Chanyeol woke up with a headache, still dressed in his good shirt and boxers, his black shirt stained with nacho cheese and salsa. He had to laugh. But when he sat up and remembered the night before he wanted to cry.

Baekhyun knew. 

They could never go back now. Things could never be the way they were. But they couldn't anyway. Childish feelings had to be put aside to make way for adult emotions. It was time to grow up. It was time to leave the past behind.

Chanyeol showered and washed the feeling of the night before off his skin. Now he had to face them all. His parents. Baekhyun. Sehun. He stared again at himself in the mirror. Reflection and introspection were brutal. But he had faced it and dealt with it and now it was time to move on. Time to deal with the present. 

Time to say goodbye to yesterday.

"Hi Mum." He said as he sat heavily at the table. "Sorry for leaving early last night." She smiled as she put a cup of coffee in front of him and he sipped at it gratefully. "Sehun was pretty upset last night. He said you guys fought." She sat next to him and Chanyeol slammed his coffee cup down in an uncharacteristic display of frustration. "Is that what he said? Did he tell you he outed me to Baekhyun? That I was finally making progress, that Baekhyun and I were having a great time just catching up, and he got jealous." Chanyeol, usually so calm and quiet, was losing it fast. "He got jealous and was awful to Baek and then he ing outed me. He told him I was in love with him." 

He felt the soothing hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off. "No. Don't bother. Everyone always takes his side. Sehun can do no wrong around here and I'm over it." Chanyeol took his coffee cup and found his packet of cigarettes and walked outside into the cold.

He stil had a few more days left but he debated getting in his car and driving away and leaving all this behind. It was too hard. He had already taken the easy option and ran away once. He could do it again so easily. But when he looked up from the swirling steam of his coffee and saw Baekhyun walking towards him he knew he couldn't.

"Hi." Chanyeol said quietly as Baekhyun stood next to him. "Hi." Baekhyun replied. They stood in a comforting silence while Chanyeol smoked his cigarette and threw the onto the grass below. "We need to talk. But I need to talk to him first." Chanyeol just nodded. He hadn't asked Baekhyun what he was going to say or do about Sehun. It was his business to deal with. But out in the cold crisp morning Chanyeol made a decision of his own. He knew what he was going to do. He didn't have long and he had to make the most of what little time he had."

Baekhyun walked inside without knocking. "Hi Mrs Park." He flushed with shame as she smiled brightly at him. She was so nice. He wondered how she had managed to always be so kind to him knowing that he was the source of so much unhappiness for Chanyeol. "Is Sehun here?" he asked quietly and she indicated the stairs as he was in his room. He climbed them quickly and knocked on the door and got a curt 'go away' in response.

"It's me. I'm coming in." Baekhyun opened the door and found Sehun on his bed. "Are you here to break up with me?" Sehun asked and Baekhyun had to admire his directness no matter how much it stung. "I think so." Baekhyun said as he sat on the bed. "Be honest Sehun. Did you ever really like me? Or was I just a way for you to try and beat Chanyeol at something?" Sehun frowned and thought hard.

——

Sehun pressed his ear against the door. He could hear the beautiful melodic sounds coming from inside the room as his big brother coaxed the notes from his precious guitar. It sounded amazing. He wished he was good at something. He listened to the soft murmurings of conversation as Baekhyun gave his critiques of Chanyeol's latest songwriting project and he heard both boys start to laugh and Chanyeol start to play again.

By the time he was thirteen he had tried it all. Music, marital arts, sports. He was average at best, a failure at most, and he just couldn't find that passion that Chanyeol showed when he picked up his guitar and made people swoon. He envied him so much. Sehun was growing now but Chanyeol was so tall. Sehun was handsome with his strong dark features and piercing eyes but Chanyeol had a uniqueness and natural charisma that drew people to him. Sehun's only strength was his brains while Chanyeol had big dreams of being famous.  And Sehun knew his brother's dreams would come true because everything came easy to Chanyeol. 

Jealousy burned inside Sehun when their father started taking Chanyeol on their weekend drives to the city for endless rounds of auditions while he was left home with his Mum. It was only a matter of time before someone saw his talent. And Chanyeol would have everything he ever wanted dropped in his lap.

But on that last day of school, nervously watching on from the doorway, Sehun learned that everything wasn't easy for Chanyeol. He couldn't always get what he wanted. He watched his parents soothe the devastated boy while he broke his heart and Sehun couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction. His perfect brother, the pride and joy of his family, couldn't always get his own way. Everyone didn't always choose his side.

When he asked Baekhyun out for coffee and Baekhyun said yes Sehun finally felt like he had won. Like he was good at something. Baekhyun was beautiful and kind, funny and well loved by everyone in his family. And if Sehun could date him then he could finally do something Chanyeol couldn't do.

——-

Sehun sighed. "Of course I like you. Everyone likes you." He sat up and couldn't meet Baekhyun's piercing judgement so instead he stared at the roof. "I really thought after everything you put him through he would be done with you and I could finally win." Sehun shook his head as he laid it back down on the pillow. "He's such an idiot. He still loves you after all that, doesn't he?" Baekhyun nodded.

"I'm sorry." Sehun said.

"Me too.."

Baekhyun got up and left the room. It was ill fated from the start, two people drawn together for all the wrong reasons, neither finding what they were looking for.

Baekhyun walked out to find Chanyeol still outside consuming another cigarette. "I wasn't kidding. They're bad for you." Baekhyun frowned and Chanyeol looked sufficiently chastised. He took one last drag and tossed it away. "Do you have plans for the day?" he asked Baekhyun and smiled when he shook his head. "Good. Lets go on a drive."