With worry flushing through him, the rapper sent the older man at the door a weary glance before returning his attention to the smaller boy who at that time, lowered his head, eyes clamped shut, massaging his temples slightly as if attempting to subdue an evident pain in his head.

“Are you okay, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol questioned, part of him dying to question of seniors knew each other, though judging from his lover’s state, the second question was lodged in his throat and refused to come out.

With a forced nod, the brunette simply stumbled to his feet, forcing a small smile to his lips. “I just feel a little dizzy… that fall just now must have jolted my head a little, not something water can’t cure.”

Without allowing the other to say anything else, the singer simply tugged on the boy’s hand before towing him away, giving the stranger a small nod in farewell, the moment his feet stepped away from the doors, he tore into a run, dragging the surprised rapper along before at last, they stopped by a deserted classroom to catch their breath.

“Good lord, Bacon, you run like a professional. Do you know that guy or something?” Chanyeol found himself panting out as he leaned against the wall, a small chuckle running through his lips, though the amusement ebbed away when he took note of how pale the other had gotten.

Blinking momentarily, the brunette swallowed before he sank down on a chair, burying his face in his hands. “I… don’t know… I’m just a little dizzy…”

Shoulders slumping in evident worry, the taller boy gave the other male a reassuring, but firm pat on the shoulder. “Stay here, I’ll find some water.”

As he his heel to leave, Baekhyun looked up in horror, his hand grasping upon the rapper’s hand fast and hard, almost as if his whole life was hanging upon that grip. “No wait! Just… can you stay here for a moment…?”

Taken by obvious surprise, Chanyeol simply sat next to the boy, gripping the other’s smaller, weaker hand in his own. “…Do you want to talk about it?”

Shaking his head once more, the Bacon could barely hear his voice anymore, it was almost as if his shell were perhaps the only thing there, his mind was elsewhere, drifting through the rivers of this thoughts that used to run peaceful, but now flowed a mock like a raging sea raging a storm. The memories he tried to bury so desperately began to crawl out of its gave, the memories he tried to burn began to surface once again, and before he knew it, those thoughts swam before his closed eyes, haunting him all over again.

/----THE YEARS BEFORE----\

As his eyes cracked open, a groan escaping his lips from the morning sun, he was greeted with the unfamiliar sight of balloons plastered all over his ceiling, curling streamers dangling down with them, swishing here and there in the breeze delivered by his air conditioning. Utterly confused, he sat up and ran a hand through his chestnut brown locks, his hazy vision locking onto a navy blue envelop placed upon his lap.

Furrowing his brows, the boy took a hold of the object before looking it over here and there, mustering the courage soon after to open it. His eyes were greeted with a scented, colourful card, the reality of the object in his hands flushing into him soon after. He was sixteen, that day was the day that marked his sixteenth birthday.

With a queasy feeling mixing in his stomach, he smiled lightly to himself before he rubbed his eyes, he couldn’t believe he was aging, again. It seemed like yesterday when he celebrated his last birthday. It really had been one year? Before he could even look into the parchment, his door was kicked open loudly, resulting in him jumping visibly, his hands dropping the card as his vision was greeted with the sight of an over excited, noisy fifteen year old boy slamming into him full force, arms wrapping around him gleefully as a voice screamed into his ear.

“Happy birthday, Baekhyun!” the boy exclaimed gleefully, latching onto his senior tighter when he felt his tortured target attempting to shove him away. Before he could even break into song though, he was shoved off, though instead of whining in pain as he rolled off the bed, a stream of laughter erupted from his mouth.

As he rubbed his ear in slight irritation, the brunette could help but grin a little more as he eyed his roomie rolling around on the floor, clutching his stomach as he laughed. “Thank you, Kai, if you wanted to make me deaf as a present you sure did a good job.”

Standing proudly, the younger boy clambered onto his friend’s bed once more before letting out a content sigh. Kim Jongin, a boy he and his parents discovered on the streets three years ago, abandoned in the rain, bawling his eyes out. They couldn’t find his parents when he discovered him, and he seemed fine with the idea of following them home. Ever since then, Baekhyun realized this boy, despite the fact he was younger, had grown into such a well formed being. Behind his light hearted personality, anyone could see his mind was several tones to mature for someone his age.

Lowering his gaze to the card that was accidentally tossed to the side of the bed, the brunette looked at the door in curiosity. “Where’s mom and dad?”

“Uh, well, they got a call early this morning, seemed like they’re gonna be busy for a while.” Kai replied, placing on a rather depressed look before a grin welled on his face, a hand of his patting his surrogate brother’s shoulder roughly. “But that’s fine; we can celebrate it by ourselves! I heard they called Kris over today though.”

Rolling his eyes in pretend exasperation, the Bacon got out of his bed before raising his arms above his head in stretch. “Great, we have a baby sitter.”

“Look on the bright side.” The younger boy said, exaggerating his shrug as he too stretched with a sudden yawn. “We have a chef and a driver; we can make him get us a cake.”

Laughing warmly, the he simply ruffled the younger boy’s hair before padding over to his dresser and freeing a towel from the mess that was his drawer. “Mom will kill us if she realized we were using Kris like that.”

With an audible whine, the fifteen year old trailed after the brunette, flailing his arms excitedly as he spoke. “But dude, it’s your birthday, you need a cake, and a party.”

“I don’t need a party, though I’d like to make a cake…” Baekhyun said softly, feeling heat rise to his cheeks as tender embarrassment welled up in his throat.

Grinning broadly, the younger boy continued to follow the other into the bathroom despite the awkward glance that was shot his way; he took no notice of the gaze in any case. “Then let’s make one, it can’t be that hard.”

Lowering his gaze, feeling the embarrassment increase, the brunette simply ran a shaky hand through his hair lightly. “Yeah but… I don’t even know what you need for a cake.”

Placing on a look of utter seriousness, the younger boy simply grasped the doorknob and turned his gaze towards his brother, his eyes never losing the sudden increase of maturity. “We’re going to make a cake if that’s what you want, don’t worry hyung, we’ll sort things out.” And with that, he smiled and closed the door behind the duo, placing his hands on the toilet sink.

“Now, let us wash up!”

Eyeing the boy awkwardly, the sixteen year old looked at the shower awkwardly, even though there was a curtain there, it still felt awkward. “What? Can’t I have some privacy?”

“Are you kidding, Hyunnie? You’re not a woman.” Kai remarked with a taunting grin, never noticing the sudden blush that ghosted his brother’s cheeks from humiliation.

------

As he stumbled out of the bathroom, his hands busying himself with the towel on his head, the brunette glanced around the corridor, eyes furrowing slightly as he attempted to look for his fifteen year old sibling who had bolted out of the place after he finished brushing up.

“Hey stinky!” he yelled, earning a whine as a response. “Go take a bath before you soil the house.”

Grumbling all the way, the young brunette dragged his feet heavily towards his room, exiting soon after with his baby blue towel, a supreme pout plastered all over his face. “Kill joy, keep a look out for the door, Kris says he should be reaching here in twenty minutes.” And with that, the duo parted ways, with the fifteen year old plodding into the shower, and the birthday boy sauntering downstairs.

Flopping gracelessly upon the couch, burying his face in the moist towel, he groaned, somewhat wishing that his birthday had occurred on a school day, not just so he could get attention, though he found his heart fluttering at the thought of a certain, young boy who’s brown eyes glistened like radiant stars.

He couldn’t believe, that in all his life, he would have ended up a closet homoual, hell, he presumed he was probably several years too be thinking about this, yet he it was undeniable that there was a tightness in his chest whenever he saw that talented, young being. Groaning in frustration, the boy simply rolled onto his back, not even caring about the droplets of water that dropped onto the leather from his damp hair.

His mind had been flooded completely with thoughts of the younger boy, his cheerful smile, his melodic laughter, his mysterious personality. Everything he had seen from that boy continued to fill into his mind. His train of thought crashed violently when the sounds of the doorbell flooded his ears. Panicking, the brunette bolted into a sit and quickly stood, adjusting his shirt before carefully making his way to the door.

Looking through the eyehole, he sighed in relief before he unlocked the door with a grin. “Good morning, hyung, you’re here early.”

Smiling back down at the boy, the dark haired male simply ruffled his hair before looking around the house, his handsome face contorting over with confusion. “Are you guys here alone? I thought that was a joke or something.”

With a small laugh, Baekhyun stepped aside, allowing the other entrance before taking the other’s jacket to hang in the closet for the time being. “Nope, mom and dad really aren’t home today, they’re busy, so…”

Rolling his eyes in fake exasperation, the taller boy glanced down at the sixteen year old before smiling warmly, his brown eyes glistening with slight mirth. “Well then, we’ll celebrate together, birthday boy, do you want anything in particular? And why do you look like you just stuck your head out in a rainstorm?”

Blinking in embarrassment, the brunette cast his eyes to the floor as he hurriedly pulled the towel over his head. “I’m sorry I woke up recently…”

“You’re joking, right?” the older boy questioned, blinking blankly at the fidgeting boy who squirmed slightly under his gaze. With a small sigh, he simply helped the boy dry his hair before a small smile worked onto his lips. “Well it is your birthday, my question still stands, do you want anything today?”

Looking up slightly, the brunette swallowed just a little before darting his gaze here and there, feeling like a little child having their hair dried by a patient parent. “…I dunno…”

Surprised, Kris stopped in his tracks, lifting the boy’s head to look at him. “Come on, I’m sure there’s gotta be something you want.”

Feeling the heat rise to his cheeks again, the younger male simply diverted his gaze away as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “I…kinda want to make a cake…”

Bursting out into soft laughter, the older youth simply patted the boy on the head once more before removing the blanket, running his fingers through the chestnut brown tresses a few times to comb it into place. “That’s easy, let’s go shopping later.”

Looking up in awe and excitement, Baekhyun found a small shimmer of hope rising in him. “What, seriously?”

“Yeah I don’t see the problem, we’ll make a lovely cake and think about the mess later.” The older teen said with a small laugh as he continued to fix the younger male’s hair patiently.

Smiling gleefully, the day passed like that, Kai was noisy at the grocery store though his continuous ranting was something that fitted into the category of overly amusing, baking the cake had been harder than intended, though with Kris’ artistic skill, it turned out better than what would have been expected. All in all, the sixteen year old didn’t think he’d be able to squeeze anymore happiness than he already had on that day.

Even cleaning wasn’t something bothersome at that time. As the eighteen year old cleaned the pans thoroughly, he handed the wet utensils to the birthday boy who simply wiped them up with an almost silent hum of a melody he didn’t even know the name too.

“Did you have a good time today, Baekhyun?”

Looking up suddenly, confusion crossing his face, he laughed slightly when the other repeated their question. “I had an awesome time, hyung, thank you.” He replied softly as he placed the now dry plate back on the rack, forcing his mind to focus on the conversation when it attempted to slip elsewhere.

“That’s good, too bad you’re going to have to sleep early, school day tomorrow.”

Slouching with a whine, the brunette took a hold of another plate handed to him. “Don’t remind me, I don’t even have my homework completely done.” He said with a faked pout.

“Huh? Are you struggling with your work or something?”

Glancing up slightly, the brunette released a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, his mind drifting off to the several papers currently lying on his desk unattended. The thought of it made his mood drop just a little. “I dunno, this week’s stuff are kinda hard for me to understand…”

Frowning softly, the older male patted the boy’s head gently before he smiled. “Well then, I’ll help you with it later while your parents take Kai to get a new jacket, alright? If you have any problems, just ask me.”

Then, as gently as a woman would have done, Kris wiped a tiny spec of water from the side of the boy’s lip, his soft touch sending small shivers up the youth’s spine as he stilled just a little though he simply smile. “Alright.”

Starting from that day, despite the fact he had been reluctant to accept the offer; the Bacon had received daily tuition from the Chinese Canadian whose patience seemed completely endless. If the brunette didn’t know the teen, he might have assumed he was a teacher. He taught with simple, yet memorable methods, and due to that, in a matter of weeks, the brunette found his grades increasing.

To top things off, Kris had constantly driven(insisted) the boy to school effortlessly on behalf of his ever busy parents who’s appearances in the house had become less and less frequent. Though it was always nice to see a friend every day, Baekhyun couldn’t push away the slight frustration that built in him when he realized his parents might never come home due to some long business trip.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, the boy simply shoved the contents of his back into his locker, yelping in surprise as his hands recoiled away once his locker door slammed shut. He had little to no time to react as he was then pushed against the wall roughly, his almost empty bag clattering to the floor.

“You’re getting exceptionally buddy-buddy with Wu Fan, aren’t you?” the voice of the school prick shot through him as he finally cranked his eyes open from the pain that rippled up his spine. “What did you do to him?”

Blinking helplessly, the brunette furrowed his brows in confusion before a low growl rumbled low in his throat, his hands instantly attempting to pry the younger, yet stronger boy’s hands away. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about-!”

His words were choked back into his throat when he was rammed against the lockers once again, the air in his lungs being knocked out of him slightly as blobs of light flitted around his vision due to the pain that throbbed at the back of his head.

“You did something to him didn’t you? All he talks about now is ALWAYS somehow related to you!” the dark haired boy hissed, his fingers digging deep into the boy’s shoulders. “What the hell did you do to him?! Did you confess to him or something?!”

Scowling darkly, Baekhyun simply dug his nails in the other’s irremovable hands. “What the hell? No way! I’m not in love with him, dangit. What’s wrong with you, Kyungsoo?”

Horror marked every inch of the boy’s face upon hearing those words, seconds ticked by in silence before the younger boy snarled like a mad thing, his grip turning almost bruising as he pressed the brunette harder in to the locker.

“You , you have no freakin’ clue how lucky you are.” The boy hissed huskily, his dark eyes glazing over with a complex emotion that was defined as something far beyond rage and anger. “You’re an ungrateful little runt, you know that? You’re so lucky, having someone like him favour someone like YOU.”

And with that, he shoved the boy against the locker one last time before pacing off, one could literally imagine a storm raging behind him in his wake, the disgust and enragement he radiated was something far beyond anything the trembling brunette had ever seen. Sinking to a sit, back against the locker doors, he clamped his hands together and brought them close to his chest as his eyes were then clamped shut. It was his way of calming the shaking nerves within him.

He could feel moisture prickling at his eyes but he could do nothing but attempt to stop the tears that were going to fall eventually anyways. He was shaken at the assault, and obviously, he was shaken at the others words, though what worried him the most was whether he was doing the right thing, crushing on a young, talented boy who might never see him in the same light.

------

Had to split this into two parts cause it got to long, part two shall be uploaded when I finish.