If things hadn’t felt awkward that night, they definitely were in the morning. Not that you really allowed yourself to be around Chanyeol. You hadn’t slept much overnight but one thing was certain, you weren’t going to push the snooze button like you had been on your alarm lately. And when it went off precisely on time, you sat up, blearily pulling yourself up from what had barely amounted to any rest and began getting ready for work. You skipped having a shower, you focused on your makeup too much and then pinned up your hair. Knowing that if you left now you could stop off for a coffee and bagel for breakfast at the café next to your work, you picked up your bag and stepped out of your room.

Chanyeol had just exited his own and blinked a couple of times at your made up appearance, looking far too alert for someone who usually struggled in the morning. “You’re ready early. Just give me ten and–”

“Uh, I have an early meeting; I’ll just take the subway.”

“Oh.” He nodded slowly, his eyes now avoiding yours. “Well, have a nice day.”

“You too.” You sounded too chipper and fled to the door, groaning internally as you stumbled to get into your heels. Your feet were bound to hurt after this shift, but you didn’t care long enough to grab a pair of sneakers, just wanting to escape before things got awkward.

Or, more than it already was.

You internalised your problem all morning, barely eating or concentrating on your tasks. And then your mood changed to overdoing it on everything and snacking constantly on chocolate. You had decided to avoid it until it all went away and you and Chanyeol could look back on these times when much older and laugh.

Right now though you felt ridiculous.

You hoped he would find an apartment of his own. And when you arrived home that evening, Chanyeol was doing just that, searching online at the small table, greeting you with a strained smile. You had been hoping for this all day and for a moment your face broke out happily, he had done well to understand your feelings. And then you sighed, wondering why it felt so wrong to be this happy. You went over to the refrigerator and looked in to see what you could make for dinner.

“Don’t your feet hurt?” he asked and you glanced at down at your slippers, thankful they covered your painful toes. You had to run for the subway on the way home and your feet were still protesting about it. “Maybe we could order in?”

“If I keep eating takeaways, I’ll get too fat.”

“You’re not fat at all,” he assured and for a moment you smiled, feeling at ease with Chanyeol’s words. Then you met his gaze and snapped your focus away immediately.

It was still uncomfortable.

Pulling out some side dishes and chicken, you mindlessly started cooking for you both. It was mostly silent, Chanyeol humming or muttering under his breath at the apartments he was still perusing. And when you placed a plate in front of him, he thanked you but didn’t put the computer away. For some reason, it irked you to sit down with him so distracted from having a proper conversation with you.

“My boss needs me to start coming in to work earlier from now on, so I’ll just take the subway,” you said after five minutes of waiting to see if he’d close the laptop lid and join you for the meal.

“Okay.”

“Thank you for taking me so far,” you continued and he nodded lightly. You were stupidly hurt by his lack of conversation and glared at him for a moment before stabbing at your meal with more force than necessary.

After dinner, Chanyeol went to wash the dishes and you stood beside him, drying the utensils as he placed them down.

“I might have found a place,” he told you and you paused in picking up a bowl, glancing up at him to gauge his expression. Chanyeol didn’t look at you; instead he kept his eyes on the soapy water. “I’ll go take a look this weekend at it.”

“That’s good.”

“Mm, if it’s nice enough, I’ll move in then too.”

You didn’t know what to say back and just carried on drying the bowl in your hand slowly.

“But if you need anything, like a light bulb changed or something that your adult friends can’t do-”

“I’ll be fine; I survived here by myself all this time.”

“Of course you did,” he agreed, and then all of a sudden the lights went out.

There was screaming and a shattering sound as the room plunged into darkness. And then it was eerily silent.

“Chanyeol, you’re still there right?” you asked tentatively and then sq