Maybe because Chanyeol has been spoilt by his loved ones his entire life, he doesn’t take Baekhyun seriously. Chanyeol argues with his parents, his friends, and the outcome has always been in his favour - they give in, say that it’s their own fault, leaving Chanyeol guilt free.

But now it has been two weeks, and Byun Baekhyun is still ignoring him, treats him like he doesn’t exist in school. Chanyeol is beyond frustrated, nobody has resisted him for that long before. Every moment spent during breaks was trying to get the smaller’s attention, but even if Baekhyun sees him, he just pretends that nothing has happened.

Stage one: denial.

‘Grandma, can you believe that Baekhyun is ignoring me in school? I can’t believe he just brushed me off like that! I thought I already apologized!’ Chanyeol conveys his feelings of frustration to the chairwoman. Mrs Park sits in her big chair and sips her tea, it was pretty amusing to see her grandson this livid and confused. Because she acknowledges that nobody has made him this stressed out before, not even his own parents.

‘Just give him time, Chanyeol.’ She encourages, as Chanyeol tries to calm down with his iced Americano.

‘I’m going to think real hard about this, I won’t let Baekhyun treat me like I’m invisible! Thanks, Grandma. I’ll update you when I find out what’s wrong!’ Chanyeol sprints out of the mansion, causing the chairwoman to chuckle. When Chanyeol was truly immersed in something, he doesn’t waste his time. And perhaps for the first time ever, Chanyeol is finally reflecting on his own actions and trying to make things right. The chairwoman can’t help but smile, that the spoilt and whiny grandson she once knew is changing for the better, thanks to a certain Baekhyun.

Baekhyun on the other hand is taking this pretty well. Once he drifted away from Chanyeol, Chanyeol’s group of friends have also started to pay less attention to him, and he has been able to enjoy university life slightly better. He slowly expanded his social circle, and made two new friends Junmyeon and Yixing after Minseok invited them to have lunch together. It was the first time in a very long time that he felt satisfied, he enjoyed feeling like he belonged; chatting with his friends, taking the bus home together, the occasional outings. It was the little things that made him happy.

‘...Minjun! Junnie! I’m back!’ Baekhyun calls out for his brother as he opens the main door, he has just returned from working at Chenel, thanks to Jongdae who helped him get a recommendation to work there.

‘Hyungggggggg!’ Minjun runs out, multiple pieces of paper in his small hands. Mr Kim follows from behind, with his usual poker face.

‘What’s all this Minjun?’ Baekhyun kneels, trying to be on the same level as Minjun. He looks at the papers and sees colorful scribbles, though he can’t really make out the words.

‘Minjun was learning to write your name, Baekhyun-sshi. There are 80 more pieces of papers in your room with his other attempts.’ Mr Kim responds. Baekhyun’s eyes widened at the number, and looked at Minjun who was smiling and trying to climb onto him. Minjun’s love for his older brother was truly obvious, and perhaps a little alarming - because most toddlers would prefer to write their own name first, but Minjun decided to write his hyung’s name. Eighty times.

‘Minjun wrote yeollie’s name too!’ Minjun points at one corner of the page, which is supposed to mean ‘yeol’ but it looked more like a stick figure. Baekhyun doesn’t know how to react because Minjun was addressing the elephant in the room, which was Chanyeol. Though Baekhyun was happy with how things currently are, a part of his mind can’t help but think about Chanyeol.

‘Wow, Minjun! You are so smart!’ Baekhyun compliments, trying to change the topic.

‘When will we see yeollie again? He pwromised to give me a pwiggy back ride!’ Minjun asks, eyes full of innocence and curiosity. Baekhyun was so glad that Minjun didn’t see what unfolded that night, for Minjun would definitely be traumatised.

‘Erm..yeollie is... currently on a trip! Do you remember when the chairwoman went on one? Yeollie is doing the same!’ Baekhyun lies, hoping that this would suffice while Minjun was still young and unsuspicious.

‘What is a trip? Where do people go?’ Minjun asks further, curious about how the world works.

Ah, that’s right. The two siblings have never been on a trip before. The most they have been to was the Children’s Grand Park in Seoul, and that was to celebrate Minjun’s first birthday. Baekhyun worked hard to save up money that day for the tickets and to buy a nice cake. It was a memorable experience for the siblings indeed, but Baekhyun doubts that Minjun remembers it.

‘People take the airplane and they will be in the sky for a few hours! And when they wake up, they will be in a different place! And some people will take the train, they transport people too!’ Baekhyun makes the sound of the airplane, causing Minjun to giggle.

‘Uwaaaa! Minjun wants to go on a trip too!’

Minjun shouts excitedly, running around the main hall, pretending to be an airplane. Baekhyun laughs at his brother’s antics, he was way too cute at this age. But his smile is slightly bittersweet when he thinks about how impossible a trip would be; tickets, accommodation, food - it was just too expensive given their current situation, even when the chairwoman has been a great help to them.

‘Soon, baby. Soon.’ Baekhyun ruffles Minjun’s hair, grabbing him in a tight hug. For now, an empty promise would do.

-

Chanyeol groans when he sees the mess in his room, since his grandmother refused to hire him a new housekeeper, his house has been in a never ending cycle of messiness. Beer bottles, empty pizza boxes - Park Chanyeol was not tidy at all.

‘Aish, if only Baekhyun was here.’ He mutters unintentionally, imagining how Baekhyun would rush out and clear up everything, making sure that the house is clean at all times.

Chanyeol starts picking up the boxes, and it takes him forever with the amount of trash piling up. He can’t help but think, is this what Baekhyun goes through everyday? Because of him? Even Chanyeol himself, being extremely fit and full of stamina, found tidying his living room to be extremely tiring. There’s now another layer of guilt.

Stage two: Anger

Chanyeol notices yet another hurdle. The second floor. His socks, clothes, accessories are piled up like a small mountain. It seemed as if his house was an obstacle course, and he didn’t know what to do - he has never washed his own clothes before!

How could he let this happen, how did Baekhyun endure his untidy behavior? He was angry at himself, and slightly embarrassed too. Baekhyun had to do all the never-ending housekeeping, endure Chanyeol’s immature actions, take care of his little brother and complete his assignments at the same time. Did Baekhyun even have time to relax?

Little by little, the truth is, Chanyeol is starting to miss Baekhyun. And it was beginning to overwhelm him very much.

-

Hi everyone!! Thanks for reading Waiting in the clouds! Since this is a chaptered fic updates will be slower xD but I have another fic which has been completed (Definition of Perfect) and do check it out if you haven’t! Once again thanks for supporting my stories, I’ll try to reply to all the comments <333