The summer after high school meant bigger and better things for Byun Baekhyun. Though he never had a problem finding someone to date him, his acne had cleared up, and he had finally found his fashion aesthetic. He could hold his liquor well enough, and being on a few sports teams had aided in shaping his physique. He was ready for college, enthusiastically so, since his best friend was attending the same one. It was a blessing that both of them had chosen the same career path, each one of them having their motivations for it.

Sort of.

Anyway, while graduating from high school had turned him into a girl magnet, Chanyeol was the truly thriving one. Everything about him had glowed up to the point where Baekhyun was no longer a player if his friend was in the game. He had been benched, happily so, if that meant the success of his talented, pyromaniac best friend.

He was currently lounged in a chair watching Chanyeol spit vulgar, yet poetic, rhymes into a microphone booth inside of a dingy studio, filled with the pungent scent of and cigarettes. The producer was bopping his head along to the beat, waving his hands around with the typical gestures one would see in rap videos. If anyone were to view this scene from an outsider’s perspective, it would probably seem bizarre.

The producer was a thin stick of a man with greasy hair and ripped clothing that resembled a potato sack. Chalky white spots on his stubble mustache meant that he had done at least one line of between now and the last time he had showered. He did not seem reliable on the outside, but one listen to the beats he could make would make anyone’s doubts about his capabilities disappear. Then there was Chanyeol, who was wrapped up in a baggy Supreme hoodie and black skinny jeans, hair freshly gelled up in an artful mess. He looked like a rap god, thanks to Baekhyun. He was sure his friend would have walked out of the house in basketball shorts and a plain white T-shirt if he had not insisted that he needed to look the part.

Baekhyun stuffed his hands into his Burberry coat (two of his fingers were stinging from a papercut his soulmate had gotten not too long ago) and tried to ignore the overtly ual lyrics that Chanyeol had written the week before.

It had been a joke when he suggested writing a song about the first time Chanyeol lost his ity. That joke had been taken seriously and a really good song was coming from it. If he didn’t know what the song was about, Baekhyun would have enjoyed it. It was a bop. He was sure that Beautiful Bad would at least make Chanyeol's music go viral on the internet.

“This is the s, man,” Woozi clapped. “We finna go big from this, ya heard? A few more tracks like that, we got an EP. Keep it coming, G.”

Inside the booth, Chanyeol grinned from ear to ear. “ You serious?” This was done followed by the flicking of a lighter on and off, while everyone in the room watched the flames burst from the tip.

Woozi turned to him. “Post this everywhere. I’m talking YouTube, Soundcloud, Spotify. That twitch account you guys play your games on. ing everywhere.”

“Woozi, don’t with me.”

“Would I lie to you?” Woozi scoffed. “Don’t answer that.”

They had already planned to promote the music like that anyway. Loey, as his stage name was, had a small following already in their hometown. The fan club consisted of a group that included their high school friends and some of Yoora’s friends, who had spread the music to the university that she had gone to, but locally it seemed as though it had never gained much traction. Thus birthing their joint Twitch account, where they streamed themselves playing various video games to a humble following of a couple of thousand viewers that seemed to all be female considering the rather lewd comments they received.

Chanyeol whooped and waved his lighter in the air. “You promise to link me up with some of your contacts?”

Woozi nodded. “Of course. You’ve come a long way from those trash rhymes you were doing when we first met.”

They all laughed at the memories of the old, really bad songs that had been written when Chanyeol had begun the journey of rap. Baekhyun smiled. “This could be it, Yeol. You won’t have to become a cop if you go viral. And please stop flicking the lighter. You're going to set something on fire one day.”

Chanyeol stopped playing with the lighter, not without giving him a dirty look. Woozi shuddered. “I’m shutting that down. Ain’t wanna be caught chillin’ with narcs. You in this life, you gotta stick to it.”

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes. “We went through this Woozi. Chanyeol does not need to affiliate with gangs just ‘cause he raps. He doesn’t need to pretend to go all gangster either.”

“Not gonna lie. I wouldn’t last two days if I tried to be like that. I’d get called out for being fake,” Chanyeol agreed.

Woozi shook his head. “That ain’t what I’m saying. In this game, you can be whoever you wanna be. But it’s always gonna be the police.”

“We’ll see about that,” Baekhyun shrugged. He was pretty sure that Chanyeol would never change who he was even if he was offered all the fame and money in the world.

6 months later

“If you don’t make that bounce I’m going to have to fire you.”

“Babe, I’m an Asian woman that possesses all-natural body parts. I have no .” Chanyeol’s latest girlfriend was so graciously pointing out to him why the vision for his music video wasn’t coming true.

Baekhyun thought she was a ing saint. Not only did Mina agree to be heavily ualized in the video despite being very modest in her daily life, but she was also okay with the fact that the song was about an ex-girlfriend. She was the best part of filming the video, in his opinion. Though he didn’t think she would be as eager to agree if all of their close friends weren’t involved with the production instead of strangers. The only one that was a mere acquaintance was Luhan, who was pretty skilled in videography based on the portfolio of work he had presented them when Kris had introduced him to the group. Kris had met him in the Chinese Student Association at their university and had jumped on the chance of finding someone that was skilled at using a camera.

Meeting Kris had been like finding a needle in a haystack. Chanyeol had not been looking for a manager at all when they had stumbled upon his acquaintance. It had been two weeks into the semester at an Open Mic night at their Student Center, which was supposed to have been a wholesome on-campus activity for the people that were looking for something to do and did not have the resources to go out into the surrounding city. Most people opted to perform idol group covers or theatre pieces from musicals that no one knew besides a few artsy individuals. Instead of doing some idol rapper's cover performance, his best friend had performed Beautiful Bad , which had cemented his reputation as a rebellious figure and by association, Baekhyun had also been labeled as such. After this, a video had circulated the university's Instagram page, through which Kris had tracked Chanyeol down and made an offer to get him into the rap scene for good, claiming that it would be a better experience than any internship in the entertainment industry could give him. It was around that time that Mina had caught his friend's interest as well. Baekhyun remembered the phrase "it's all coming together" had been all the guy could say for that first month.

The current scene was rather bizarre for him. He was dressed as Chanyeol’s groupie, wearing a basketball jersey, a pair of Nike Jordans, and a large gold chain around his neck. He would have rather died than be caught wearing an outfit like this around their campus, yet there he was being a supportive best friend. Kris was wearing a suit and dark sunglasses, with a Bluetooth earpiece and was speaking into it whilst making excessive hand gestures as though he were already a huge business mogul.

“Kris, do I actually have to slap her ? The viewers can just imagine it if you show us in the frame together.”

Kris paused amid his conversation to look Chanyeol in the eye. Not that anyone could see his eyes through the sunglasses.

“Hold on a sec. My client is having a crisis,” the man said, hanging up on whoever he was talking to. “I thought you wanted this to be the Rap Video of Rap Videos. The storyboard included it. Why did you not say anything at the several meetings we’ve had about this?”

Mina in a breath. “I’m fine with it. Just let it go.”

Baekhyun decided to get involved simply because there was nothing else to do. “Just because they were fine with it then doesn’t mean they can’t change their mind.

“So I’m at fault for expecting everyone to go through with something we agreed upon? It’s not like I asked for you to do this spontaneously. What do you think, Woozi?”

Woozi was propped against his old beat-up Camaro, which was parked at a bit of a distance from the shoot. As the producer of the song and someone that they trusted as much as a person could trust someone in show business, everyone thought it would be nice to have him have some input. Within the first five minutes, it was clear that Woozi was in his woozy state of absolute blackout drunkenness and was not going to be any help, and was going to spend the entire time agreeing with anything that anyone said.

“How about we just have fun with this?” Baekhyun suggested. “We’re all a bunch of nobodies that have no idea what we’re doing. Kris, you need to stop acting like you’re a big shot. You’re a business admin student in your first year. You haven’t even interned anywhere yet. You have no idea what you’re doing. The only one that would know how to do anything about this is drunk and even then, he’s not an expert in shooting a video. I say we trust Luhan’s opinion.”

“I second this,” Mina piped up. “I can’t be y. The most I can do is twerk but I have no .”

Chanyeol raised his hand. “Third, because I refuse to cheat on Mina with another model for this video. We’re going to have to work around the no thing. She’s got s and is y in every other aspect.”

“But I’m not popping my out either.”

Baekhyun noticed that his best friend began to do what he always did when he was bored, which was to start fiddling with his lighter. .

“Can we get this over with for today? I need to start live streaming in an hour,” he complained. “My party has to raid a dungeon and the final boss is a fan favorite.”

Luhan began to speak in rapid Chinese, prompting Kris to respond in kind. After about two minutes of that, the two of them seemed to conclude something important.

“We need a director,” Kris announced. “It's clear that we can’t shoot this music video as we are now. None of you are professionals and the only one that is a professional at what they do is out on the hood of a car. And we need to raise money for a proper filming set. It’s a wrap for today.”

“Where are we going to find a director?” Chanyeol asked, visibly irritated that his vision was not coming true. “Who’s going to pay for one?”

The only one that had that kind of money was Baekhyun, and he wasn’t going to invest in a director unless they were reputable and was flexible enough to have them approve the editing before they put it out into the world. The number of horror stories about an artist's career being ruined that came from his aunt made him very uneasy about the path his friend was trying to take. But the determination was so infectious that all he could do was give advice whenever it was asked of him. Chanyeol was unlikely to accept the money either. His friend had already strictly refused his aunt’s help and connections because he had it stuck in his head that he needed to come from the bottom up. Nothing else would be acceptable. Rappers were rarely taken seriously if there was no narrative of a struggle to be recognized in their early years.

“I’ll figure it out,” said Kris, handing everyone a bus pass so they could get back to campus.

6 Months Later

Due to various immigration laws, their dear friend was being deported back to China. All the hopes and dreams they had shared were thrown out of the window just because of something as small as a student visa.

Kris was also not one to be sentimental. “Peace out. The next time you see me, I’ll be a millionaire.”

Woozi shoved the bag of in his pocket and slung his arm around Kris as they started heading inside the airport. “So tell me about the girls in Hong Kong.”

"Kris!" Baekhyun called out. He handed over the Gucci belt that Kris had been eyeing in his closet from the first time they had all hung out in his dorm room.

The man took one look at it and laughed. "Keep it. I'll buy myself one soon."

Woozi snapped and then shot them all finger guns. "With a producer like me, Galaxy Dragon Records will be put up on the map in no time."

He still couldn't believe the dream was happening for them. At one point, Baekhyun had been certain that this Chinese man in Korea, who could barely speak the language, was chasing a pipe dream. The fact that they would be flying out to China at the end of the next semester to work at Kris' newly established company (how that had happened seemed to be a bit shady so Baekhyun had never asked). Baekhyun had looked into an internship abroad at a private security company and Chanyeol was living free as an artist. In all, their life plans were on track.

"Live the dream, guys. I'll see you again someday," Kris waved. "I'd say keep in touch but we all know how that goes. Just hit me up whenever you think of me no matter how awkward it seems."

With Kris gone, it left Chanyeol and Baekhyun to go back to campus on their own. The two of them were feeling empty without the firecrackers of their friend group.

Once they were back, they went back to their shared dorm room to set up for a Twitch stream that was scheduled for that evening. The weight of everything that had happened in the past few weeks before Kris left was starting to weigh on him. Kim Junmyeon was gone, leaving the academy in an uproar. Policies were being rewritten, students and teachers were undergoing background checks, and he was lucky that he had gotten away with snitching. He sat on the bed, staring at a spot on the wall across the room on a stain from when Kris accidentally flung some hot sauce into the air.

It was as unfair as the whole system letting the person that killed his parents get away with it.

“This whole thing was messed up,” Chanyeol said, sitting down on the bench with him. “I was scared for you. What if he finds out it was you? What if he has friends?”

Baekhyun balled his fists tightly. “Then I have to be ready. I’ll train harder. I’ll graduate early.”

“You shouldn’t have to rush it,” was the reply. “The rest of us will be ready too. Besides, if you keep getting bruised up, your soulmate is going to hate you one day.”

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"No, but really. What girl would enjoy feeling the pain that you feel?" Chanyeol teased.

He wasn't holding out for a soulmate these days. He used to wonder what it would be like to have someone precious to him. What Baekhyun had realized at a very young age was that no one was going to look out for him as much as himself. His parents had passed away before he was ready to live a life without him and though his aunt had looked after him as best as she could, when he was old enough to look after himself, she was always on the move to keep her career going.  Chanyeol’s had also taken him in from time to time but he would never forget those lonely nights when he was by himself laying in his bed in an empty apartment staring at the ceiling hoping for time to turn back to the way things were. Not that he would never admit there were times that he would be jealous that his friend had a family around him and he didn't. The Parks had basically taken him in since his aunt was almost never around so those feelings never stuck. He truly felt their love and did not let those negative feelings of jealousy turn into something ugly.

“Don’t worry about me too much,” said Baekhyun, standing up to stretch his limbs out. “I’ll be fine.”

"I'm always going to worry about you as your best friend. That’s why I did this.” Baekhyun was handed a piece of paper. Upon skimming it over, his mouth dropped.

“You got into the accelerated program?” Baekhyun asked, incredulously. “What about rapping? What happened to the plans you have with Kris? You haven’t even gotten a chance to finish filming the music video.”

“Rapping was a pipe dream. It was a shot in the dark. Protecting your dumb on the job is something I can do. Full guarantee.”

He was stunned. Not once since middle school had Chanyeol ever shown any doubt in pursuing a rap star career. And in one day, he had given it up just because Baekhyun had anonymously snitched on the school drug dealer. It showed how much respect his friend had for him. And that maybe all those years Baekhyun had gone believing he was alone had not gone unnoticed.

For the first time, someone was choosing to stick with him.

Baekhyun was tongue-tied. “I don’t know what to say."

"There's nothing to say anyway. You're just stuck with me for life now."

10 Years Later

She was undergoing the process of moving in. It had taken a good two weeks of Baekhyun fumbling around the question before she had declared that she was going to start bringing her stuff over the weekend. He had been embarrassed that he couldn’t get the words out, leaving her wondering if they would ever end up married due to his inability to speak up when it counted. In other words, she knew he was planning a proposal and he thought he was being slick at hiding it. To humor him Haeun was determined to act as oblivious as possible for as long as she could keep up the act before she lost her patience. She tried to throw out signs now and then, but her soulmate was utterly oblivious to them.

He was very good at spouting nonsense sometimes, like when he blubbered through his tears while watching historical dramas. When it came to speaking on his feelings from the heart, he tended to project his insecurities on others, convincing himself that he was unworthy to feel things. She thought it was a ridiculous quality that he needed to work on but she still loved him for everything that he was.

After he courageously asked her to live with him, they decided she would temporarily move into Baekhyun’s apartment while they searched for a house to fully settle down in. Haeun thought it was a good plan. It would give him enough time to find a way to propose and then everything would fall into place. Haeun couldn’t be happier than she was now.

She had been sorting through one of his storage closets to turn to get rid of the things he didn’t need or want anymore. Most of it was his aunt’s, but Auntie Byun had reassured them it was fine to pack up her stuff and put it into storage until they settled on a house with extra space. A solution had been reached when Chanyeol and Wendy had offered the bit of extra space that was in the Park family home’s attic. In all, everyone was ecstatic they were now living together and were bending over backward to make sure it happened as smoothly as possible.

Jeonghan was the most vocal about this, bringing it up in every conversation they had these days. Though she was pretty sure it was brought up to avoid talking about his new boyfriend, who seemed to be a nice guy if he would ever talk. Haeun was not sure what to make of that relationship but she was not going to judge it as long as her friend was happy. And he was. It was the happiest she had ever seen him.

While she had been moving everything to the hallway closet, the designated spot for storing all of Auntie's things, she had found a few things that piqued her interest. She was rifling through a box of an old photo album of Baekhyun’s high school days when she noticed a CD stuffed into one of the slots. The artwork was familiar, and once she pulled it out she felt as though she was struck with a lightning bolt of nostalgia.

“Baekhyun!”

Her boyfriend came running into the hallway brandishing his taser. “What happened?”

“You didn’t tell me you were a fan of Loey!” she squealed, too excited to say anything about the weapon in his hand. “He was so underground I didn’t think anyone else knew him.”

Baekhyun’s mouth fell open before settling into a smirk. He hastily shoved the taser in his pocket and then crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d say I was his number one fan. Why are you going through my stuff?”

“I’m clearing Auntie’s stuff out of this closet,” she answered, waving him over at the same time. “Look at this disc. It’s in really good condition. Mine is wrecked from being overplayed.”

“I didn’t play it that much.”

“How could you not? You know, Beautiful Bad is the song I always imagined I would lose my ity to,” she sighed. The fond memories of her teens and early 20s were bubbling to the surface as she imagined the deep bassline of the song. She had the urgent need to play the disc

“Please tell me that did not happen.” She glanced at Baekhyun, and once she looked past the haze of nostalgia she finally noticed his disgusted facial expression. She supposed she shouldn’t have mentioned losing her ity to a very explicit rap song that spoke on a very detailed process of how worked.

"How did you even get a CD? Most people know him from Soundcloud," he asked.

"I had a friend of a friend in high school that directly knew him. There were only 100 of these made," she said with pride at having owned one. If she were to look through the boxes she had brought over for the move, she was sure she would be able to find her copy.

"That's true," Baekhyun grimaced. "They used my laptop to burn all those CDs. I couldn't play this one game I was scheduled to stream that day."

Her mind was racing so she changed the subject, hoping he would forget about the very embarrassing thing she had just said about her ity. “I was upset when he stopped making music. This EP nearly blew him up and then six months later he just disappeared. I was lucky that I had downloaded the six other songs he put out on his Soundcloud.”

There was a pause in which what he said sank in. "Okay, what?"

Baekhyun stepped forward and pulled her to him, smoothing back her hair as if he could sense that her mood had plummeted. “He will be very happy to know he still has a fan from the old days.”

It was a good five seconds before she understood what he meant. “Are you trying to say you know Loey? Like personally? He used your laptop to burn his mixtape CDs. And you used to stream yourself gaming? Why did I not know any of this.”

Baekhyun finally snorted. “First let's unpack one thing here. Haeun, don't be too shocked. Loey is Chanyeol.”

Haeun literally could not believe what she was hearing. “No.”

She could not believe that Byun Baekhyun, her soulmate, was telling the truth, but she knew it had to be because there was no way that anyone that loved her would be so smug in the face about such a startling revelation without reason. “Yes.”

“No.”

“I’m dead serious, babe.”

“Dorky Chanyeol. Our Chanyeol.”

“Yes.”

The horror was setting in. “I idolized my boyfriend’s best friend.”

“Apparently.”

“Damn.”

“Also Beautiful Bad is about Chanyeol losing his ity.”

“I hate you right now.”

---

By a long string of coincidences that involved all of their parents having other plans for the holiday, Chuseok had given the friend group reason to call each other family for the weekend. His parents were visiting Yoora in Europe, where she had taken a high-level position to advance her career. Wendy's parents were also abroad and it was decided between Chanyeol and the Sons that they would make the trip over to Korea whenever he proposed, which was probably going to be very soon if he was reading the signals correctly. Eunji and Dongwoo's families had urged them to spend the holidays with the group so that they wouldn't have to make the trip in the cold with their stuffy elderly relatives. He wasn't quite sure what the deal was with Jeonghan and his new exotic dancer boyfriend, who only referred to himself as The8. He was also pretty sure that no one knew whether this boyfriend could speak Korean since he would just blankly stare at someone whenever they tried talking to him. They were all happy that Jeonghan was happy and that was all that mattered. Everyone was packed at the Byun & potential Mrs. Byun residence, creating a cacophony of pleasant chatter and meows from Kai whenever someone intruded on his space. The orange ball of joy seemed to think the entire apartment was his.

Petting the beastly cat, Chanyeol believed that Haeun spoiled him too much, suddenly remembering the video that had circulated in the group chat a few months prior.

He leaned towards Jeonghan from his position on the couch. “Did anyone bring booze?”

Jeonghan grinned with a glint in his eye. “Dude, I got us covered. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not going to worry unless Haeun gets drunk and starts saying things about her cat wanting a ,” Chanyeol said very loudly, intending for her to hear it. He simultaneously covered Kai's ears so he wouldn't have to hear such dirty language.

Haeun glared at him from across the room on Baekhyun’s lap.  “I heard that.”

“You were supposed to,” he teased.

A round of laughter lightened the mood and then Eunji delved into a story about how Dongwoo wanted to decorate their home with cacti instead of regular houseplants. Wendy snuggled into his side as she listened to the story, which was keeping him warm as much as holding his palm above the candle on the coffee table was. He split his focus between making suggestions about poking Dongwoo with cactus needles and the little flame that was hanging on to the candlewick.

He wanted to feed that flame. Watching it get bigger until it turned into a full-blown fire would be so beautiful. Not as much as Wendy, of course, it would be a sight to behold.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun’s voice cut through his focus. He snapped out of his fascination and gave his friend a sheepish expression.

“I was just looking,” he defended himself.

“Good,” Haeun smirked, with a knowing look on her face. “Because if you burned down this apartment, along with my Loey mixtapes, I would kill you.”

Chanyeol had no idea how to react. On one hand, he had never been trying to hide his past from all his new friends. Baekhyun had always been a fixed presence, so of course, he knew. But on the other hand, he was extremely uncomfortable for everyone to find out about his old hobby. It wasn't a secret, but he preferred that it was, and now there was no possibility of doing damage control because it had been brought out into the open.

“How do you know that name?” he laughed emptily, feeling the embarrassment of his past catching up to him. “How much did Baekhyun tell you?”

Haeun snorted. "Chanyeol, I was an OG fan. Baekhyun only revealed the identity behind Loey. But I've known that name since high school."

He had been a dumb kid to think that he could have been successful as a rapper. He could not think of those times without cringing or laughing at his younger self. Some days when he kept in touch with Kris or Luhan, he thought of those times. The fact that even Woozi still messaged him once in a while was also an enigma. That drugged up producer from years ago was now the hottest person to work within the industry if what he heard was correct.

He was briefly distracted by Jeonghan and The8 trying to discreetly leave the room.

Wendy nudged him gently. “What’s Loey?”

Chanyeol sighed, resigned to the fact that everyone now knew. “It's my stage name. I used to rap when I was a kid. I even made a couple of mixtapes. It’s not a big thing.”

Haeun gasped. She genuinely seemed to be offended by his explanation. “Not a big thing? Chanyeol, you were good. Like you could have been Jay Park level good.”

“Is that so?” Dongwoo questioned. He was glancing between everyone in the room, just as surprised as everyone else.

“The only way to know is to listen to the songs,” Eunji declared.

“No!” Chanyeol screamed. “I mean, it’s embarrassing.”

“Oh, come on,” Baekhyun drawled. “The songs are good. You just don’t want anyone finding out that the title track was about losing your ity.”

That was exactly what he was afraid of. Now that it was out in the open, he could only hope that his friends would respect his boundaries and let the whole thing go. At least out of preservation for the relationship he had with his fiancee.

“It’s in the closet, I’ll go get it!” she squealed, jumping up from Baekhyun’s lap. She scurried off into the hallway. A few moments later, there was a genuine scream. “Oh my god, Jeonghan. Stop his in my closet!”

Dongwoo choked on his pretzel. Eunji dropped her cookie.

Then the entire apartment went silent. Chanyeol felt himself wanting to burst out in laughter. He noted that he must have been good at self-restraint because he held it in.

Another moment later, Jeonghan and his boyfriend appeared in the living room. The er in question rubbed his hands together, and confidently sauntered back to his seat. The8 followed him with the same blank stare on his face, which prompted Chanyeol to wonder if he even enjoyed getting his . Then he realized he didn't really want to know.

"So Jeonghan brought drinks, I heard," he said. "How about we get the alcohol flowing?"

"Yes?" Jeonghan clapped. “Anyone in the mood for tequila?”

Chanyeol raised his hand. He had been personally attacked before this incident so he was not going to pass up the offer. He chanced a glance at Baekhyun, who was not at all upset that two people had been caught in a compromised position inside of his hallway closet. He seemed amused by the whole thing, which was also the exact moment that Chanyeol realized that his friend must have been getting ready to propose.

It turned out that everyone was in the mood for tequila after what had happened.

Yet Haeun would not let his underground rap days go.

"Here's the mixtape," she cheered, waving it above her head. She had also produced a boombox out of god knows where and began to pop the CD in.

Chanyeol felt himself heat up, and he turned to Wendy so that he could express his number one concern for this exposure. "You're not going to leave me after this, right? If this is a dealbreaker, tell me now."

Wendy gave him a look of surprise. "Out of all things, you think this is what I'd leave you for? Chanyeol, it's the pyromania for me."

He suddenly felt stupid through the haze of the buzz he was getting from the drinks. "What?"

"I'm saying the only thing that could make me leave you is if I had to arrest you for arson. And even then I would consider the type of building you set on fire. Like if it's a rich person's house, I'd probably let that pass, but if you set fire to an elderly person's house, I would be concerned where you lie on the moral spectrum."

"Why does everyone think I'm going to commit arson?" he wailed out loud. "And why does it sound like you've thought about this in detail?"

Wendy giggled. "Haeun and I have discussed this. You know, the girl talk we have. She's so nice. She told me if you got arrested for arson, she would represent you in court, pro bono. "

"That is not girl talk," Chanyeol said as though could control what girls talked about.

It was then that the bass boomed through the apartment, and his mixtape started playing. Chanyeol ducked his face into his hands and blocked out the cringy lyrics and focused on the beat instead. It was the first time he was listening to the song in years. Out of habit, he began to count the beats, and almost out of nowhere, he began to hear a new set of lyrics in his mind. There were a hundred different ways to improve the song. He couldn't believe that he had put out a song that had been so unpolished, knowing he could make it better.

He felt Wendy's hands raise his head so that he was looking straight at her. Her expression was that of shock and excitement. He glanced around at everyone else in the room and saw the same thing on everyone's faces, except for Haeun and Baekhyun.

The happy couple was the only ones that were outwardly smug, with their hands crossed over their chests. At the same time, they raised a hand to each other and completed a high-five without even looking if they were aiming correctly. It was pure synchronization and it made him want to throw something at them.

"Babe, that song needs to be on the radio. What the ?" Wendy gushed. "How are you a cop instead of a rapper?"

"Well, I became a cop to protect Baekhyun," he began to speak. No one wanted to listen to what he had to say, however.

"This song is timeless. I literally cannot believe you made this ten years ago. I can see teenagers these days listening to it," Eunji yelled. "Do you remember the lyrics? I want to hear it live."

"The Loey fanclub still lives," Haeun nodded. "We could put on a show at The8's club."

To everyone's shock, The8 nodded. "I like this song. I will speak to my boss."

"Holy , he can talk," Dongwoo blurted.

"Holy , you can rap," Wendy said, shaking him by the shoulders.

He suddenly felt very emotional because hearing those words had been all he ever wanted for so long. It was as if that part of him had never died throughout his years as a police officer. He had never regretted his decision to follow the same path as Baekhyun, to make sure that his best friend was always safe and sound, and most importantly, never alone. Seeing the way he was with Haeun, it was clear that Baekhyun didn't need him in the same way anymore. But maybe, with the glimmer of hope given to him by his friends, he could make an old dream of his into a reality.  He felt relieved by the support he was receiving, and he pulled out his cell phone, knowing that what he wanted to do was very risky.

"You guys think it's good?" he asked.

"Yes, oh my god," Haeun said. "The entire mixtape is lit. I even have the few Soundcloud tracks you uploaded saved somewhere."

Chanyeol took a deep breath. "Do you guys think I could switch careers then?"

The tequila seemed to wear off at such a loaded question, but one by one each of them only had positive affirmations.

"I will be the president of your fanclub," Haeun declared.

"Life is short, man. Do what you want with the time you have," Jeonghan replied, raising his shot glass.

The8 nodded. "Do it. If I have to dance around a pole every night, I would prefer good music to do it to."

Eunji thought about it before giving her opinion. "I think you have to decide which job is going to give you the most fulfillment. In either case, you've already done one of the two things you're deciding between. Maybe trying something new will be a good change."

Dongwoo added on to that. "Your job performance is stellar so they would probably take you back if anything goes wrong. And if it doesn't work, you could always fall back on Wendy's Sugar Mommy money.

"Hey!" Wendy protested. She wasn't coherent enough to think of a comeback, so it was left at that. Chanyeol put his arm around her so that she could cuddle up against him again.

The one opinion that mattered the most was Baekhyun's. He looked over to his best friend, who looked to be the most serious he had ever been. "I'm with you all the way. Always have been and always will."

Chanyeol had not realized how true that was throughout the years. When he had decided to become a cop, he thought it was because he was supposed to stick with Baekhyun so that they could take on the world together and make it a better place. They had to make sure they put away scummy people just like the ones that had taken his parents from him. The two of them were as close as brothers, so no matter what career had chosen back then, Baekhyun would never have been alone. The need to protect his friend had been strong but maybe the uncertainty of his future and the fear that came with had been the motivation for his decision instead.

He should have thought about it more. It was not a light decision to make. At the same time, he knew that chasing a dream would always come with risks and that the songs he had secretly written on a whim after he became a cop were just collecting dust. And so he called a number that he had not dialed in a long time.

"I was wondering how long it would take, if ever," Kris chuckled.

Chanyeol grinned even if Kris couldn't see him. "I heard you really did become a millionaire."

"Does that mean you're planning to come to see me?" he asked, with a tinge of joy in his voice.

"Even better. Do you think you could spare some of those millions to make me a video?"

A short bark of laughter came from the other end. "I'll have my secretary get in touch with you after the holiday. Happy Chuseok, Chanyeol. Wish Baekhyun for me too."

"Thanks, Kris. You too. Give my best to Woozi and Luhan," Chanyeol replied.

He hung up only to be met with Haeun's shocked expression once again. "Did you say Woozi?"

Baekhyun laughed again. "Yeah, we knew him back in the day. He's the one that produced the mixtape."

Haeun clutched her chest. "I listened to Woozi's stuff before his signature phrase got added in his songs. Oh my god."

"Oh, is that the guy that has some girl saying 'This beat makes me woozy' at some point in the song?" Dongwoo asked.

From there, the discussion turned back to praising Chanyeol for making a bold move to switch his career. In all, it was the happiest Chuseok he had ever had.

Everything I teased you with were the crazy parts LMAOO

I hope this was enjoyable for you. Happy belated birthday!!! You know why I couldn't get this out on time but it was worth the effort in the end!!