When Baekhyun started to wake up, the sun was already high in the sky. He could clearly tell, because the bright orange light was straight up burning his eyelids as he woke. 

Maybe because of the sunlight, or the warmth surrounding him, Baekhyun felt so snuggly and content like never before. He didn't have many chances to sleep in during the last semester, so sleeping in like this, without a care for time or the lack of it, was great. Baekhyun missed it. He burrowed his face deeper into the warmth and softness, relishing in the feeling of being so relaxed, surrounded by the gentle smell of pine and freshly washed cotton. 

But then something moved on his waist, and the oasis of relaxation vanished in a second. There was an arm resting on the curve of his waist.

And Baekhyun knew exactly whose arm that was.

Holding back the urge to screech and jump out of the bed, he opened one eye. And froze.

Before him was the softest looking Chanyeol he had ever seen.

However weird that was for Baekhyun, soft was the only word that could describe the other at the moment. His dark curls were a mess, spread around his head on the pillow like a dark halo, some strands sticking to his forehead, and some sticking up in odd directions. Chanyeol's eyes were closed, long eyelashes touching the plump cheeks, mouth a little open. He breathed slow and steady, his lips moving from time to time as he let out soft little murmurs in his sleep.

From where he was pressed up against the raven-haired boy's shoulder, Baekhyun could feel the smoothness and softness of the taller's tanned skin, and the heat of it burned Baekhyun wherever he and Chanyeol were pressed up against each other. It burned especially strong on the small sliver of skin right above his hipbone where his pyjama top had ridden up during the night, and where Chanyeol's muscular arm was apparently tightly wound around his waist.

For a second, Baekhyun laid there, blinking, not really knowing what to do. Chanyeol was clearly unconscious, therefore he couldn't really whack him on the head for clinging onto him like this. In fact, Baekhyun was aware that he himself was a cuddler, and if one way or another he did slip over to Chanyeol's side of the bed and curled into his embrace, that would be of no surprise and entirely his fault. Perhaps the best solution would be wiggle out of this position, get out of the bed and pretend like it never happened. 

Right? Right.

Baekhyun gulped, mentally encouraging himself.

He wiggled his waist a little, trying to get Chanyeol's arm off of him. It didn't budge. It was still heavy and so damn hot on Baekhyun's skin. He could feel the tips of Chanyeol's fingers pressed against his skin.

Baekhyun murmured a curse and tried again. 

"Baek, hrngh...what are you doing?"

Baekhyun froze where he was, cheek still awkwardly pressed against Chanyeol's shoulder.

Chanyeol shifted underneath him, letting out a sleepy whine as he stretched out his neck. His eyes and cheeks were still puffy from sleep, and Baekhyun would have found it cute if he wasn't so mortified of getting caught like this.

Wait. No, he wouldn't have. It's Park Chanyeol, and the word cute has no place anywhere near that name.

Once his eyes were completely open, Chanyeol pushed himself up on his elbow to peek at the blond's face. Baekhyun avoided the stare, subtly squirming further and further away from the other's body.

"I don't know how this happened, haha," he murmured. "I'm sorry, I must've rolled over to you or something..."

He let out an awkward laugh as he peeked at Chanyeol, who was looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"That's fine," he finally lifted the arm off Baekhyun's waist, finally freeing him, and rubbed his eyes. "I liked it."

Baekhyun's cheeks turned even redder than before as he pushed himself away from Chanyeol, and stumbled out of the bed. 

"It's not happening again, you hear me?" he growled,hugging himself defensively.

Chanyeol let out a noncommittal murmur as he stretched out his arms above his head, ignoring Baekhyun's irritation. 

The smaller scoffed, turning around to grab his clothes before disappearing into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut with a bang, and clicked the lock loudly, hoping that would help to warn Chanyeol not to mess with him once he comes out. 

Still fuming, Baekhyun took a quick shower and dressed himself, pulling on a pair of black skinnies and a loose white shirt, that flowed nicely all the way from his thin shoulders down to his mid-thigh. After trying a few times to comb his way through the blond mess on his head, he decided to leave it alone, hoping that it would look like he purposefully went for a tousled look. He looked at the mirror for the last time, and sighed. 

Baekhyun expected Chanyeol to be still lounging on the bed when he walked out, maybe even asleep, but he wasn't. Instead, the taller of the two was standing by the window, fully dressed in blue shirt and jeans, with a pair of sneakers already on his feet. Even his raven black hair were neatly combed and shiny, making Baekhyun run his fingers through his messy strands self-consciously.

"What are you doing, standing around?" he asked, looking around the room before spotting a black beanie of Chanyeol's lying on his desk. "Can I wear that?"

Chanyeol turned around, throwing a look at the beanie before nodding. "Sure. And to answer your question, I was actually waiting for you."

"To do what?" Baekhyun grabbed the beanie and put it on, turning to the reflection at the window to fix his hair underneath it.

"So that we can go to have breakfast together. And also, I wanted to tell you that Jongin's coming over today."

Baekhyun's fingers froze mid-air.

"Jong-... Jongin?"

Chanyeol nodded enthusiastically, not noticing the way Baekhyun's skin turned a little pale.

"Yeah, he said he's driving his new car over here and that he's going to stay for a week with us. I was thinking about throwing a little beach party on friday, and with him here that's going to be way easier."

He went on tallking about the party, but Baekhyun wasn't really listening, sinking in the uncomfortable feeling that was quickly spreading in his chest. Jongin's coming back? That was way too close to the scenario that went down every summer, where Chanyeol would get even more inspiration to bully him when there was someone else backing him up with it.

Is Jongin going to treat him differently as well? Or was this the moment when Chanyeol tells Baekhyun this was all just a prank and turns his back on him again? 

Baekhyun was afraid.

"-- Baek, are you okay?"

Baekhyun gulped, looking away from Chanyeol hastely. He moved his hands away from where they were frozen next to his head and crossed them over his chest instead, hoping it would hide the fact that his hands were shaking.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol took a step closer, brown eyes concerned. 

Baekhyun swallowed, heavy lump stuck in his throat. He turned to look at Chanyeol with wide eyes, searching for something in his eyes, something that would help him feel certain Chanyeol wasn't going to betray him. 

Chanyeol seemed to realize the problem as his eyebrows knitted together and he scanned Baekhyun's shaky form with seriousness. He took another step forward, his eyes turning gentle as he approached Baekhyun.

"Oh, Baek," he reached out, pulling at one of Baekhyun's hands to take it into his. "Jongin's not going to treat you badly. We talked about it, he won't say a word to offend you. Even if he tried, if anyone tried to hurt you, I'd protect you. I swear."

Chanyeol bent his neck to peek at Baekhyun's face, giving him an encouraging smile. Baekhyun smiled back, but it wasn't completely sincere. He wanted to believe him, he wanted to believe that Chanyeol would protect him, but there was a reluctant fear hiding in every corner of his mind, reminding him not to trust Chanyeol too much. For so long, it was him against Chanyeol and Jongin - he was not used to thinking of Chanyeol as his ally, as his protector. But the past few days he spent with the taller were so pleasant and different, Baekhyun wanted to keep this. He wanted this friendship, he didn't want to go back. He was afraid of going back to the way things were before.

"Thanks," he said shakily, taking a step back, Chanyeol's fingers falling from his hand. "I'm starving. Let's go eat first, okay?"

He swifltly turned around and strode out of the room, with Chanyeol following behind him.

They ate together, just the two of them as Mrs. Park was out in town with business that morning. Surprisingly for Baekhyun, Chanyeol knew his way around the kitchen pretty well. The shorter watched in awe as he expertly whisked the eggs for an omelet, sleeves of his blue shirt rolled up and muscular forearms on display. The whole time he was doing it, Chanyeol had a very concentrated look on his face, lower lip between his teeth, brown eyes glued to the bowl. He also looked a little stupid in a baby pink apron that said Smile, sunshine! on it and had a smiling sun drawn right above Chanyeol's stomach. Baekhyun was slicing the bread and watching him with an impressed smile on his face, throwing in a remark or two about pink being very much Chanyeol's color, and laughing when Chanyeol would frown at the sound of that.

Baekhyun relaxed more and more as they sat down to eat, Chanyeol sneakily pushing his chair closer to his and leaning into his space as they ate. He propped his head on his hand as he watched Baekhyun take the first bite, and smiled when Baekhyun's eyes widened.

"I can tell that it's good already, you ruined the suspense."

"This is really damn good, Chanyeol," Baekhyun looked at the plate, eyes still wide in surprise. "If I didn't see you do it before my eyes, I'd say you snuck in a chef to make it for us."

Chanyeol chuckled, running his fingers through his black fringe. "Well thank you, my humble assistant. The bread is also sliced impeccably, even though it was the only thing you managed to accomplish in around twenty minutes."

Baekhyun elbowed him in the stomach, making Chanyeol laugh.

"Shut up," he raised his chin defensively, looking at Chanyeol with narrowed eyes. "I don't cook. And do you know how difficult it is to slice bread evenly? I bet your slices would be all different-sized and wonky at the sides."

"Wonky at the sides? Who even uses that word?" Chanyeol teased, leaning out of Baekhyun's reach as the other tried to smack him. "Okay, alright, grandpa Byun."

"How old are you really, Park?" Baekhyun raised an eyebrow.

Chanyeol gave him a wink, reaching out for another slice of bread. Baekhyun jumped when he accidentaly knocked his coffee cup over with his elbow. The hot coffee splashed to all sides, making Chanyeol hiss. 

"Oh ," Baekhyun jumped up, alarmed, grabbing Chanyeol's wrist and inspecting the quickly spreading redness on his knuckles. "You need to put it under cold water, come on."

Chanyeol looked up at him with a gentle smile and shook his head, reaching out for a napkin with his free hand. "It's fine, Baek, I'll just wipe it down. It doesn't even hurt that bad."

"It's burned, , get up right now," Baekhyun pulled at Chanyeol's hood urgently.

Baekhyun dragged Chanyeol over to the kitchen by his wrist, avoiding the taller's eyes the entire time. He himself didn't know why he was reacting so sensitively to such a minor injury. 

He pulled at Chanyeol's hand for it to be placed directly under the stream of cold water, and watched the redness go away little by little. Chanyeol was still and quiet behind him, his arm pressed up against Baekhyun's. 

"I mean, it happens to everyone, but watch it next time, okay?" the blond murmured, running his fingers down Chanyeol's knuckles, frowning at the appearing red splotches. The coffee was boiling hot, it must've hurt a lot, he thought. Why would Chanyeol say it was nothing was a mystery to him.

He ran his fingertips over the reddened skin again, lost in thought.

He didn't notice Chanyeol moving closer to him, his presence swallowing up the little distance between them. He didn't notice his closeness until a heavy weight rested on his shoulders. He turned his head and was greeted by a tuft of curly black hair and a sharp jawline just inches away from his lips. Chanyeol was pressing his face against his shoulder, breathing in deeply, and releasing hot breaths into Baekhyun's skin.

Baekhyun dropped his wrist as if burned.

"Park, I warned you," he said shakily, squirming to push Chanyeol away a little. "What are you doing?"

He felt the other shift hesitantly against his back.

"Chanyeol," the other murmured into his shirt. "Please, Baekhyun. I hate it when you call me Park."

Baekhyun breathed in, his fingers grasping onto the edge of the sink. Once again, the warmth of Chanyeol was too much, it burned, it shocked, it clouded his consciousness. He couldn't bear having him this close.

"Chanyeol. Please, get off me."

Chanyeol closed his eyes and burried his forehead deeper into the smaller's shoulders, his chest pressing up against Baekhyun's back.

"Never had no one worry over me like that," he murmured almost inaudibly. "Not for real."

Baekhyun's heart jumped. "What are you saying?"

Chanyeol stayed silent, shifting against Baekhyun.

Baekhyun couldn't thin