Oh dear no. Baekhyun should have read that comment at least three more times, see where he could have taken words out or said something else entirely. Maybe he should have deleted the comment altogether – but it’s too late. He swallows thickly, looking at his phone because he somehow can’t look the other two members in the eyes.

“Oh! Baekhyun, weren’t we talking before this mean kid took me to the studio?” Yixing asks, turning back to send Chanyeol a playful glare, but the tall man pretends to be more affected than he should have been. “Aigoo,” the Chinese coos, as if Chanyeol is a kid, and pats his head before he turns back to Baekhyun. Chanyeol even manages a whiny hyung~, as if he had all the right in the world to whisk him away while he was having a conversation with the short singer.

“Oh. Oh yeah we were,” Baekhyun says, a little awkwardly because Chanyeol is looking at him now and with the fanfiction he just read, that’s a bit… much. As long as he doesn’t look the man in the eyes, he should be fine, though.

“Weren’t you suggesting I should compose songs together with someone? For the next album?” Baekhyun’s mouth dries because in all honesty, he can’t say that out loud right now. So even when Yixing sits next to him and Chanyeol is still standing awkwardly in the doorway, as if he’s not sure whether or not he should hear this part, Baekhyun can’t force the words out of his mouth.

“How unlike you to remember a topic after being interrupted, hyung,” he says as a cover-up and it works, thankfully.

“Of course, don’t I always remember when we talk about music? Oh, Chanyeol just let me listen to a piece he’s been working on, it’s really good! Maybe I should work together with you, what do you think?” Yixing rambles, now addressing Chanyeol himself and saving Baekhyun unknowingly. Before any worse situations can arise, Baekhyun pushes himself up off the couch – and only then realizes that Chanyeol hasn’t left the door and he has to pass him like that and he… wait. He should just do what he always does.

“Yeol, move,” he says, as convincingly as ever, but his blush doesn’t quite match all that. Maybe Chanyeol doesn’t notice? He shouldn’t, he’s talking to Yixing. But Chanyeol looks down at him with a smile, one that Baekhyun can’t quite decipher, but one that sends shivers down his spine. Chanyeol looks at Yixing when he steps aside. The space Baekhyun has to pass through is awfully narrow, though.

“Hyung you’re so dense sometimes. I took you to the studio for a reason.” Took, Chanyeol at least has the decency to say it correctly. There was no such thing as asking him nicely, or even taking note of the fact that Baekhyun was there, having a conversation with him. As Baekhyun thinks of that, he pouts, but he passes Chanyeol anyway, only to feel a very deliberate hand brush past his fingers.

This time, Baekhyun makes sure to not have an obvious reaction, apart from the blush staining his cheeks. With his head held high, he stalks over to his room, hearing the conversation between the other two members continue as if nothing happened.

Baekhyun lies awake for about an hour before he makes up his mind. He opens up the app again, clicks a few times until he reaches the page he was at before – the latest chapter cbbyforever posted. A grin plasters itself on his face but he just starts reading before he gets interrupted yet again. A notification, this time; the letter ‘a’ in the top left corner of his phone startling him more than he thought. Did the author post another chapter?

Curious, Baekhyun swipes the notification down to read it and to his honest shock, he sees it’s a reply to his comment. His heart beats fast in anticipation because he hadn’t expected any reply at all, let alone so soon after he posted the comment. He won’t admit it, but his hand trembles when he clicks the notification in favor of reading the chapter again.

You didn’t think it was embarrassing? Yay! I’m sure Chanyeol will be very happy with your compliment heh :3. Yes please leave me comments! I would appreciate it :3.

Baekhyun is a bit unsure why his heart is beating so loudly in his chest. It’s not like this person has any sort of connection to him – or Chanyeol, for that matter – yet it makes him all giddy and nervous to talk to the author. They exchanged as much as two messages with each other. Wow. And – very importantly – does Baekhyun reply to this now? While fretting over it, another notification startles him and he really thinks he should put his phone on silent mode already – what if this goes on all night? It seems like cbbyforever is really on a roll, because this time, it’s a blogpost. Baekhyun opens it, a lot less nervously than the last, because this isn’t directed towards him.

Okay guys you remember the guy I talked about last time, right?

Baekhyun remembers, he’s been following the author for a while now, since he allowed himself to start reading fanfics about his favorite ship. The only thing Baekhyun doesn’t know, is whether the author is a guy or a girl and he doesn’t dare to assume either. That’s why in his head, cbbyforever is an author, genderless and unapproachable, but apparently, not so much. The guy this author talks about, is apparently really cute, but doesn’t notice when cbbyforever tries to get his attention.

Well he’s still cute. Obviously. But now, he seems even worse than before! He gets all jumpy and shy but he doesn’t allow me in at all ㅠ.ㅠ On top of it all, he seems way too cozy with our other friend D: Well that’s really all for today.

Baekhyun feels an almost irresistible urge to comment on this. He wants to say that the guy the author talks about, should open his eyes already. But he remembers in time that he himself can’t open up so easily when it comes to Chanyeol and maybe, the author is in a similar position? That’s why he keeps his thoughts to himself when he finally silences his phone and goes to sleep.

When he wakes up after a bit of a restless night, he sees there’s another update, on a different one of cbbyforever’s stories. Baekhyun doesn’t have time to read again, and instead, he gets ready for the day. He picks out comfortable clothes because dance practice is first on the long list of things to do and he sighs when he puts them on. Sometimes, Baekhyun overthinks things and right now is one of those times. He had wished to catch up a little more with his Chinese hyung, but Chanyeol of all people had to take him away. Why even? To show him around the studio he spends so much time in? As if Yixing doesn’t know what it looks like!

With a huff, Baekhyun opens his bedroom door and then freezes instantly. He tends to forget that Chanyeol showers in the mornings rather than evenings. What is new in this situation, though, is that Chanyeol thinks it’s okay to walk around wearing… nothing. A towel – but that’s not considered clothing. And Baekhyun can see all his back muscles contracting and relaxing when the tall rapper walks away from him, unaware of his presence. In one of his hands, Chanyeol holds his phone and Baekhyun sees the cord of his earphones leading up to his ears. Baekhyun can see everything, his newly trained biceps and the dip of his spine.

Then, a drop of water dares fall from the strands of Chanyeol’s black hair, running down that expanse of skin. Baekhyun follows it with his eyes – not because he wants to, but because he’s compelled. The drop of water disappears, soaked up by the towel slung around the rapper’s waist and Baekhyun doesn’t even notice he’s staring so hard.

Well, that is until Chanyeol disappears through his own bedroom door. Briefly, their eyes meet, but before Baekhyun can freak out that he has been caught, a gentle hand lands on the small man’s upper arm. He averts his eyes, to instead look up at the incredibly soft morning expression on Yixing’s face.

“Oh hey Baekhyun,” the older male says, a smile playing on his lips and a little nervously, Baekhyun waits for a teasing remark that he had so blatantly been checking out Chanyeol’s backside, but none comes. “We’ve got vocal practice together later, right?” he asks, his Korean a little messy because he only just woke up. With a sigh of relief, Baekhyun smiles. He’s so diligent – he barely came back from China and he’s already thinking of practicing.

“Yup. All ready?” he asks his hyung, but Yixing doesn’t seem to be so – and that’s fine, because dance practice is first anyway.

“After breakfast, sure,” he says and chuckles, pulling on Baekhyun’s arm as if to say that they should have it together, right now. The short singer isn’t planning on refusing anything of the sort and follows into the kitchen. “Ah, Kyungsoo,” Yixing says, almost absentmindedly when laying eyes on the other, who has his back turned towards them while cooking some rice. How does he even find the energy in the morning? However at the sound of his name – or Yixing’s voice – the short man whips his head around, eyes rounded in surprise and a heart-shaped smile following easily.

“Hyung!” he says, turning off the stove and running the short distance to – again – interrupt Baekhyun’s Yixing-time. With a little pout, Baekhyun steps aside and watches the two catch up and he realizes that Yixing didn’t wake up any of the members when he returned yesterday. He’s so considerate and he can’t help but smile at the thought.

While the two other members finish up cooking breakfast, Baekhyun fishes his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants and finds the page he wants to be at. He strategically turns his back towards the entrance of the kitchen so the other two won’t be able to see his phone’s screen.

There he is, the blogpost – and he has his reply right in his mind. But when he types it up, he knows he wants to go back and give it some more thought – that’s just how he works.

Maybe you should be a bit more obvious ^o^ Fighting!

He holds off sending it, he can write something a bit more sensitive than that. But out of nowhere, Chanyeol’s voice rumbles and while Baekhyun hides his phone as quickly as he can with a shriek, he knows he pressed the ‘Post Comment’ button.

“What’re you doing?” It’s so close to him, Baekhyun feels Chanyeol’s breath on his cheek and his fingers are making the tiniest bit of contact with his hipbones through the sweatpants he wears.

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Thank you so much for the support on the first chapter!! I hope you'll like this one as well! <3