratches the back of his neck absentmindedly and answers, “Yeah, actually I’m hungry so I think I want to eat something first before going to bed.”

“You’re gonna cook?”

“If making ramen is cooking then yes—”

“No!” Chanyeol cuts. “Eating ramen will make your face bloats in the morning. You have an image to keep.”

Oh right, Baekhyun doesn’t think that far. If he can’t make ramen tonight then it’s safe to say that he will have to go to bed with an empty stomach because he can’t cook anything beside that.

“I can’t cook so I guess I’ll just go to my room,” he says, which earns a gasp from Chanyeol.

“You can’t, you’ll get sick if you don’t eat! Okay, how about I cook for you?”

Baekhyun blinks. He doesn’t know that it’s one of the options he has for now.

“Oh, please don’t, it’s late and it’s such a hassle—”

Chanyeol waves his hand dismissively, clearly not accepting ‘no’ from Baekhyun. “It’s fine. I can make a fried rice and it will done real quick, is it okay?”

Baekhyun is ready to fight over this but then Chanyeol has to look him right in the eyes and flashes him a genuine smile and now, how Baekhyun supposed to fight that?

At the end, he gives in and says, “Okay, but I owe you.”

“It’s fine! You don’t have to worry about that!”

Chanyeol gestures Baekhyun to take a seat while he opens the fridge and starts taking some ingredients that Baekhyun can’t identify from his seat. He chooses to leave it in Chanyeol’s hand because he’s not gonna offer to cook if he can’t do it well.

Instead he ponders why today just go from zero to one hundred so fast, like now the one he looks up a lot in the music industry is making a fried rice for him. Life can be so unexpected sometimes.

It doesn’t even take half an hour for Chanyeol to finish and with a big smile on his face, he brings the plate and serves it in front of Baekhyun. The visual of the red fried rice with a sunny side up egg on top of it successfully makes Baekhyun drools.

“You can eat now, y’know.” Chanyeol, who have taken a seat in front of him, reminds him.

“O-oh, yeah.” Baekhyun grabs the clean spoon and takes a quiet amount of it. He glances at Chanyeol for a second before he put it inside his mouth and God, it’s so good. It reminds Baekhyun with his Mom’s home cooked food, and it’s been a while since he tasted one.

He continues eating until he finds something’s strange with the fried rice. It has small pieces of some vegetables that Baekhyun can’t recognizes—oh, forget it, now he knows what it is.

It’s cucumber.

He can feel himself stop chewing for a moment.

It’s not written in his profile and Baekhyun never says it in interview or tv shows either, but he hates cucumber. He can’t stand the smell so let alone eating one, he can’t even stay near one.

“Is there something wrong?”

Baekhyun looks up and sees Chanyeol looking at him in worry. He feels bad because Chanyeol has been so generous with cooking a free meal for him and he can’t just say that he doesn’t like the cucumber that happened to the part of the fried rice.

“Baekhyun-ssi?”

But he decides to say the truth.

“To be honest… I can’t eat cucumber.”

The color from Chanyeol’s face draines almost immediately. “Oh God, I’m so sorry, are you okay? Are you allergic to it?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “No! It just, I can’t stand the smell, but honestly I don’t know how you did it but I can’t taste it at all here and it doesn’t smell either, and it’s probably because Chanyeol-ssi have cooked it skilfully. Look! I’m almost done and I just realized there’s cucumber on it just now.”

“I-I’m glad then, but you can stop eating if you want. It’s fine.”

“It’s fine, I’m almost done anyway.”

When Baekhyun goes back to eat, he sees Chanyeol getting a clean chopstick and scoots closer. “Let me pick the remaining cucumber, you don’t have to eat the rest of it.”

Baekhyun wonders why Chanyeol is so nice to him when they just met today, and he finds it endearing for Chanyeol to pick the cucumber when Baekhyun can do it by himself.

“Thank you,” Baekhyun mutters, which Chanyeol answers with ‘no problem’ and a smile.

---

‘So, what do you think of Chanyeol after you met him?’

“I think Chanyeol-ssi is an extremely good person. We were practically strangers when we met that night, but he genuinely offered to cook for me and he didn’t stop apologize about the cucumber even when I’m ready to go to my room.”

There’s laughs heard from here and there. ‘Do you really can’t eat cucumber, Baekhyun-ssi?’

“I can’t! Even my mother have tried hiding it inside the food but I always knew there’s one on it, so I’d never eat cucumber for a long time.”

‘Maybe Chanyeol-ssi cured your hate to cucumber.’

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says in hearbeat along with a laughter. “That must be the case.”

---

Chanyeol can’t stop feeling so ashamed by last night’s incident. He didn’t know why from all the fried rice he can make, he chose to do the one with cucumber on it for Baekhyun. Baekhyun is such a nice guy as he accepted Chanyeol’s apology, saying he didn’t do anything wrong.

He’s still in the middle of regretting his decision in the middle of showering when someone knocks the bathroom’s door.

“Hyung, let’s have breakfast together.” He recognizes it as Sehun’s voice.

“Okay, I’ll be done in a minute!”

He turns off the shower and quickly changing into a casual clothes before stepping outside the room. He’s a little bit surprised when he saw some of their members are circling the dining table, seems to be looking at something. Once he finds Sehun, he stands beside him and that’s when he sees a bunch of freshly baked pastries and bread. He asks in awed, “What is this?”

“This is from Baekhyun. Apparently he needed to go as soon as he woke up and he felt sad that he couldn’t meet us, so he bought us this,” Sehun answers. “And I think he left roasted coffee bag for you.”

Chanyeol blinks. “Oh really?”

Sehun nods. “I think it’s on the kitchen countertop.”

Chanyeol immediately goes to the said place and sees a brand new coffee bag with a yellow note on. ‘To: Chanyeol-ssi. This is for making me fried rice last night. I hope you like coffee!! (but if you don’t please tell me later and I’ll buy another thing for you) From: Baekhyun’ written neatly on it.

Chanyeol can’t stop smiling that he doesn’t even realize someone is creeping behind him.

“What’s that?”

“Oh my God!” He turns around and finds Kris who looks at him in horror. “Hyung, don’t do that!”

Kris only laughs before he’s repeating his question again. “What’s that?”

“This is from Byun Baekhyun, do you know him?” Kris shakes his head. “He’s just debuted few months ago but he’s a good guy. He came home late last night and I cooked for him.”

Kris’ face immediately lights up. “Chanyeol, you can cook?”

The new fact just spreads out wildly, and the others who’s currently munching their breads are starting to beg at him to cook for them, even Kyungsoo does the same.

No one realizes that Chanyeol keeps the coffee bag for himself, and even if they do, they don’t say anything about it.

---

Baekhyun comes home when Chanyeol and the rest of the casts who don’t have any schedule for the night are playing Mario Kart in the living room.

“Baekhyun! You came home faster than yesterday!” Chanyeol exclaims, and the other pauses the game immediately to greet him.

Baekhyun greets them back and he takes a seat beside Chanyeol, although there’s only a small space left which makes them have to sit really close to each other, but Chanyeol doesn’t mind it.

“Have you eaten?”

Baekhyun nods. “Yeah, I ate first before going here. Where’s the others? There’s only eight of us here.”

“Jongin and Sehun have photoshoot today,” Luhan answers instead, before he accidentally curses when Minseok takes the first place from him. He covers his mouth immediately and at the same time Minseok says, “Language, young man!”

“Kyungsoo is filming for a variety show,” Junmyeon adds.

“I think Jongdae hyung is... what is it called?” Tao starts to randomly moving his hand and turns to Yixing, asking for a help although the other doesn’t understand what he’s trying to say. “Ah! Recording! For his new album maybe?”

Baekhyun forms an ‘o’ shape mouth and Chanyeol can’t help thinking he’s cute, then the next second he thinks, Wait? Cute? Baekhyun?

He clears his throat, as if it’ll help clearing his mind as well. “So, Baekhyun, I just knew we’re the same age.”

Baekhyun laughs. “We are, but you’re a big senior to me.”

“No, in this house there’s no seniority! Let’s talk comfortably with each other!”

“I can do that?”

“Of course!” Chanyeol then asks for the next turn for the Mario Kart to be him and Baekhyun. “You can play them, right?”

Baehyun only smiles knowingly. “I can play it just fine.”

---

“So, tell me honestly,” Chanyeol scoots closer to Baekhyun, “Are you Mario Kart God?”

Baekhyun laughs. “I’m not!”

“But you beat all of us today! Not even Luhan hyung, the God of Cheating, can beat you!” There’s a faint sound of Luhan protesting at the back, which makes Baekhyun laughing even more.

“I used to play it a lot with my friends and brother, nothing special.”

Chanyeol only gives him a look.

They continue playing until late at night and it ends with complete victory from the one and only, Byun Baekhyun. Luhan is the most bitter with his defeat, and he says he won’t endorse Baekhyun as the model for his clothing line, which is only a joke as Chanyeol sees them exchanging phone number.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” He asks Baekhyun as the others are on their way back to their room.

Baekhyun shakes his head, slightly pouting. “I drank coffee before I came home so I don’t think I’ll sleep soon.”

“Want to come to my room?”

The question just slipped out of Chanyeol’s mouth and he can see Baekhyun gapes at him in surprised. Even Chanyeol himself knows that the invitation sounds so wrong and suggestive that he feels a warm slowly creeping to his cheeks. “I think Kyungsoo and Jongdae will come home late so you can hang out in my room first rather than being alone in your room?” He adds.

“Ah.” Baekhyun nods. “Sure.”

Chanyeol feels himself smiling almost immediately before he leads Baekhyun to his room. He opens the door and lets the smaller guy walks inside first.

“Welcome to my room.” Chanyeol declares. “And Sehun, actually.”

Baekhyun laughs, before cooing on the Rilakkuma on Chanyeol’s bed. “Is that yours?”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol plops down on the bed, and gives the dool to Baekhyun. “Say hi to him~”

Baekhyun plops on Sehun’s bed and takes the doll. He pokes on it several times and Chanyeol can’t help to think that the sight looks endearing to him.

“How did you get to be an idol?” Chanyeol asks, starting a conversation.

Baekhyun snickers. “You won’t believe what happened.”

And they continue talking from there. Baekhyun tells him about how hard the trainee life was, how he missed his family back in Bucheon, that he recently got a corgi named Mongryong and he’s sad that he can’t bring him to Seoul because he doesn’t have heart to leave him all alone if he has schedule, and so on. In return, Chanyeol tells him how he endures being part of the industry for so long, how his mother owns a café and Baekhyun should come if he wants, that he has a puppy named Toben and will surely get along well with Mongryong if they meet one day, and so on.

They are so lost in their conversation and it’s really weird, Chanyeol thinks quietly. He just met Baekhyun yesterday and he feels comfortable around him already. There’s just something about Baekhyun that draws him in instantly.

Chanyeol notices that Baekhyun has been quiet for a while and sees him curling on Sehun’s bed while hugging Chanyeol’s rilakkuma, sleeping peacefully. He doesn’t have heart to wake him up but Sehun will come home soon, and his roommate won’t have place to sleep.

He quickly sends a text to Sehun asking if he can sleep in Kyungsoo’s room for tonight and the younger asks why. Chanyeol simply snaps a photo of sleeping Baekhyun and sends it.

From : Oh Sehun
is that baekhyun??
he sleep on ma bed?
he look so smol
ok just let him sleep

Chanyeol chuckles. He sends ‘thanks’ and put his phone on the bed side table before getting up and put the blanket over Baekhyun. He stirs for a bit and Chanyeol thought he’s gonna wake up, but then he settles into a more comfortable position and continue sleeping.

“Good night, Baekhyun.”

---

Being a model since he was a child, Sehun have perfected the art of mantaining the facial expression. He knows when to smile, laugh, or do a poker face.

When he walks out from his room to get a water from the kitchen and sees Baekhyun clinging like a koala to Chanyeol’s back, he knows that he should maintain his poker face and acts as if it’s a normal thing to do under this roof.

“He fell asleep again?”

Baekhyun can fall asleep anywhere anytime lately, as if he got infected by Jongin’s habit, and Sehun thinks it has something to do with how busy the older is.

Chanyeol only smiles sheepishly. “Yeah. I’m gonna bring him to his room.”

Sehun nods at him, although Chanyeol doesn’t need his permission at all. He watches the way Chanyeol gently walks and keeps looking behind his back to make sure Baekhyun doesn’t wake up, and after his roommate disappears from his sight, he suddenly remembers why he’s out of the room at the first place. He goes to the kitchen and takes one of the mineral bottle from the fridge, then goes back to his room.

Once he’s laying on his bed and snuggle closer to his pillow, he’s sure that none of the camera will be able to record his expression, so he lets himself finally chuckling at the thought of how his two friends act around each other and hopefully they will soon realize their feelings for each other. (Because it’s so obvious and if they’re not gonna open their mouths, Sehun will.)

---

The moment Baekhyun’s comeback is counting days away, he becomes so much busier than before that Chanyeol rarely sees him again in the house. Somehow, they always missed each other—when Chanyeol is home, Baekhyun is not and vice versa.

Chanyeol can’t deny that his misses Baekhyun, although he does deny that no, there’s not romantic connotation on it. He just misses his friends, so it’s completely normal when Baekhyun comes home late at night and Chanyeol hasn’t fall asleep yet.

“Long time no see,” he says cheekily.

Baekhyun only laughs in return. “Yeah, long time no see indeed.”

When they goes inside Chanyeol’s room, Sehun looks at them back and forth before gets up from his bed. Before he goes out of the room, Chanyeol asks him, “Where are you going?”

“Luhan’s room. He says he needs some suggestions for his newest clothing line,” Sehun answers before he closes the door, leaving Chanyeol and Baekhyun alone.

Chanyeol has this feeling lately that Sehun thinks there’s something going on with Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Actually, he’d never ask about it but there’s a glint on his eyes that Chanyeol never misses, and because he never brings it up, Chanyeol can’t give any denial either. He decides to set the matter aside and goes to his bed and Baekhyun, as always, goes to Sehun’s bed.

“How’s thing going?”

Baekhyun sighs heavily. “I think it’s going good, but I’m exhausted. The pressure is crazy too with me having a showcase later,” he adds. “It will be my first showcase.”

“Are you nervous?”

“A little bit?” he chuckles. “I’m not sure. I’m happy that I can come this far but I don’t know if anyone will be interested with this comeback.”

“Hey, you should be more confident! You are one of the singers that people look forward nowadays because they like you and your music,” Chanyeol tells him. “Give yourself some credit.”

Baekhyun smiles. “I guess I should do that. Thank you, Chanyeol-ah.”

Chanyeol grins. “You’re welcome. Oh, when the showcase will be?”

“It’s two weeks away, why?”

“Nothing,” Chanyeol swiftly changes the topic to where the showcase will be hold, and it’s successfully distract Baekhyun from the previous question.

---

It’s another shooting day and everyone is gathered at the main living room at the first floor. Some are sitting on the sofa and some are choosing to be at the plush carpet decorating the living room floor. Baekhyun, finally getting a break from preparing the comeback and the company lets him go back to Roommate’s house again for the day, is being on the sofa, squished by Kyungsoo and Jongdae. They start as roommates and Baekhyun really can’t choose any better roommates other than them, them being at the same age is definitely a help. And Baekhyun finds a new favorite to do with Jongdae, which is…

Disturbing Kyungsoo.

His little doe-eyed friend looks so serious sometimes it’s funny to pop that expression. It’s their second week living together but Baekhyun and Jongdae already has a list full of prank they’ll try on Kyungsoo and other house members in the future. The house starts to feel like a home already, Baekhyun likes being here more than in the confinement of his own barren apartment.

“Guys!” Junmyeon suddenly shouts, his MC voice catching everyone’s interest in a flash. “Because we’re all gathering here today, how about a barbeque party for dinner at the backyard today?”

A series of ‘yays’ and ‘YES!!!’ coming from every corner of the room, Junmyeon smiles knowing that his idea is accepted by the others. Kyungsoo immediately missing from Baekhyun’s side to go to Yixing. The duo is always called the quiet duo, being the calmest out of the rowdy bunch that is beagle line (consists of Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Jongdae) and the others. But the two doesn’t find similarity only at that aspect, but also in their ability to work up a meal from scratch.

In this house, the kitchen is their palace that nobody dares to disturb. (Except Sehun, but then he is FOREVER BANNED from the kitchen because almost setting off a fire the other day just from boiling water. How, you ask? Nobody knows. He just did.)

While Kyungsoo and Yixing are now discussing about ingredients to buy, Jongin clinging on Kyungsoo to persuade the older to include chicken on their list. Minseok is proposing a round in a VR game that he brought from his own house, the invitation is welcomed by Luhan and Sehun. Junmyeon & Kris joined not long after that and they’re playing some kind of…. dinosaur something game? Minseok looks so serious in his VR get-up, which is a bit ridiculous to Baekhyun’s taste, but he looks so funny at the same time so Baekhyun is enjoying the view.

“You’re not joining them?” Chanyeol suddenly appears, startling Baekhyun who is now holding his laugh looking at Minseok turning around in place as he ‘shoots’ at imaginary dinosaur around him.

Baekhyun tries to control his breath before answering Chanyeol, leaning back at the sofa. “I’m a bit tired, and I have a good laugh from just watching Minseok hyung.”

“He really doesn’t act his age, does he?”

“He sometimes even looks younger than all of us,” Baekhyun groans, “How did he do that, man.”

Chanyeol laughs, then winks at him. “Hey, you’re not looking bad yourself! Don’t put down yourself like that.”

There’s a creeping heat threatening to get into Baekhyun’s cheeks, it’s been a while since someone is flirting at him. Wait, Chanyeol is flirting, right? Baekhyun is not imagining or over-thinking it right? His mind is going miles per hour searching for an answer that will hide how flustered he is when Kyungsoo’s voice suddenly roars.

“Someone wants to buy the grocery?”

“Me! Me!” Baekhyun immediately raises his hands up, garnering questioning looks from around him from how excited he is. Kyungsoo nods at him, “Okay, Baekhyun you’re going. Seeing how excited you are about it.” Kyungsoo chuckles, “Anyone else?”

“I’ll drive,” comes Chanyeol’s voice from behind him, and it’s so close Baekhyun can feels his breath on the slope of his nape. Wait! Why he is acting like a high school teenager around Chanyeol?

“I’ll go too!” comes Luhan’s voice, followed by Jongdae “Me too!”

Junmyeon claps his hands once, “Okay then, it’s all set! Four of them will go to the market and the others can help each other setting out the table on the backyard.”

---

“You have your driver license?” Baekhyun asks as they get into the car. Baekhyun is on the passenger seat, Chanyeol at the drivers and Luhan and Minseok at the back. “I have, getting it not long ago.” Chanyeol answers, before looking at something behind Baekhyun and suddenly leans forward making Baekhyun freezes at his place. “What?”

“Seatbelt.” Chanyeol answers, one of his hand reaching out for the seatbelt, pulling it over Baekhyun’s chest and click it safe in place.

“I can put it on myself!” Baekhyun huffs, pouting. Chanyeol only chuckles before ruffling Baekhyun’s hair, “But I don’t mind putting it on you, honey.”

“Eum, hello guys? Are we going now or you’ll still going to continue being lovey dovey to each other?” Jongdae’s voice comes from behind them, and Baekhyun’s face burns in red because of embarassment. He notices that teasing tone in Jongdae’s voice, and when he’s using that tone, you know you’re screwed.

“Okay, okay, we’ll go now.” Chanyeol laughs as he reverses the car with one hand and Baekhyun holds the urge to drool at the cool sight of it.

“Good, because for a while I thought we were filming for We Got Married from how much you guys are flirting with each other.”

“It’s not flirting!” Baekhyun quickly retorts, eyes meeting with Jongdae from the rearview mirror. Jongdae doesn’t say anything, only raising his brow that’s screaming, oooh really.

Baekhyun decides that he will not win if it comes to arguing with Jongdae.

---

‘Who do you think is the closest pair of group in the house right now?’

It doesn’t take more than a second for Jongdae to scream “Chanyeol and Baekhyun!” as the answer to that question before he erupts into laugh. “It’s really cute to see them, really.”

‘Why Chanyeol and Baekhyun?’

“I think it has something to do with the first day of filming? Baekhyun came in late at that time, right? And Chanyeol was the one who welcomed him because he was the only awake at that time. I think it created a bond between them.”

‘Did they bicker a lot?’

“YOU DON’T SAY. When they’re not flirting with each other, they’re bickering. It’s either one of those two.”

---

They split into two teams at the entrance of the grocery store, Jongdae immediately dragging Luhan as his pair to buy drinks and snacks, leaving Baekhyun with Chanyeol to buy meat and vegetables. “Goodbye, lovebirds!” Jongdae bids goodbye before pushing the trolley to the drink section, “Come on Luhan! Let’s buy beers that can make the other -faced drunk.”

Baekhyun sighs at Jongdae’s antics as he grabs for another trolley, falling in step beside Chanyeol who is some steps ahead. “Why are you sighing?”

“It’s nothing,” Baekhyun answers to avoid the topic, pulling out a note from inside his jeans pocket. “Let’s go buy meat, shall we?”

Volunteering to go to buy the grocery turns out to be a biggest mistake for Baekhyun. He is forgetting how he can’t really do the selecting part for fruits and vegetables. Now he is standing on the mountain of carrots, wondering which one he should pick.

“Chanyeol-ah,” he calls.

“Hm?”

“Do you know how to choose which lettuce is good and which one is bad?”

Chanyeol is silent for a few moment. “Do they perhaps have that information on google? I’m not quite sure myself.”

“We’re hopeless, aren’t we?”

Google doesn’t have the answer in how to select good lettuce from the bad ones, nor does WikiHow, so Baekhyun decides to go with his feeling. He hopes Kyungsoo will accept it no matter how it is. Thankfully, they finish the grocery shopping in one hour without much trouble. They meet up Jongdae and Luhan at the cashier, and nearly giving the producer a heart attack from the total amount he has to pay for their groceries.

“We have lots of people! Of course we need this much food, right?” Jongdae points out as he looks at the four trolleys filled to the brim with their groceries.

“But…” Luhan suddenly speaks, “do we really need that much of gochujang? Up to two boxes?”

“Shhhh,” Jongdae sassily answers at Luhan, “we’ll use it all. I’m sure. Don’t you worry little darling.”

---

They arrive at home not so long after, Kris and the maknae duos are helping them to get the groceries from the car to the kitchen and some straight to the backyard. Junmyeon only shakes his head at the amount of beer boxes being brought into the house, “Guys, are we planning to open a bar or what?”

There’s a table laid out in the back with plates, glasses and other cutleries already set in 12 positions with three grills in the middle of the table. Baekhyun’s heart cheers excitedly as he sees people coming in and out of the house to bring foods from inside, it reminds him so much of his family home back in Bucheon. Every Sunday all of his family will gather at his grandma’s house to have a brunch or lunch together, they’ll be sitting down at a big, long table and spending the time with good foods and drinks.

Exactly like this. Baekhyun can’t thank the Heavens enough to have included him in this program.

Everyone is finally taking their seat once the last portion of food is being placed on the table, the red meat marinated in Kyungsoo & Yixing’s secret sauce is triggering everyone’s appetite. There’s warmth coming from his side, Baekhyun looks at his side and finds out it’s Chanyeol.

“Everyone! Let’s dig in!”

The sound of sizzling meat and clinking of glasses are being accompanied by the sound of laughters and excited shouts. Jongin is stubborn wanting to grill some meat for Kyungsoo so the other will eat more but Kyungsoo keeps refusing and proceeds to ignore the younger to talk to Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Kris and Junmyeon are busy grilling meat for each others, and not forgetting about Zitao and Sehun that are sitting next to each of them. Jongdae is suggesting to do beer pong but quickly shutted down by Minseok who reminds him that they’re being filmed now and them in their drunken state won’t be a nice image for the camera. Yixing and Luhan are speaking about something in Chinese, it’s just heartwarming to hear beautiful words coming out from their mouth even if Baekhyun doesn’t understand anything.

“You’re not eating much, I see.” Chanyeol’s voice halts Baekhyun’s train of thoughts. Baekhyun sees Chanyeol’s pouting.

“I’m, it’s just I get distracted.”

Chanyeol hums, before tilting his head and rests his head at one of his arm propped at the table. He sips on his can of beer, “Distracted by what?”

“It’s… I’m just happy.” Baekhyun lets out a smile, “It already feels like a family to me.”

“What? This whole group, you mean?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun slightly nods, chewing the newly grilled meat he has on his chopsticks since before he got distracted before. The juice seeps out from the meat as he chews, and he considers asking Kyungsoo to invest on a grilled meat restaurant. They taste really good!

“I agree,” Chanyeol confirms, affection clear on his voice. “It’s a bit of a wonder to be close to each other like this when we’re still quite new in knowing each other. It’s comfortable.”

They fall in a mutual silence, both only looking at the others around them with a fond smile painting their faces.

“Anyway,” Chanyeol is the one to break their silence, grabbing for the remaining plate still filled with lots of meat on top. “I’m grilling both of us some meat.”

“Chanyeol, I’m full—”

“Nu-uh, you’re going to eat it with me.” Chanyeol winks.

And Baekhyun can really say no to that.

---

‘I have an idea to propose,’ He says to the PDs in his interview room. ‘I heard that Roommate will film Baekhyun’s showcase later, and I know that Baekhyun works really hard for this comeback so if I can, I want to make a surprise for him by going to the showcase and supporting him as fellow Roommate’s casts and a friend.’

‘Oh, you don’t have any schedule that day?’

Chanyeol shakes his head. ‘Fortunately, I don’t. I have talked to my manager and he lets me do it.’

The crews start to talking in a low voices, discussing the possibility as Chanyeol looking at them with expectant eyes.

‘Chanyeol-ssi.’

‘Yes?’

‘We think it’s a really good idea, so let’s do it.’

---

Chanyeol drives his car by himself and meets the Roommate’s crews at the park near the building where they hold the showcase. He makes sure to hide his car well so no one will see it and spoil the surprise.

He approaches the crew with a scroll on his hand and they ask what it is. He simply straighten it and their smile is very evident on their face.

“You’re so thoughtful, Chanyeol-ssi,” one of the young writer PD says.

“I think Baekhyun-ssi will like it a lot,” another chimes in.

Chanyeol feels proud of himself hearing it, especially all the struggles he had when making it. It’s all worth it.

One of the crew helps Chanyeol wearing his mic and covers him with a hat, then they start entering the building. Many people have gathered inside and Chanyeol thinks it’s safe to stay at the back so no one will be bothered with his height because there’s only standing section for the audience.

He clutches at the scroll and hopes the crews were right, that Baekhyun will like it.

When the light dimes in, as if in cue, the fans start screaming on top of their lungs and excitedly yelling Baekhyun’s name. The lights on the stage start changing colors quickly before some guys entering the stage, and Chanyeol recognizes Baekhyun right away. He wears a white shirt and light washed denim jacket with flower patches on it, and the sight of Baekhyun’s legs in skinny jeans just do something weird with Chanyeol’s heart. He pushes the thought far, far away from his mind.

“Welcome, aeris!” Baekhyun shouts out, which get loud pitched screams from everyone. “I hope you will enjoy the showcase tonight, so this is the first song.”

A beat start rolling in and Baekhyun stands on his position, in the middle of his dancer crews. Once Baekhyun sings the first line, Chanyeol immediately gets hook by the song. According to the usual set of showcase, he believes it’s the intro song but somehow it fits Baekhyun’s cheerful personality perfectly and Chanyeol has no problem if this song is the comeback’s song.

Baekhyun performs two songs in rows, including the main comeback song that funky beat and the dance is more on heavy side compared to the first song, although he remembers clearly Baekhyun once mentioned that he only started learning dance after he entered the company, but his moves are precise and still manages to stand out even though he’s dancing together with bunch of professional dancers.

Once he finishes and start talking on his ment, Chanyeol can’t help to smile fondly at his friend who stands happily on the stage. He remembers the scroll on his hand and looks at the cameramen with hidden camera who stands beside him all along, giving him his cue.

He takes a deep breath and yells, “Byun Baekhyun!”

It’s completely take all the attentions from the fans and of course, from Baekhyun himself. Chanyeol opens the scroll quickly and lifts it high enough for everyone to see. On white paper, ‘Byun Baekhyun fighting!’ written on it with a black sharpie and it has Baekhyun’s faces all over it. Chanyeol works all night to find all Baekhyun’s photos and made sure to use all different expression on it and printed it big enough so even Baekhyun can see it from a far. Some of them start cooing at it, and Baekhyun gapes from the stage.

“Chanyeol, is that you?” he asks through the mic, and the fans starts squealing at it. “Oh God, I look so ugly at the photo from the right.”

Chanyeol can’t help laughing at that.

---

The first thing Baekhyun says when Chanyeol meets him at the backstage is, “Why you didn’t say anything?!”

Chanyeol grins. “It’s a surprise!”

The smaller guy pouts adorably at that, before he smiles widely. “But thank you, after seeing you, I felt less nervous than before.”

“That’s good.” Chanyeol pulls Baekhyun for a hug and the other fits just right inside his arms. “You did great, buddy.”

He heard Baekhyun’s laugh clearly on his ears. “Thank you so much, Chanyeol-ah.”

They pull away and he sees Baekhyun’s eyes full of sparks while looking at him and Chanyeol feels like he gets an answer for all the questions he had inside his mind before.

---

Kyungsoo is more of the type who stays silent and just watching from the sidelines. He is an observant by nature. He takes in the details of people’s behaviour, analyzing it inside his head and likes to observe whether his speculations are true or not. He is good at reading the situation, like having the sixth sense to know how the aura change around people or in between people.

So, it comes naturally for him to notice that there might be something more between Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

It’s one of those nights again. When Baekhyun slips out of the room right after he thinks Kyungsoo and Jongdae fall asleep (Kyungsoo doesn’t). He can hear voices from outside when the door is slightly open for Baekhyun to pass through.

“They are sleep?”

“Yes, where are we going tonight?”

“I brought my car. Let’s go bowling?”

It’s Chanyeol’s voice. And it really doesn’t surprise Kyungsoo. Instead, he smiles to himself as he turns at his place and snuggle deeper into his warmth comforter. He silently prays inside his heart for Chanyeol & Baekhyun to not be caught by the producer, leaving the house in the middle of the night.

He doesn’t know how long he falls asleep before being waken up by the sound of the door opening. Kyungsoo glances at the the table clock next to him, it’s 15 minutes past 2. Baekhyun walks past Jongdae and Kyungsoo’s beds to his own, plopping his body to the soft mattress with a soft sigh.

Kyungsoo sees the smile Baekhyun has on his face before closing his eyes and pulling the cover over him. Under the minimal light coming from the moon right outside their window, Kyungsoo notices a slight tint decorating the contour of Baekhyun’s cheeks.

He can’t help but smile too, he knew it.

He hopes for the best for the two.

---

Time flies so fast and everyone doesn’t realize that it’s been three months since the start of Roommate. Everything goes so perfectly well, without major things happen in the most unexpected time. But one should know, that there is always the calm before the storm…

A body wrapped inside the fluffy blankets rolls around on his bed for the umpteenth time, his face now facing the ceiling. Baekhyun sighs, his body is tired and aching all over from the schedule and practice he had today, but his mind is still as awake as it was this morning.

Have you ever feel so drained, so emotionally & physically exhausted to the point you can’t bring yourself to sleep?

Probably that is the state Baekhyun is in now.

One particular ‘schedule’ today, got him to that point.

The digital clock across his bed is showing that it’s five minutes to two in the morning, and actually the house members already retired to each own’s bedroom since one hour ago. Judging from the lack of sound from the outside, Baekhyun thinks that the others have gone to the dream land. As expected also from his roomates, Kyungsoo and Jongdae are already asleep around 30 minutes ago.

Baekhyun silently curses the caffeine he forced himself to drink just that noon. He’s not really a caffeine person, because he can’t handle how strong it can effect him, his body always reacts too much and keeps him awake for hours long. It keeps his brain alive at the most inconvenient of time, when he can spend the time sleeping for the upcoming schedule for tomorrow that will start since dawn.

Most of the times, it’s a good effect to support him going through the typcial hectic schedule of an artist. But it’s clearly not good for now.

When all he wants to do is sleep and throw every single thing inside his head about ‘that’ away to the nearest trashcan.

Starting from that unexpected conversation.

The unexpected plan.

The unexpected set ups.

How he wishes his roommates are awake to distract him from that thoughts.

In the silence of the night, his mind goes to the moment happening in his agency just before he left after practice. One week ago.

“Baekhyun,” his manager called, and when Baekhyun looked up he was met with a serious face, which was pretty unusual. Too tired to dig it up, Baekhyun thought of it as a sign of tiredness. They were already awake since early morning, after all. “The president wants to see you for a while.”

Not suspecting anything, Baekhyun grabbed for his bag and went up to the president’s floor. He met some of the trainees on the way there, some he knows personally and some he only knows by passing each other in the entertainment building. He knocked on the president’s office door when he arrived, not forgetting to tidy himself a bit because it was his boss he wants to face.

“Come in,” a voice commanded from inside.

When Baekhyun opened the door, he was directly met with his boss’s eyes. His boss was a nice old man, with dark hair that was slowly turning into grey one by one. He has a nice smile, but Baekhyun guessed that’s just how ‘business smile’ is. But as much as the word ‘nice’ Baekhyun associates with him, he learnt from experience that the entertainment world is literally just business. And there is nothing ‘nice’ about entertainment world if you go past the blazing lights and the fakest of faces.

Baekhyun should’ve suspected something was not right when he was suddenly called without prior notice.

“Good night, sajang-nim.” Baekhyun stopped on his track and bows. The president, Mr. Kim, waved a hand on it and gestured for Baekhyun to sit in front of him. Baekhyun stepped forward and took a seat, suddenly noticed that there were two other people inside the room, who was sitting on the other side of the room. Baekhyun recognized them as the one from public relation department and promotional strategy department.

“Is there something that you need to talk to me, sir?”

“Yes, yes.” Mr. Kim nodded, “It’s about your promotion strategy.”

“My promotion strategy? Do you mean my album?” Baekhyun confirmed, “Is it not selling well? But I saw the article this morning—”

“No, no, no, Baekhyun-ah. Your album is selling well, really well I have to say. Really help the value of the company’s stock.” Mr. Kim cut in quickly, and Baekyun was just about to let out a relief when the president continued, “It might help the value of the company’s stock, but turns out not really enough to distract people about the recent scandal we had with one of our boygroups. You know about it, right?”

Of course Baekhyun knew, it was involving one of his friends.

“That’s why we come up with a plan to distract the public from the issue,” Mr. Kim waved for the other two people in the room, and they came closer with those folders on their arms. They laid one of the folder down right in front of Baekhyun, and gently asked him to open it.

The first sentence already got Baekhyun surprised. He looked up to shoot questioning stares to the staffs and he was just met with polite smiles. He went back to reading it but all he could register inside his mind are; ‘fake dating’ ‘dispatch’ ‘set-ups’ ‘car dates’, and one name, ‘Minah’.

“What—?”

“You said that you’ve been a fan of Minah since your high school days, right?”

Baekhyun nodded.

“And then it would be much easier! This is how we will do it; we’ll be setting you up with Minah, making it look like you’re picking her up on a date near your apartment, then you’ll go to some parts of the town where the dispatch photographers will be hiding.”

“They’ll take photographs of you two, like they ‘catch’ you.” Mr. Lee used his fingers to highlight the word ‘catch’, Baekhyun grimaced. “Then they’ll release it and boom! Everyone’s attention will be directed immediately.”

Baekhyun was silent, trying to process everything. Did he hear right? The president of his company, wanted him to play couple with Minah? His sunbae in the company? Just for averting public attention from one of the boygroup his junior? What is he, a puppet?

That sounded damn ridiculous, and Baekhyun wanted nothing but to refuse.

There was no way Minah-noona would agree to this, right?

“We’ve talked to Minah, she said yes.” Mr. Lee said, it’s like he could read what’s inside Baekhyun’s mind. It’s creepy.

“And to be really honest,” Mr. Lee sat back on his $500 office chair . “I’m here not to ask your permission, but to give orders. So I guess you don’t have any choice but to say yes.”

“Drastic situation comes for a drastic measures.”

Days leading to the supposed date were nerve wrecking, Baekhyun spent countless nights finding himself hard to fall asleep because thinking about it. Everything sounded wrong, his heart screamed to say something about it to his president, to refuse it, to say no.

His heart screamed and urged him to pick up his phone and call Chanyeol. Tell Chanyeol, ask him for his opinion, lean on him.

Chanyeol.

It must have been easier to accept if it’s not because of his growing feelings for his co-star in roommate.

---

It was all started with only the intention of getting new close friends, and they are indeed end up as good friends now. They clicked right from the start and their humor code matched, and it all flowed naturally from there. Baekhyun didn’t expect the growing feeling he would have, but as the time passed, he started to notice the little details of Chanyeol that he finds interesting and endearing.

His big ears, one side bigger than the other.

His beautiful eyes, crinkled everytime he laughs.

His rows of pearly white teeth, accompanied his beautiful smile.

Not to mention the way he intently listens when Baekhyun speaks, and Baekhyun feels himself drowning in the depth of those beautiful eyes.

Baekhyun doesn’t know about Chanyeol, whether the feeling is mutual or not. But he’s not dumb to see that they’re starting to gravitate around each other, and it’s not one sided. They start to hang out together after shoots, sometimes just sitting around Chanyeol’s studio in his apartment while Chanyeol plays the guitar and Baekhyun sings. Sometimes Baekhyun accompanies the other on whatever new hobby he has at that time; the last time being bowling. Or just sitting around at somewhere, eating chicken and drinking beers, and talk.

They never go into deep in their talks, Baekhyun always tries to keep his alcohol in check everytime he’s around Chanyeol to make sure he doesn’t say anything stupid and coincidentally confesses his feelings. Chanyeol is clingy when he’s drunk, and in between those hugs and the whisper of ‘I like you, Baekhyun. You’re a good friend’ that he always chants everytime he’s face- drunk with his head on Baekhyun’s lap at 3 am in the morning, Baekhyun hopes that it means something more than just a drunk talk.

Baekhyun never brings it up.

He never figures out.

---

Few days later found Baekhyun waiting inside his car, all dressed in black and ready for a ‘date’. Baekhyun didn’t get the chance to contact Minah at all prior to the meeting, but the smile Minah gave him when she got into her car is enough for him to know that it’s hard for both of them.

None of them wanted this.

They did small talk through the ride, they are friends at the first place after all. And Baekhyun tried to not thinking too much and initiated conversations with Minah, at least he hoped it’d make everything easier for both of them. It was nice to finally have time to catch up with his favorite noona, it was just sad it had to be under this kind of circumstances.

He drove to the direction of Han River as per company’s order, and Baekhyun cringed at how ‘typical’ it was. Celebrity dates at Han River was publicly known, the company must really wants them to be found out.

They didn’t know at what point they were photographed, Baekhyun secretly hoped inside his heart that those photographers didn’t manage to catch a good shots. After all, which celebrity couple spent a date after supposedly ‘long time not meeting each other because of schedule’ by playing with their phones and sitting so far away even when the car is stopped?

Baekhyun couldn’t care less. Maybe this will show to the president of the company that it was all bull idea to begin with.

Baekhyun dropped her at her apartment again before going to the Roommate house because he had a schedule for shoot, sadly. As much as he liked the idea of meeting Chanyeol again, he felt emotionally exhausted after the ‘date’ and wants nothing but to be snuggled up at home. Maybe eating ice cream while catching up with dramas or just sleep in his bed and dreaming of murdering his CEO in his dream.

But responsibility is responsibility, so he put on his best and strongest facade and said goodbye & thanked Minah.

The other guys welcomed him cheerfully into the house when he stepped in, having no idea what he’s just been through, and ushered him to the backyard to join the others on another barbeque party for tonight’s dinner.

And when he joined the others at the big table with foods scattered around it for everyone, Chanyeol suddenly came forward to hugged him and they shared a laugh. As he sat down next to Kyungsoo, the other opened him a can of beer, Baekhyun knew the decision of coming here at the end of the day was a good one.

 He really could some company.

 

---

Feeling more depressed that he was earlier, Baekhyun knows that he’s not going to fall asleep anytime soon. The weight of today’s events finally catches up to him now. He raises his body and gets out of the bed, wanting to grab some water downstairs or if he’s lucky, grab some beer. He hopes they still have some stash left from before.

The hall in front of his room is deserted and also the second floor living room. The big glass door leading out to the balcony is slightly opened, giving space for the night air to blow in. It’s the summer season, the night air is welcoming instead of freezing.

There’s a silhouette hidden behind the sheer curtain and Baekhyun stops in his tracks, his heart beats faster because of the adrenalines at the thought of...... is it ghosts? Baekhyun will never want to admit it but he’s a scaredy cat when it comes to supernatural things.

The shadow turns around, and immediately stands up when he spots Baekhyun. There’s a moment before the shadow comes from behind the curtain and shows itself..

“Chanyeol?”

“Baekhyun?”

They burst into laughter and Baekhyun’s heart beats even faster from a whole different reason from it was before. Chanyeol is in simple black slacks and white t-shirt, yet he looks so good in Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Can’t sleep?”

Baekhyun nods, smiling lazily. “Can I join you by the balcony?”

Chanyeol steps aside and makes a gesture of presenting the way outside to Baekhyun, “Always welcome everytime.”

“I’m gonna head down for some water or beer, if i’m lucky. Want me to get you something?

“Beer sounds good to me.”

---

Chanyeol has always been blessed with creativity since ever he was a kid. Thus, making something is a thing that comes naturally for him. Especially, in song and lyric writing. But, no matter how ‘gifted’ someone is, one is bound to get into struggle one of those days.

Like, tonight.

Chanyeol has been working on this song for a whole month now, and it is bound to be released somewhen in the next month for his monthly song release. It will be by the end of summer and beginning of fall, so Chanyeol goes for some romantic direction with this particular song. While ‘love’ is a topic that he encounters and feels everyday, this one talks about a love that is selfless, that is loving without expecting something back, about love that is found in unexpected places.

The topic about love, somehow, brings him to the thought of…

Baekhyun.

He honestly didn’t expect to click with the other that easy and that well. But, their first meeting that night is definitely special for both of them to create a bond. Without him realizing, he starts to spend more time with Baekhyun out of all the roommate house members. He still plays with the others, of course, and they’re becoming good friends for each other. More like a family But when the camera stops rolling and they are left with their own decision about what to do, Chanyeol gravitates toward Baekhyun.

He brings Baekhyun to his studio, showing him around about the most private place inside his house. Chanyeol plays the guitar (or piano), and Baekhyun sings. Chanyeol finds himself falling in love in every note coming out of Baekhyun’s lips.

He brings Baekhyun to indulge on his newest hobby, bowling at the alley until late at night and they nearly get scolded by Baekhyun’s manager. Strolling around the Han River, playing arcade games where he promises Baekhyun to get him a doll from the machine but never succeeds until now.

No matter how much fun he has with Baekhyun doing things outdoors, his favorite thing to do with Baekhyun would be sitting down on the carpet of his living room, the TV is on with whatever program or movie they want to watch at that time, chicken boxes laid open and beer in hand. They talk. They talk about the weather, they talk about the new neighborhood of Baekhyun’s apartment that likes to play his songs but never know the singer is his neighbor, they talk about Chanyeol’s dog Toben that is now being taken care by his mom, they talk about their work. Their conversation never gone into deep about something personal other than about families, Chanyeol still isn’t sure whether they are that level of friendship or not.

He takes his time, no rush. Because with Baekhyun, everything just flows naturally. The same goes for his growing feelings. He is not sure whether they have the same feelings or not, but he is not wrong for hoping that maybe all those times spent together is as special to Baekhyun as it is for Chanyeol.

Now back to the lyrics he has to write.

He has thousands of ideas about love just by thinking about Baekhyun, but he doesn’t know how to pour it into words. Knowing that being holed up inside his room will get him nowhere, Chanyeol decides to go out to the balcony to get some air, and maybe writing will be easier after he calms himself down by watching the night sky.

He was getting into his second sentence of his song when he hears a door clicking shut behind him. Looking back, he sees a figure coming from behind the walls. The figure is familiar, and Chanyeol has a guess who it is. Whoever it is stops when he (probably) takes a sight of Chanyeol from the curtain, Chanyeol stands up to show himself before the other starts thinking that he is probably a ghost or something.

“Chanyeol?”

That voice.

“Baekhyun?”

“Can’t sleep?”

The other nods, smiling under the minimal lighting coming from the moon outside the window. “Can I join you by the balcony?”

“Always welcome everytime.”

“I’m gonna head down for some water or beer, if i’m lucky. Want me to get you something?

“Beer sounds good to me.”

---

Baekhyun joins him not more than five minutes after, two cans of beer on his hold. Chanyeol accepts it gratefully, the sound of sizzling liquid making it to the space around them. He takes a sip and lets the bitter taste bring an unexpected freshness to his mind, he eyes Baekhyun doing the same beside him silently.

“Why are you up until late at night?” Baekhyun breaks their silence, “Got something in your mind?”

“It’s about the lyrics,” Chanyeol shows Baekhyun the notes he has on his lap, “I have trouble in writing the lyrics for my song. Do you want to help?”

“Eum, not going to trust my own self. You’re on your own, singer-songwriter.” Baekhyun raises both of his hands, as if surrendering. “There’s a reason why I’m only a singer, not a songwriter. I’m not quite ready to venture to that area yet.”

“Ayy, why~ We’re bound to start at some point.”

They fall into an uncomfortable silent againa after that, Baekhyun looking up to the sky. Something about his gaze, it’s sad and troubled, bothers Chanyeol. “How about you? Why are you up late at night like this? Didn’t you say you have an early schedule tomorrow?”

Baekhyun is silent, and Chanyeol knows the answer already.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Baekhyun keeps silent.

“I’ve turned the camera towards this balcony. If that’s what you’re worried of.”

It takes some moment before his companion sighs, he notices how the other’s shoulders are stiff like there are tons of weight he has to bear on those small shoulders. “It’s just….” Baekhyun starts, “Have you ever feel so emotionally exhausted, Chanyeol? I think I’m at that state right now.”

“Did something happen?”

“It’s….” There’s a hesitancy in Baekhyun’s voice, so Chanyeol quickly adds. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Baekhyun averts his gaze down immediately, closing his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m.. I’m not ready to talk about it now.” His voice sounds so broken Chanyeol wants to reach out to bring the others into his arms, and he does just that. Baekhyun’s body goes rigid for a while before going lax in his hold. It’s not long before Chanyeol feels his body shaking slightly, and with broken heart seeing his loved one breaking down right in front of him, Chanyeol pulls the other even tighter.

It feels like forever before Baekhyun’s sobs subside. He doesn’t move away from Chanyeol’s hug, his head still laying comfortably on Chanyeol’s shoulder. And Chanyeol doesn’t mind.

“Sing me a song, please.” Comes Baekhyun’s request, his voice low and still shaky.

“A song? What song?” Chanyeol asks as he reaches out for his guitar, slowly as he doesn’t want to disturb Baekhyun’s position on his side.

“Anything.”

---

Hold me close, through the night

Don’t let me go, we’ll be allright

Baekhyun closes his eyes as the sound of Chanyeol’s singing, wanting his senses to be only at Chanyeol. For a while, it feels like there are only the two of them in this world and it.. calms Baekhyun down, putting him into a serene state and giving him a sense of security. For a while, those thoughts about his company, the CEO, minah-noona, scandals are out of his mind.

Touch my soul, and hold it tight

I’ve been waiting all my life

“I’m sorry in advance if I fall asleep unknowingly.” Baekhyun says.

Chanyeol stops his fingers on the guitar, “It’s okay,” Chanyeol whisper-like into the night, “I don’t mind. You had a rough day, Baekhyun-ah.”

I won’t scar your young heart.

Just take my hand..

“I’ll even bring you back to bed, later.” Chanyeol adds, which replied by a light slap by Baekhyun. A little laugher slips from his lips. Baekhyun doesn’t see but there’s a smile on Chanyeol’s face when he notices that.

“Please, no. I’m heavy.”

“And I’m strong, you’ve seen those photos of me at the gym from my instagram, right?”

“You could just take a photo at the gym without working out?”

“You don’t believe me?!”

Cause I was made for loving you

Even though we may be hopeless hearts just passing through

“Chanyeol-ah, do you have someone in mind?”

“U-uh?” Chanyeol stutters. Baekhyun’s heart burns in some kind of jealousy, but he understands. After all, someone as handsome and wonderful as Chanyeol, of course he has someone he adores as well right? He probably has girlfriend or boyfriend that the media hasn’t found out just yet.

Baekhyun looks at his side to see Chanyeol already starring back at him. Their faces are inches close and he can feel Chanyeol’s breath on the slope of his nose. Their gazes are locked, and Baekhyun holds down the urge to lean forward and capture those lips to a passionate kiss. Instead, he looks away.

“Never mind.”

Every bone screaming I don’t know what we should do

All I know is darling, I was made for loving you.

Just for tonight, is Baekhyun allowed to think the song is directed to him?

Chanyeol goes on with the song, and Baekhyun goes on dreaming about Chanyeol and the imaginary future of the two of them sharing laughters and sadness as one family.

Baekhyun is finally be in peace, after a while. And he lets himself bask on the feelings.

---

No matter how much Baekhyun is prepared, he is still thrown off by the article that just dropped exactly five minutes ago. His name and Minah’s name written in bold and big letters, on the first page of every news site portal. His manager said to forgo his phone for a while and just.. stay away from medias.

As he lays on his bed that night, phone turned off and flipped on his bedside table, his mind drifts off to one particular person.

How’s Chanyeol’s reaction about this all?

---

The number you’ve called is busy or out of public area. To--

Chanyeol throws his phone across the bed and groans. He has tried to contact Baekhyun since hours ago, but he is always met with the same automatic robotic woman voice that told him that he can’t reach Baekhyun. To be said that he was surprised, it was an understatement. He thought.. that night…

Is this why he broke down that night?

Chanyeol thought he already made himself clear that night. He is a lyricist, thus he tries to convey his feeling through his song choice. Is this… is this why Baekhyun didn’t even respond to it? Not even a single word? Because he already has a girlfriend?

He goes for another try to contact Baekhyun. He just wants to ask, whether it is true or not. He just wants… to know…

Whether he still has a chance or not.

His desperate attempt is met once again with no answer.

He just about to turn off his phone when a new notifications from a news app catches his eyes. It has Baekhyun’s name on it.

[BREAKING] : Solo artist “BYUN BAEKHYUN” to step down from Roommate’s program right after his scandal with one of the senior from his company, Minah, revealed to public.

---

Jongdae doesn’t know what’s happening right now.

At one moment, they’re happily living their life together under the same roof. A moment after that, one of their family’s members is suddenly reported to be leaving the program—to leave their house because of a scandal that came out of nowhere.

He knows that he should have called Chanyeol, hoping that he can get answer from the taller guy. He’s not blind and he’s been living close enough with them to know that there’s something more inside their relationship. (Jongdae is perfectly fine with it, really.)

But somehow, his finger only hover hopelessly on top of his phone’s screen.

Jongdae is the type who trusts his feeling, and his feeling says that even Chanyeol himself is completely clueless with what’s currently happening.

---

Baekhyun drives himself to the Roommate’s house after he called the PD and asked if anyone’s home right now because he wanted to get his bags. As if understand what he meant, the PD didn’t ask anything and said that no one is currently at the house because they have schedule for outdoor filming. Baekhyun remembers the plan very well, that today is supposed to be the day to bring Tao to Namsan Tower because the younger guy never went there before despite living in Korea for few months already.

He feels bitter as he knows that he’s supposed to be sitting beside Kyungsoo in the car, maybe jamming at whatever songs is playing at the radio with others who shared the same car as him, but he can’t because this stupid plan and this stupid fake dating scandal.

He feels like crying once again, but he can’t show up at the house with puffy eyes, so holds himself together.

He steps inside the house and finds it empty, just like what the PD said. He quickly goes to his room and packs his things before anyone suddenly comes home. He’s done packing and when he brings his suitcase to the first floor, someone walks inside the house and he instantly freezes on his place.

It’s Chanyeol.

The taller guy clearly surprised to see him and Baekhyun can see from his eyes that he has so many questions for Baekhyun.

“Are you going home?” he asks instead.

Baekhyun nods. “Yes. Why are you here?”

“I got a punishment and had to be the one who cooks for tonight’s dinner. I came back to get my wallet, I forgot it.”

For the first time after few months knowing Chanyeol, this is probably the first time when they don’t know what to say to each other.

“I’ll go now,” he says. “Thank you for everything, Chanyeol-ah. I hope we can stay as friends--”

“I’ll drive you home.”

Baekhyun thought he heard him wrong, but then Chanyeol takes his suitcase away from him and start walking outside the house. He can’t say that he’s not panicking as he manages to catch up and Chanyeol asks for his keys.

“Don’t worry, I can go back using subway. Let me drive your car.”

Baekhyun should have said no. He should be more firm with his words, but he can’t never do that to Chanyeol. So he gives they key and let Chanyeol drives him home. Once they’re on the underground parking lot, Baekhyun thought Chanyeol will leave right away, but instead he helps Baekhyun brings his suitcase to his room.

Standing face to face in front of Baekhyun’s door, now he doesn’t a heart to ask Chanyeol to go home after all the troubles he did.

“Do you want to come inside?”

Chanyeol blinks at him, but then nodding his head slowly. He goes inside first with Baekhyun’s trailing behind his back with his suitcase. He sets it aside first and goes to the fridge. Thankfully, he still has some canned coffees left because he doesn’t drink it that often. He offers one to Chanyeol and the latter accepts it quietly.

They sit side by side on Baekhyun’s small sofa, and no one says anything for the first few minutes and it’s killing Baekhyun a little bit.

“Chanyeol-ah.”

“Hm?”

“Are you mad?”

“To be honest, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.” Chanyeol looks at him with a sad smile. “Can I ask you what’s happening right now? It’s not only me, but the others are worried as well. The news just came out of nowhere and you have to step down—”

“It’s fake.”

Chanyeol’s mouth drops open. “W-what?”

“It’s only a plan made by the company. One of our boygroups is involved in a scandal and the company wished to cover it up.”

“Wait.” Chanyeol holds his hand up. “And Minah-ssi?”

Baekhyun shrugs. “Apparently we’re only their puppets.”

Baekhyun watches how Chanyeol’s face turns from being confused, to being mad in a matter of seconds. “How dare them—”

“It’s okay, Chanyeol-ah—”

“No, it’s not!”

Baekhyun’s breath hitches at the sudden outburst. It’s the first time Chanyeol ever yelled at him and he can feel himself cower in fear. Chanyeol must have sensed that Baekhyun is feeling uncomfortable as he tries to calm himself down.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “I’m just really mad that they chose to do that to their artists. No one deserved to be treated like this. You have worked hard as the new star from your company, and Minah worked day and night to earn a fixed place in the industry when it becomes so competitive lately—it’s not fair for you two.”

Baekhyun wants to cry right at that moment. Chanyeol is such a good guy—he’s not only worrying about Baekhyun, but about Minah as well even if they don’t even know each other. Baekhyun appreciates it, really. And he knows Minal will too. At least that makes the future seems a bit brighter, to know not everyone is so blinded with the money bussiness in the industry to make everything be humanly to be done, especially about using idols of their company as puppets.

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol-ah,” he says. “I don’t deserve someone as good as you.”

Chanyeol frowns at that. “Why did you say that?”

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything and he’s surprise when Chanyeol takes his hand and scoots closer to him. In low whispers, he confesses, “Byun Baekhyun, I like you.”

Baekhyun swears his heart drops.

“At first, I thought you were cute and I like how we just clicked and fell into place, and I kept denying that there’s romantic feeling growing inside here.” He brings Baekhyun’s hand up and press the palm flat on his chest. “But then the more I knew you, the more we spent time together, the more I couldn’t deny that I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Baekhyun can feel how loud Chanyeol’s heart is thumping inside his chest, and he can feel his heart is also ready to burst at any moment.

“I was devastated when I saw the news. I thought what we had was mutual, or maybe I was hallucinating all this time or you’re dense enough although I sang that song for you.” He closes his mouth for a second, as if trying to find the right words to say. “I can’t bear the thought that you become someone else’s, not mine.”

Baekhyun knows that this is not the time for blushing and lets Chanyeol be the only one who said what he needed to say, but Baekhyun doesn’t know where to start. Nothing feels like the right thing to say.

He settles with, “I was worried how you would react towards the news. I was so scared that you would hate me and leave me all alone,” he lets out a shaky breath. “I’ve become yours for a while now.”

He doesn’t know who pulls who, but the next second they are hugging each other tightly and Baekhyun feels his tears running through his cheeks, seeping into Chanyeol’s shirt, and instead of minding it, Chanyeol lets him cries all he wants and Baekhyun feels that this storm will fade away and a blinding rainbow will take its place.

---

When both of them are laying close to each other in Baekhyun’s small bed, Baekhyun won’t stop being fussy.

“But you have to go back home. Everyone will be looking for you because you have to cook tonight,” he says, although he’s still clinging to Chanyeol and showing no sign of letting him go.

Chanyeol chuckles—it’s not like he’s not doing the same, though. “It’s fine. They will be back late and I’d still have time.”

They stay quiet for a moment before Baekhyun asks, “What are we, Chanyeol-ah?”

“Do you want to be boyfriends?”

“I want to, but is it okay if we can meet for a while? I don’t think the company will let me having schedules in the middle of having scandal.”

“It’s fine,” Chanyeol ruffles his hair gently. “We still can call and text each other. We will find a way.”

“Okay.”

Once again they stay in comfortable silence and it takes a while for Chanyeol to notice that Baekhyun fell asleep on his arms. He chuckles and rubs his cheek with his thumb. “You must had a hard time to fall asleep lately, didn’t you?”

He watches at how peaceful Baekhyun looks and drops a gentle peck on his forehead, can’t resist at how beautiful his boyfriend is and yet he looks so unaware of it.

“Sleep well, Baekhyun-ah.”

---