Chanyeol’s prom was going okay.

 

Really, it was. 

 

He wasn’t hung up over the fact that Kyungsoo has a date and he didn’t. 

 

His prom was going okay. 

 

Or thats what he repeatedly told himself. 

 

To be completely honest, it was boring. The hype of prom had lasted the first half hour but then, without company, Chanyeol had resorted to sitting down at one of the booths and sipping his capri-sun non-committedly. 

 

He’d promised Kyunsoo he’d stay at prom for at least an hour and that time was nearing pretty quickly. Chanyeol was disappointed with himself, for wanting to leave prom so early. 

 

Wasn’t this night supposed to be one of a kind? Wasn’t he supposed to enjoy it?

 

He didn’t know.

 

Finally after finishing his juice - because punch was too stereotypical for him - he got up, dusted imaginary dust off his suit and headed towards the door. 

 

He was surprised at how little people payed attention to him and how he managed to get away so quietly. He was usually approached a lot at every occasion, by friends, classmates, potential girlfriends. Prom really was a vain occasion, where people were too lost in themselves, or their significant other. 

 

He was also surprised at how quickly it became dark outside. He strained his ears outside in the quiet fields of the school, straining to hear some grasshoppers - why he did that, he wasn’t sure - but it was in vain, because despite the silence of the outside fields, the music from the prom was still thudding faintly in the background. 

 

Chanyeol suddenly felt too hot. There was a chilly breeze around him, but he could not enjoy it properly with his blazer sticking uncomfortably to his slightly sweaty skin. 

 

He shrugged it off, discarding it to his hands, walking in the relatively dark sports field to get to the parking lot across it, the only light illuminating the field was faint from the school building, and a couple of street lamps dotted around. 

 

Perhaps it was too dark to see the ground, or maybe because he was just distracted by that incessant buzz of one of the street lamps, flickering every so often, that he didn’t see the lump on the ground. He was bewildered to trip over that lump, becoming even more baffled when the lump let out a yelp. 

 

So there he was, in a softly-lighted sports field, halting his walking away from prom and sprawled across Byun Baekhyun. 

 

The first thought registered in his head that Baekhyun had dried tear tracks on his face, but it was very faint, and so the thought was dismissed quickly. 

 

He was momentarily distracted by Baekhyun’s sheer beauty, in a mahogany coloured suit, with a white shirt underneath. Baekhyun had little sparkly gems stuck to the cheeks of his face, giving him a far-too-Coachella vibe to be someone at prom. (Not that Chanyeol would know about Coachella but that’s what he associated with the gem freckles dotting the smaller boy’s face.) His annoying neighbour seemed ethereal, lying on a dark and muddy field in the middle of prom. 

 

Chanyeol opened his mouth. 

 

“You look stunning,” was what he intended to say. 

 

Naturally, the words that came out of his mouth were, “Why were you lying on the ground in the middle of the night during prom? Are you dysfunctional, or something?”

 

“Why can’t you watch where you’re going?” Baekhyun snapped back instantaneously, retorting pettily like every single conversation they’d ever had. Baekhyun pushed Chanyeol off him and stood up. 

 

“Uh, maybe because you were lying in the dark where I couldn’t see? In the middle of a field?” Chanyeol responded, cheeks flaring up as he helped himself up. 

 

Baekhyun opened his mouth to retort. 

 

The melody started playing, faintly. 

 

Baekhyun paused. 

 

“You should really mind those legs of yours. Someday you’ll actually hurt someone,” he said, uncaring words juxtaposing how he tugged Chanyeol closer by his belt loops. 

 

“I’ll hurt someone?” Chanyeol scoffed, discarding his suit jacket on top of Baekhyun’s own one. “You were the one who caused me to trip over,” he spoke, settling a hand on the shorter’s waist and another conjoining the other’s slender fingers. 

 

“You could’ve walked any way in the field to get to the parking lot,” Baekhyun said lifting their entwined hands in their waltz position, like they always did, shaking his head lightly to take his bangs out of his eyes. “But you just had to go through the exact middle, didn’t you?”

 

“Shut up,” Chanyeol breathed, tugging him closer and swaying them slightly as the song began to play. 

 

“Like a river flows,” Baekhyun sang quietly as they began to dance properly. “Surely to the sea,” he rest his head on Chanyeol’s chest. 

 

“Darling, so it goes,” Chanyeol harmonised, deep voice settling in nicely in Baekhyun’s ears. 

 

“Some things were meant to be, oh, take my hand. Take my whole life too.”

 

“For I can’t help-“ Baekhyun stopped singing.

 

The music played in the background, further away from them, but silence encased them as neither spoke at first, too afraid to ruin the moment. 

 

“Hey, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said, nuzzling his head into the mentioned boy’s chest. “Quick question. Do you think a person can be heartbroken and fall in love in the same day?”

 

“You’re asking me that?” Chanyeol laughed, the sound melodious to the shorter’s ears. “We’re not friends,” he reminded, swaying Baekhyun gently again. “We don’t have heart to heart talks, remember? We argue and we fight, that’s just how it goes, Baekhyun.”

 

“Its just a question I want to know an answer to, and you happen to be here right now,” Baekhyun hurried to assure the other that he wasn’t changing the dynamics of their spitfire encounters. 

 

Chanyeol hummed, eyebrows furrowing as he genuinely thought of an answer. It was obvious that Baekhyun was referring to himself, despite talking in third person. “It depends, I suppose.”

 

“On what?” The smaller asked immediately, glad the taller was supporting him upright because his knees were close to buckling. 

 

“What type of a person you are,” Chanyeol responded. “If you fall in love too easy, if you’re not serious about relationships, if you’re too serious about relationships, et cetera.”

 

Baekhyun snorted. “Who still uses ‘et cetera’ in conversation, still?” He muttered, before talking louder. “Suppose this person has had a heartbreak very recently, but he’s not very sad about it. He hasn’t been sad about breakups for a long time now, no matter how serious the relationship was, because in the back of his mind, there is someone. Not his, but not not his either, you know what I mean? And now, on the same day of his breakup, he’s thinking he’s in love with that special someone, but maybe he’s been in love with that special someone for a long time now.”

 

Ignoring his rhetorical question, Chanyeol pondered, “how long is that ‘long time now’?” 

 

Baekhyun buried his face into Chanyeol’s chest, shaking his head. 

 

“Maybe he’s always liked that someone but he’s scared to pursue them because they got off on the wrong foot and now that someone doesn’t like them. Maybe he’s been heartbroken today but only obligatorily because he’s not really upset over the breakup,” Baekhyun blabbered, hoping the dark-brown haired boy wouldn’t press his answer further, to no avail. 

 

“How long?” Chanyeol repeated, resting his chin atop of Baekhyun’s head. 

 

“Eight years since he moved to this town and went around his neighborhood offering brownies to new people, one of which is that someone,” Baekhyun responded quickly, embarrassment and fear creeping into his tone. Maybe if he spoke so fast, he’d give the answer yet avoid the response, he thought. Again, to no avail. 

 

Baekhyun supposed Chanyeol’s big ears were useful for some purpose, because his rushed statement made sense to the taller, causing Chanyeol’s eyes to widen. 

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Baekhyun kept silent. 

 

“Byun Baekhyun?” Chanyeol said sternly. “Who is that someone?”

 

Baekhyun was quiet for a moment, before he disentangled himself from Chanyeol and rushed to pick up his suit jacket, attempting to run away before confrontation. 

 

Chanyeol was quicker and he caught his wrist, preventing him from running away. “Baekhyun?” 

 

“Kyungsoo. That special someone was Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun said quickly, snatching away from Chanyeol’s grip and running towards the parking lot, leaving behind a bewildered boy with large ears. 

 

The song ended, and a bit of Chanyeol did too.