short update because the next chapter is another scene. also kinda unmotivated to write, but I know people are waiting so I'll try my best to update more frequently! unbeta'd

Chanyeol wakes up the next day feeling pumped. He has an agenda in mind, and he plans to follow it to a T, starting with… breakfast. He texts one of the coaches to let them know he’ll be going to the team house today — they’d given him their numbers the same day they offered him a position. Honestly, he’s pretty excited to join the team, because he feels like he’s making the teenage him proud. However, there’s always a ‘what if’ nagging at him, and he tries his best to ignore it.

He’s making his breakfast and he nearly makes a portion for two when he remembers what Baekhyun told him yesterday. Huffing, he frowns as he makes enough for one. Wolfing down his food, he stares in the direction of Baekhyun’s room, hoping the latter wouldn’t come out and make things awkward for him.

While it’s true that Baekhyun’s the first person he’s liked, Baekhyun isn’t the only one. Chanyeol has liked his fair share of guys back in college after Baekhyun had left, but he’s never liked them enough to maintain anything serious. But with Baekhyun, he feels different. Chanyeol can’t describe the rush he gets whenever he’s with him.

Chanyeol resists the urge to make breakfast for Baekhyun and hastily leaves the apartment, and for the first time since moving in, not letting Baekhyun know where he’s gone to.

When he reaches the team house with the help of Google Maps, the person who opens the door is Sehun. “Oh, hey. You live in the dorms?” Chanyeol asks, stepping into the place. Sehun shrugs groggily, muttering  something incoherent, and Chanyeol supposes it’s too early for him. 

“Sorry,” he says in a low voice. “Go back to sleep, Sehun.” The man nods and shuffles away, not even asking Chanyeol why he’s there. He wanders around the place and finds one of the coaches in the kitchen, fixing up a meal.

“When you said you’d be here today I didn’t think you’d be this early,” the coach says, back still facing Chanyeol. He turns around and Chanyeol sees that he’s just eating spoonfuls of Nutella. “You know me as coach Lee, but you can call me Jinki-hyung if you want. Anyway, I take it you’ve decided on joining us?” He grabs a chair and sits down, motioning for Chanyeol to do the same. 

Chanyeol nods, sitting beside the coach. “I mean… I wouldn’t know how it’s like till I’ve tried it, right?”

“Great!” Jinki exclaims, up the remainder of the chocolate spread from his spoon and dipping it into the jar again. Chanyeol tries not to look too scandalised. “Don’t worry, this jar is exclusively mine. Anyway, we commence today. You’ll be subbing in for Baekhyun during our scrims, but you won’t be playing in starting roster yet. We have-” Chanyeol tears his eyes away from the jar and stares at Jinki, puzzled. “Baekhyun?”

Jinki looks surprised, as if Chanyeol should’ve known about this. “Um, well, yes. Baekhyun’s flying off today. Back to South Korea.”

“He what?” Chanyeol stands up from his seat, about to go to find Baekhyun. Baekhyun is leaving? Jinki tugs at his sleeve.

“It was a last minute decision. He hasn’t been well, and he called me yesterday afternoon to ask if he could take a break, so we suggested he goes back home for a breather. But we didn’t expect him to want to leave so soon, much less agree so quickly,” Jinki explains.

“He agreed immediately?” Chanyeol presses, and when Jinki hesitates, he knows that Baekhyun didn’t. Shoulders slumped, he sits back in the chair. Baekhyun didn’t tell him. Jinki observes him for a moment before taking the spoon out of his mouth with a pop. 

“You can go back to see him, if you want. Scrims don’t start till 10am. It’s okay to be a little late since it’s your first day.” Chanyeol shakes his head, looking down at his lap.

“It’s okay. He probably doesn’t want to see me anyway,” he mumbles, playing with the hem of his shirt. “I’ll just sit outside for a bit.” Without waiting for a reply, he leaves the kitchen, moody. Baekhyun is an extremely confusing person, he thinks. Chanyeol scrolls through his phone as he walks to the patio, replying to messages and stopping at Baekhyun’s chat.

He sits in one of the cushions seats and belatedly realises that he didn’t ask Jinki what time Baekhyun’s flight is, and he doesn’t really feel like going back to ask for details. He clicks on their chat and sees that the last message is sent by him two days ago, and Baekhyun hasn’t even opened their chatlog. Sighing, he forces himself to exit their chat. And then he sees it. The messages from Minseok that he’s been ignoring for days now. Without reading the messages, he calls Minseok.

It takes a few moments before he finally gets through. “Hello?” Minseok’s hoarse voice comes through and Chanyeol feels bad for forgetting that time zones exist. Minseok has always been an early sleeper.

“Hey, sorry for calling so late. I’ll just… I’m gonna hang up now,” Chanyeol says, but Minseok frantically stops him.

“No! No, it’s okay, just give me a minute…” Chanyeol hears a lot of clatter and shuffling about and Minseok finally comes on the line again. He doesn’t know how much he misses listening to Minseok’s voice until he hears it once more.  “Okay, yeah. What’s up?” Chanyeol swears he heard a tremble in his voice.

“I um… just wanted to check up on you. Sorry I haven’t been replying to your messages,” Chanyeol replies, still carefully considering his words. He doesn’t know how to talk about the elephant in the room, but Minseok saves him the trouble.

“It’s no problem. I would’ve reacted the same way if someone suddenly confessed out of the blue,” Minseok says nonchalantly, and Chanyeol chokes on air.

“B-but you’re not just someone,” he starts, and Minseok is quick to hush him. “Yeah, I’m your best friend. And we should just stay that way, I get it.”

“Because you like Baekhyun, don’t you? Always have,” Minseok states quietly, sounding more awake. Chanyeol contemplates lying to him, but he knows it’s no use. Minseok knows him inside out. He settles for an apology, and Minseok chuckles. 

“The only thing you should be sorry about is waking me up from my amazing sleep,” Minseok grumbles. “I’ll text you when I wake up. Don’t overthink things—I’m just glad you’ve stopped ignoring me.” Chanyeol can hear the smile in his voice. He says good night and begrudgingly hangs up.

He sighs. If only Minseok didn’t leave Seoul Dynasty. All these wouldn’t have happened because Chanyeol would definitely be staying with him instead of Baekhyun, and Baekhyun would always remain a celebrity crush-slash-person he occasionally talks to. A lot of things would have changed, but Chanyeol doesn’t know if he really regrets this whole ‘getting to know Baekhyun’ thing even after everything that happened last night.

He stays in the patio and thinks about sending a message to Baekhyun. I wish you told me, he types. Have a safe flight. Just then, someone comes out of the team house and startles him, phone nearly falling out of his hands and onto the ground. He manages to keep it on his lap, and he looks up to see who it is. “Scrims are starting,” Jongdae says, smiling at him and waving him in. Chanyeol is momentarily surprised before he remembers that Jongdae is on the team as well.

He glances at his screen to check the time and sees a message from Baekhyun. He nearly screams, but he bites down on his cheek to stop himself from doing so. He pockets his phone without opening the text and goes off to join the team.

Baekhyun can wait.

Scrims are more tiring than he expected. Everyone in the match is on the top 500 leaderboard and they’re all familiar with each other’s playstyle, so the games last longer than usual than normal ladder games due to their competency. However, Chanyeol learns that working with a team you’re familiar with is so much easier. The other three players on the team are not his friends, but he’s played with them on the ladder often, and they hit off right away. There are still things he has to get used to, like how often they scream into their mics and how different his playstyle is from the rest of the team, but other than that, Chanyeol thinks it was a pretty good first for him.

No one mentions Baekhyun or is surprised that Chanyeol is around, s