Warning: A couple of parts imply homophobia slightly, but they are very very very small parts. Just wanted to let you all know.

Chanyeol's POV

It had been a while.

It had been a while since we had talked. How long? Probably over two years. Ever since I moved houses and didn’t take the same bus as Baekhyun anymore… Ever since I got busier with school activities and whatnot… So, why is he talking to me after so long?

“So, um, it’s been a while,” he says to me as we stand a bit awkwardly in the school hallway.

“Yeah, what’s up?” I ask back, curious since it was a bit random. We weren’t on bad terms, just good but slightly awkward terms.

“Um well, you see,” he begins and goes on rambling a bit, which makes me chuckle and because I can’t help it with him being so adorably flustered. “So what I’m trying to say ask is… Can you help me confess to Joonmyun?”

I blinked a few times in surprise and nod slowly, “Yeah sure, I don’t mind…” I notice another look in his eyes though and quirk a brow, “But there’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yes! How did you know??”

I chuckle and pet his head, “I dunno, you just had this look in your eyes.”

“Well, anyway, I need to see if he’s actually, y’know, gay? So, if I like, tell you stuff, do you think you could help me figure it out first?”

And that’s how I started helping Baekhyun figure out if his crush was gay.

Because I am gay. And that somehow made me an expert.

It’s been a couple of weeks of me chatting to Baekhyun, figuring out the signs, some things making Joonmyun seem very bendy and other ones making him seem as straight as a… well, whatever the straightest thing in the world is.

Baekhyun was also exploring his own ual orientation, since this was his first encounter with a same- crush. Ever. Whereas I had figured out a while ago that I did not find girls all that attractive.

And for the upteenth time this week, Baekhyun is saying that he will confess to his crush and ask him out. Which I encourage him to do so, of course. I mean, it couldn’t help to try, right? I’ve confessed and been rejected a number of times - but then again, I confessed those times knowing I would be rejected.

I urged him to follow his heart and do it.

So he did. But he had a condition - and that I would be somewhere far enough out of earshot, but also close enough for him to see me just in case he needed my help. Though I’m not too sure how someone was to help during a confession like that.

I watched on discreetly from a distance though. It seemed to be going okay.

Until I saw him turning to glance back at where I was and- were those tears in his eyes?!

Why was he crying whilst confessing? Was it not going well? I mean, Joonmyun isn’t the meanest person or anything and he seemed quite nice.

I see them splitting apart, and I take this chance to go over to Baekhyun and talk to him. I hand him some tissues and bring him over to the nearest bathroom. “Hey, what’s wrong? Did it not go well?” I ask.

“No… I just…”

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, but I insist for him to continue.

“He told me no… That he doesn’t swing that way… Can I just text you later about it?”

“Alright,” I tell him before we both head to our respective afternoon classes.

I’m the one to message him first after school once I got home, asking him if he wanted to talk and if he was okay. He messaged me back eventually after his piano lessons and he seemed alright. For now, at least.

“- Yeah, and you know that song has that drop right in the middle? It’s so great,” Chen, one of my friends says as he bops his head to the song which is playing in his head, making us all laugh at the table.

I laugh along as well, before I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn and look up, both surprised but not surprised to see Baekhyun. “Oh hey,” I greet with a soft smile.

“Hey, um, can we talk?” he asks and brings me away from my group of friends, though they’ve become used to this recently so they don’t even bat an eyelash.

We go somewhere where there aren’t many people and he starts talking. “So yeah, sorry I just kinda pushed you away yesterday. Um, I just didn’t really wanna make it a big deal and… I don’t even know why I was actually crying. I kinda expected the rejection,” he said.

I nod along and understand what he is trying to say, “It’s fine, at least now you know, right?”

“Yeah, um… are we still gonna talk even though this is all done?” he asks rather softly, sounding almost afraid of something.

“Of course, we just started talking again,” I chuckle and smile to him.

He smiles brightly back to me and sighs in relief, “Good… I missed talking to you.”

So, we continued to chatting to one another.

But then something hits me and my goodness, I did not expect this.

I like him.

And not just as a friend.

.

One thing that I’m good at is hiding my feelings.

One thing that Baekhyun isn’t good at is hiding his feelings.

We’ve continued chatting to one another and calling each other every other night as well. It’s nice, but ever since the day that confession happened, I’ve noticed something different about him.

The way he looks at me gives me an odd feeling and I don’t want to believe it, but maybe-

I hear my phone go off with a notification. I sit up a bit since I’ve been lying down on my bed, thinking to myself for a little while now.

It’s from Baekhyun.

We’ve been messaging each other a lot on instagram. He should have been practicing piano around this time of the evening.

Hey, can we talk?

I stare at the message for a few moments before actually responding.

Yeah sure, what’s up. Everything okay?

I knew that he had a bit of a habit of rambling and talking about other things before getting to the point, but I always stay patient.

So yeah.. Um, what I’m trying to say is that I like you..

It took me a moment too long to process that confession.