As he took his morning coffee out onto the back deck Chanyeol could feel the tension in the air. He and Sehun were at a standoff, a stalemate, over this Baekhyun issue. He couldn't believe that his own brother would do this. And Baekhyun must have had at least an inkling after what went on between them that this would hurt Chanyeol. He sipped his coffee in quiet contemplation until Sehun joined him outside. 

"Have a good time last night?" Chanyeol eyed him with a cold and calm expression that belied the fire building inside him. "Yeah. We did have a good time." Sehun responded with his own cold fire. They sat in silence before Chanyeol finally broke it. "Were you just going to try and hide it forever? You knew I would be hurt. You knew it Sehun and you didn't give a ." 

Chanyeol slammed his empty coffee cup down on the table and stormed inside and straight into the arms of his Mum. "Calm down honey." She said but Chanyeol already had the fire building inside him and it was threatening to boil over. "Calm down? After everything that happened you want me to calm down?" His fire turned to pain and he began to shake before pulling himself together and out of his mums arms. "I'm fine. Sehun can date whoever he wants. So can Baekhyun. They're adults. They can do whatever they want."

He stormed up to his room and found comfort in the space that used to provide him with the solace he needed in his teenage years. Growing up gay in a small town had been hard to deal with and he had struggled so much with hiding who he really was. Having a gay brother didn't give Chaneyol the sort of comfort and camaraderie you would expect. Instead of drawing them together the two brothers had always been distant. Sehun had always been the handsome one, the smart one, and the popular one. All Chanyeol had was his music and Baekhyun. And his secret. When his secret had been exposed during his final days of school he lost everything.

He laid on the bed with the pillow over his face just as he had all those years ago, 8 years to be exact, and called out "Go away!" when there was a knock at the door. "It's me." His mum's soft voice called through the door and she walked in without heeding his word. "Chanyeol. Why don't you just go and see him? It's obvious you miss him. Maybe he feels the same way?" Her voice was soothing but Chanyeol just shook his head. He felt like a child again in his childhood room, in his childhood home, being admonished by his mother like a ten year old. "Well why don't you at least get out of the house. Go into town and look around. See what's changed and what's the same." Getting out sounded like a good distraction.

He showered and dressed in his new designer clothes gifted to him personally by the designer himself. He laughed as he slipped into the thousand dollar jeans and soft black cashmere sweater. Clothes were gifted to him regularly so they were photographed but there would be no paparazzi where he was going. He styled his hair and grabbed dark sunglasses. No use trying to hide his identity with a cap or a mask. Everyone here knew who he was.

Chanyeol parked his car and got out to walk the strip of shops that made up the entire economy of the town. Everyone stared at him as he strolled as casually as he could past the town's one bar, one supermarket, one pharmacy. A few people stopped him to talk, friends of his mums, a few giggling schoolgirls looking for autographs. He slipped into the supermarket and bought a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He had quit smoking ever since he started seeing Kyungsoo. The other man despised his habit but he was on the other side of the world and Chanyeol wanted something to do. Chanyeol lit a cigarette and dragged on it casually as he continued to walk the length of the main road. He forgot how innately boring this town was. It wasn't even the lack of shops or activities. It was the nature of the place, nothing changed, nothing was alive or vibrant or interesting.

Before he even realised where he was going he had found the one thing in the street full of colour and life. It was located right down the end of the strip of shops. Byun's Nursery. He walked slowly past the high chicken wire fence and looked in. The inside of the fence was covered with shade cloth but Chanyeol's height meant he could easily see over the top. Fruit trees and conifers and hardy roses were all lined up in the sun, their delicate baby branches waving in the soft breeze, and the sight brought Chanyeol right back to his childhood.

—————

"Shhhh" Baekhyun whispered to a giggling Chanyeol as they pushed a few of the pots forward. The pine scent of conifers invaded Chanyeol's nose as he and Baekhyun hid themselves up the back of the outdoor section of the nursery. Baekhyun had been quick enough to snatch one of the chocolate bars they kept on the counter of the nursery shop while his Mums back was turned and the two friends had took off like little rockets. 

Baekhyun opened the packet and snapped the bar of caramel filled chocolate in half and they filled their mouths with the stolen sweet treat, caramel dripping down their chins, the rich creamy chocolate melting quickly on their hands in the late summer sun. The boys had spent almost the entire summer holidays barefoot and shirtless 'helping' Baekhyun's parents in the nursery. Helping consisted of watering themselves more than the plants, trying to catch the canaries and quails that avoided them in the big aviary, and stealing whatever treats they could get their hands on from inside the nursery shop. 

Baekhyun had already turned twelve and was an inch taller than his best friend who was still eleven. Both boys were skinny as sticks and tanned from the freedom of their school holidays. "Want to sleep over tonight?" Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun shoved the last of his chocolate in and wiped his hands on his shorts. "Yeah. Do you think your mum will let us get movies?" Chanyeol nodded. DVDs had not yet made their way to the small town's video shop and Chanyeol knew his mum would spring them the $5 they would need to rent a few action movies on VHS. They would fall asleep on the sofa bed in the living room and wake up with the dawn to run back to the nursery. It had been the best summer ever.

—————

As he looked over the shade cloth into the second home of his childhood Chanyeol felt suddenly overwhelmed. He pulled another cigarette out and lit it while he watched a few people wander amongst the healthy looking plants. He hoped for the sake of Mr and Mrs Byun that business was strong. He couldn't stand the thought of them struggling financially. Small business was a hard way to make a living and Baekhyun's law practice was probably helping support them but now.....

He was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts when a small dark haired man walked through the rows of roses to speak with the customers. He was wearing a short sleeved polo shirt and a pair of shorts, his short height and slim figure giving away nothing of the last eight years, his shining hair dark and a little too long as it blew gently in the breeze. It was him and he looked exactly the same as Chanyeol remembered.

Beautiful.