The first time Chanyeol sees Baekhyun crying, he almost forgets he's supposed to be a hardcore gangster. 

It was after school and most people already went home, but he already knew that sometimes, Baekhyun stays for stupid after school programs, so seeing him then wasn't out of the ordinary. The fact that he was crying, though, was... weird.

Chanyeol turns the other way. Ignoring the runt was probably the best option. He didn't want to talk to him either so it was going to save him a lot of trouble. Plus, the runt talks a lot so....

Goddamn it.

"Hey! What the hell are you crying so loud for!" Chanyeol yells down the hall. He doesn't want to get close to the latter, but his legs are taking him there anyways. "You're making my ears hurt!"

Then, Baekhyun does something that Chanyeol's not expecting which is running towards him with his arms out. Before he can even think about reacting, the runt latches onto him, pushing his face into the gangster's shirt.

"Mom just called me and said Salem hasn't come home!"

"A--" What the . "H-hey--" Chanyeol thinks about pushing Baekhyun off of him, but he literally can't for 2 reasons.

1. The kid's crying.

2. He's crying. And not the fake kind, either. 

God, part of him kind of wants to wipe the runt's tears away, but that wasn't cool. At least, not to him. This kid had been annoying him for literally months and all of a sudden, he wants to wipe his sissy tears off his stupid face just because 'Salem' didn't come home!?

.

"Hey... Um... It'll be alright..." It's like swallow a giant pill... with no water. Chanyeol puts his hands reluctantly on Baekhyun's shoulders and creates enough space that he's able to look at those swollen brown eyes. Goddamn it. "What's a Salem?"

Baekhyun sniffles. "My cat."

"Well...he's just a stupid cat, anyways... Right?"

He's ing terrible at consoling someone. 

Frowning, Baekhyun's lips start to wobble. "He's been my best friend since grade school. He's not just a stupid cat!"

"Okay! I didn't mean it," Chanyeol says, quick to retract his initial statement. "He's not just a cat. He's a friend... You barely have any human friends, but I mean--"

"You're so... bad at this!" Baekhyun wails, pushing Chanyeol with both of his hands. "You... You stupid idiot!"

Chanyeol freezes. "Idiot?"

"You heard me!" Baekhyun sobs, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his uniform. His cheeks were pink and the water works weren't doing anything but accentuate them. Chanyeol's attention is all over the place. "Idiot! Useless, gangster, idiot!" 

"Yah!" 

Chanyeol kind of yells it a bit louder than he anticipated. He sees Baekhyun stiffen, surprised by it all. Even for a few seconds, he's not sure about what he should do. He really doesn't have a plan. So he does the first thing that comes to his mind. 

He reaches out and grabs Baekhyun by the hand and didn't even let him have the chance to comment on it. "Don't say anything! Yes, I'm holding your ing baby hands! Just ing come with me."

"Where are we going?" Baekhyun says in between wiping his nose.

"We're going to look for Salem, idiot." Chanyeol's still a little bit salty.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He can't believe he's actually doing this. "I didn't bring a helmet for your big head today so you better hold tight cause I'm not helping you if you fall off my motorbike."

"Okay."

Chanyeol glances back for moment and sees that Baekhyun's not even giddy about riding with him like he usually is. So... he decides to be an idiot gangster. 

"What kind of stupid name is Salem, anyways?" he snorts, poking at Baekhyun for a reaction.

And it works... kind of.

"I named him after Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch," Baekhyun defends with his whole chest.

"Isn't that show for losers?"

"No! It's not! You remind me of someone from it." Baekhyun pauses for a second. "Harvey."

They turn a corner and head out the exit, towards the parking lot. During this time, Chanyeol can feel Baekhyun adjusting his hand until their hands feel more comfortable together. 

"And what the hell's so special about him?"

There's a small giggle. "He's the boyfriend." 

Baekhyun smiles and, this time, Chanyeol doesn't mind all that much.

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