It’s the last he hears of Baekhyun for a while.

In the time after, Chanyeol replays the night in his head over and over again, as if he were afraid to forget it. He couldn’t remember a single thing from the rest of the night, their confessions to each other being the only moment of clarity his tipsy brain could remember, would even want to remember.

But after a handful of weeks of radio silence from the small boy, Chanyeol begins to worry that he had made a mistake.  

He picks apart every last detail from that night, picking apart every last thing he said, every last thing that he did, beats himself up for the things he should have done better. He wants to regret what he did. He knew that if he had drunk less, if he had just gone to sleep once they made it back, none of this would have ever happened.

But he feels so light after getting it off his chest. Like he was done trying to hide a part of himself to the world.

He wants to regret what he did, but he can’t find it in himself to.

~~~~~

It takes almost a month and a half for Chanyeol to get a phone call, but it’s not the one he expected. There’s an unfamiliar number on the screen, and though Chanyeol often ignored unknown calls to his phone, something told him that this was a call he would want to pick up.

He could barely utter out a tentative ‘hello?’ before a voice spoke on the other end.

“Chanyeol, I need to talk to you.”

The giant could feel his heart sink to the ground.

“S-Sehun? How did you get my number?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you free?”

“I, uh…” Chanyeol stuttered out, shocked by the boy’s directness. “Yeah, but—“

“I’m headed to our high school. Meet me there in 15 minutes?”

He hops to his feet, grabbing whatever clothes look the cleanest from his floor, giving a few a quick sniff. “Uh… yeah, sure.”

 “I’ll see you then.”

The phone clicked as the other boy hung up, leaving Chanyeol to hurriedly get changed. He runs out the door as soon as he can, messing with the lock for a few moments before making his way down the familiar route to school.

The weather had been warming up recently, leaving Chanyeol sweating a bit as he hurried to make it back to their high school. There was a tinge in his heart as he went down the streets, almost nostalgic for the year that had passed them by, but he continued until he was almost skidding to a stop at the front gates of the school.

He looked around, sparing a glance at his watch to see that a little over 15 minutes had passed, but Sehun was nowhere to be seen. Chanyeol leaned over, letting himself catch his breath for a moment before straightening up again. The gates were wide open, but with the sun slowly setting, Chanyeol thought it safe to assume classes were done for the day. He took a few tentative steps in, jumping a bit when he saw Sehun leaning on the inside of the gate.

“You made it,” Sehun said, almost surprised. “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“I promised I would, didn’t I?” Chanyeol asked with a smile. Sehun chuckled softly to himself, hands tucked into his pockets.

Jesus, even when he wasn’t trying, he looked like he was coming out of a photoshoot.

“I guess that’s true. Take a walk with me?”

The giant looked at him, puzzled, but when Sehun began walking towards the school, Chanyeol found himself following.

“Uh… not to be rude, but why did you call me out here exactly?”

Sehun sighed, walking into the school like he belonged there as Chanyeol trailed awkwardly behind him.

“Are we even allowed in here?”

“I come to visit all the time,” Sehun said, tone relaxed. “They’re used to seeing me here, they won’t say anything.”

Chanyeol nodded slowly, following the boy up, up, up the stairs until they reach the rooftop, Sehun producing the key to its door before shouldering it open.

“How did you get that?”

“I got it from one of the teachers a few years ago. He asked me to help him out with something and never asked for the key back.”

“I never would’ve guessed.”

“Well, we didn’t know very much about each other back then. We don’t know very much about each other now.” Sehun said, gesturing for Chanyeol to step through the door. The giant gives him a reluctant look, but walks through nonetheless.

“I’m not gonna push you off the roof, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Sehun said, propping the door open with a wooden door stop on the floor near the doorframe. “I’m also not locking you up here. You might have a crush on my boyfriend, but that’s no reason for me to commit a possible crime.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened. “You—“

Sehun smiled knowingly, walking past Chanyeol to the edge of the roof, resting his arms on the ledge as he looked out over the school grounds, bathed in a soft yellow light.

“You know, I had a crush on Baekhyun around the beginning of high school,” the boy began. “He was in my homeroom class and he just had the brightest smile. It took my breath away the first time I saw it.”

Sehun let out an airy chuckle.

“But whenever I wanted to talk to him outside of class, there you were. Like a tall, impenetrable wall. I figured you guys were already dating, and I wanted to give up my stupid crush before I got hurt, but you guys kept insisting there was nothing going on between the two of you.”

Chanyeol walks up to the boy, standing next to him and mimicking his stance, but Sehun’s gaze doesn’t waver.

“You were never mean to me, but once I confessed to Baekhyun, something changed. You’d glare at me in the halls, you’d spit my name out if you couldn’t avoid saying it, you’d look like you were ready to strangle me when I was eating lunch.”

“I’m sorry.” Chanyeol murmured, guilt pooling in his stomach. Sehun laughed again.

“It’s okay. We were younger then. I was ‘Sehun-the-Baekhyun-stealer’ before I was ‘Sehun-the-weird-nerdy-kid’ to you.” 

The boy hung his head for a moment, rubbing the nape of his neck before looking back up, a sad smile on his face.

“I should’ve known earlier that I’d never take up as much of Baekhyun’s heart as you did. Hell, maybe I did know earlier, but just didn’t want to face it.”

“I don’t take up more of his heart than you do, Sehun. Baekhyun’s dating you, not me.”

“God, do I wish that were true. But you’re the one he wants to be with, Chanyeol. Not me.”

Chanyeol stares the boy down, searching for something, anything in his face that would suggest he’s lying, but all he sees in Sehun’s gaze is resignation.

“He’s been different since the day of the showcase. I know he brought you back to your dorm that night.”

“We didn’t—“

“I know you didn’t do anything. He left me paragraphs of texts telling me what happened. He didn’t say anything about a confession, but he didn’t need to,” Sehun let out a sigh. “When he was with me, it was like he wasn’t with me anymore. It doesn’t take a genius for someone to figure out that you probably had something to do with it.”

“I’m sorry, Sehun,” Chanyeol said, hoping his tone sounded as genuinely apologetic as he felt. “I wasn’t thinking straight and everything just came tumbling out. I didn’t mean to ruin things between you two.”

“Honestly, it was a matter of time. I guess a part of me just wished he would’ve gotten over his crush on you. Maybe I was just asking too much.”

Sehun pushed himself away from the ledge, taking a few steps back as Chanyeol turned to face him.

“I ended things with him this morning.”

“You… What?”

“I met up with him this morning, we grabbed coffee, and I broke up with him. He looked so sad, but I could see there was relief in his eyes.”

“Why would you do that?”

Sehun smiled sadly again, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Because I love him, Chanyeol. I love him so goddamn much, but I know he doesn’t love me. Not like that, anyways. And as much as it might hurt me, I just want him to be happy. It’s obvious I can’t do that for him the same way you can.”

Chanyeol stood there in shock for a moment as Sehun walked towards the door.

“It locks on its own, so just take out the door stop whenever you want to leave,” Sehun said before turning around one last time. “And do me a favour?”

“Anything.”

“Don’t mess this up, Chanyeol.”

~~~~~

The sky is dark and, despite the warmth of the day, the night is cold, but doesn’t stop Chanyeol from running as fast as his legs will take him.

His movements start out slow as he made his way out of the school, but his steps pick up without him noticing, going faster and faster until he’s sprinting down the path he had taken almost every day after school. He’s rounding every corner so sharply he was almost positive he was leaving small clouds of dust in his wake, but he can’t find time to care.

He needs to see Baekhyun.

His steps slow to a stop when he makes it to Baekhyun’s home. His legs feel like jelly, and he’s ready to collapse right there and then, but he walks up to the door, giving it a few hard raps. It takes a moment before he hears Baekhyun’s telltale footsteps scurrying to the door, swinging it open as his eyes widen in surprise.

“Chanyeol, I wasn’t expecting you—“

“Date me,” Chanyeol blurted out, chest still heaving from his run. “Please.”

Baekhyun blinks at him, taking a quick glance back into his home before slipping on his shoes, grabbing his keys, and stepping outside. Chanyeol watches, hands itching as Baekhyun locked the door after him, arms wrapped to his chest as he started walking away from his home, Chanyeol following after him like a puppy.

“Bold thing to say to someone who got broken up with this morning.” Baekhyun muttered, pulling his hoodie closer to his body. Despite the darkness, Chanyeol could tell it was an old one that Baekhyun had stolen from him years ago, and a smile forms on his face. They walk until they reach a small park not too far away. Baekhyun goes straight for the swings, not bothering to wait for his friend to follow before he’s off, swinging back and forth like he hadn’t a care in the world.

Chanyeol smiled, taking a seat on the empty swing next to him as Baekhyun played in silence. But after moments of silence passed, Chanyeol spoke again.

“Please date me, Baekhyun.” He said, voice clear and certain.

The small boy stopped kicking at the ground, letting himself slow until he was almost at a stop. He stared down at his feet with a sigh.

“I was really hoping you were too drunk to remember anything from that night.”

“I wasn’t that drunk, Baekhyun.”

“You were drunk enough to start saying nonsense.”

“That ‘nonsense’ was the truth, Byun. You’re the most beautiful person in the world. I don’t make the rules.”

Baekhyun sends him a weak glare and Chanyeol chuckles in response.

“What about you then? You barely drank, yet you confessed to me. What’s your excuse then?”

Even in the darkness, Chanyeol could see the smaller boy’s cheeks redden in embarrassment. “Shut up!”

The tall boy knocks his head against one of the chains holding him up, gentle smile on his face as he looked up at the sky, clearer than he had ever seen it.

“Still waiting on that answer, Baek.” Chanyeol said softly, looking over to his small friend, a sparkle in his eye.

Baekhyun looked back at him, cheeks still pink, but a sad smile on his face. “I want to say yes, Chanyeol. I really do.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“I might’ve liked you all these years, but I also really liked Sehun. I feel like such a bad person for saying this, but I was partially relieved when he broke things off,” Baekhyun said, toeing at the ground beneath him. “I was relieved, but I still loved him at the end of the day. It still hurt to end things.”

Chanyeol’s smile softened as he cast his gaze down. “I understand.”

He hears the swing next to him creak before he sees a pair of shoes pointed towards him, eyes trailing up until they met with Baekhyun’s, now standing in front of him.

“I don’t think I’ve had to look up at you since we were seven.”

Baekhyun playfully knocks Chanyeol’s head with his hand. “Shut up, Yoda.” He says before cupping Chanyeol’s cheeks together until the tall boy’s lips were pursed.

“What are you—“ Chanyeol gets out before Baekhyun leans in and presses a kiss on the giant’s lips, leaving him as red as a tomato long after the small boy had pulled away. Chanyeol’s hand moves up to graze his lips that were already forming into a wide grin.

“The answer is no, for now. I think I need some time before I’m ready to jump into another relationship. But if you’re willing to wait for me—“

“I’ve spent years waiting for you, Baek. I’d wait a whole lot more if it meant you’d be mine.”

Baekhyun smiled, a hand carding through the giant’s hair affectionately.

“Just… please don’t make me wait another decade. I’ll wait if I need to, but god—“

The small boy cuts him off with another kiss, leaving the giant smiling even wider than before.

“Is it too early for me to tell you I love you?” Chanyeol asked. Baekhyun laughed.

“We haven’t even gone on a date yet, and you’re already telling me you love me?”

“I can’t help it, Baek.”

Baekhyun ruffled the giant’s hair. “You’re so dumb, Yoda.” He says, hand going down to cup the giant’s face.

“You’re lucky I love you too.”