A young man stood in the front of the large building before him, looking at it's structure. He was having a hard time deciding if he should enter but he knew he had to. His grandfather is hospitalized due to deteriorating health. His condition was fine until he fell to the ground in pain. Paramedics and family rushed him to the hospital for checkups. Lucky, his grandfather only has bruises and a sprained leg. It will be hard for the grandfather to heal, if ever, but things could be worse. The young man was truly grateful that his grandfather was okay.

But Do Kyungsoo stood in front of the hospital as he was having a hard time just entering. The walls of the large building touched the blue sky above. Cars were parked everywhere as their owner was either working or visiting. The red cross, the universal symbol seen at places such as this, stood proud to label the building as if the sign up front didn't do it's job. Kyungsoo stood lengths away from the sliding doors of the hospital, holding flowers and a “Get well” card for his grandfather. He was standing alone with his head down but deep in thought.

“Okay, when I get in, I'll say it exactly as I rehearsed. No need to stutter or panic. Just exactly how it was rehearsed, Kyungsoo!” Kyungsoo mentally shouted at himself. He rehearsed alone a few more times, his mutterings slightly heard by people passing by. Kyungsoo was so lost in his task that he didn't notice until he looked up.

That was a bad move.

Kyungsoo froze. There were so many people staring at him. A cold sweat started to run down the back of Kyungsoo's neck, his breathing started to get faster and his heart was going at 100 miles per hour. He started to shake, violently, and only syllables stuttered out his dry mouth. They were still staring at him. At. Him.

Kyungsoo couldn't take it anymore. He ran into the hospital as he screamed an “I'm sorry!” He ran into the lobby and rushed to the desk. He was winded from his sprint and panic attack. He asked the nurse behind the desk the room that held his grandfather. It's didn't go as he rehearsed as he kept stuttering. The nurse was still able to understand and was nice enough to help him calm down. He thanked her and left to visit his grandfather.

He walked down the hall, sighing to himself at the embarrassing situation that happened earlier.

“Stupid Kyungsoo! Why did you stutter?! You'll never improve like this...” He muttered to himself. He walked down the hall in silence. The flowers in his hand were still intact and so was the card. He found the room and entered.

“Grandpa?” Kyungsoo asked as he poked his head through the door. No one answered him. He entered and looked around the room. His parents should be there, but they're not. “Maybe they went out to eat...” thought Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo ventured further into the room. He saw a person laying on the bed, most likely his grandfather resting, but he couldn't tell as the curtain blocked his view. He walked towards the figure on the bed.

“Grandpa, it's me, Kyungsoo. How are you feeling?” Kyungsoo asked

“I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong person.”

Surprised, Kyungsoo stumbled backwards and fell. The loud thump alerted the person on the bed and pulled away the curtain.

“Are you okay?” Asked the person on the bed.

Kyungsoo was still sitting on the ground with his eyes wide open. He went into the wrong room. This was not the room that his grandfather occupied, and the young man on the bed was not his grandfather. His short black hair was slightly swept to the right side of his covered forehead. His eye were closed and he had a worried expression on his face. The hospital garment blended into the blanket as it covered his slightly skinny body.

“Hello?” The person asked.

Kyungsoo snapped out of it. He was staring. He jumped up.

“Sorry! Wrong room!” Kyungsoo shouted. How embarrassing, he thought. He didn't make eye contact. He was blushing and his heart felt like it was about to jump out from his chest. Kyungsoo didn't know if it was due to his new found infatuation with the young man, or if he was about to have another panic attack.

Kyungsoo wanted to ask for directions, but all that came out of his mouth were incomprehensible stutters. The other laughed before talking.

“Calm down. I won't bite. Take a deep breathe and slow down,” they said with a smile. Kyungsoo did, and he was finally able to ask his question with the occasional stutters.

“B104? That should be right across from this room,” replied the other. Kyungsoo felt stupid. He bowed and thanked the other but the sentence trailed off because he didn't know the name of the person who helped him.

“Byun Baekhyun. You can just call me Baekhyun. I'm not really into formalities,” Beakhyun said with a small smile. Kyungsoo bowed and thanked Baekhyun again before leaving to meet his original objective.

----------------

The next day, Kyungsoo came back to once again visit his grandfather. Kyungsoo decided to take a break for lunch(his parents stayed behind to watch over the old man). He took a stroll through the garden to avoid the crowds in the lobby as well as to see all the pretty flowers. He was taking his time until he saw someone sitting on the bench. Kyungsoo took a closer look and it was Baekhyun.

Baekyung was sitting to get some sunlight but Kyungsoo noticed the walking stick on the bench. Without knowing, he went closer and his steps were loud enough for Beakhyun to hear. Baekhyun turned his head and voiced out a “Hello?”

Kyungsoo flinched. He took in a sharp breath of air, his pitch about an octave higher. His breathing became shorter and he was sweating. He was panicking, so he didn't notice how pale Baekhyun's eyes were in broad daylight. Baekhyun soon realized.

“Kyungsoo? Is that you?” He asked.

Kyungsoo was able to calm down slightly upon hearing his name.

“Uh, Y-yes... Y-you're... Baekhyun... Right...?” Kyungsoo was able to say. Baekhyun only smiled.

“Yeah, that's me. Wanna sit?” He moved his walking stick to make room for Kyungsoo on the bench. Kyungsoo, now calm, was able to take in the fact that Baekhyun was in fact, blind. Kyungsoo cautiously took the seat next to Baekhyun; He didn't want to be rude after Baekhyun helped him yesterday. Baekhyung heard Kyungsoo's shuffling and knew his new friend was on the bench next to him.

“I could tell it was you from that sound you made, and your footsteps sound different from the staff here. Visiting again?” Baekhyun asked.

“Y-yeah...” Kyungsoo said. Kyungsoo only talked when he needed to in public, and even then, he had a hard time.

“How old are you?”

“I'm n-nineteen...”(1)

“Ah, so you're my dongseang. My poor dongsaeng is so shy,” Baekhyun joked.

“I-It's n-not my fault-t... I have Anthropophobia... and Glossopho-phobia and O-Ophthalmophobia...” Baekyun could only tilt his head in response.

“Hm, sorry, but I don't know those phobias.”

“I'm scared of p-people, p-public speaking, and being s-stared a-at...”

“Aw, my poor dongsaeng. How about I help you with your phobias?”

“H-huh!?”

“Well, technically, I'm blind, so I can't really stare at you because I can't see. I can help your with speaking phobia with calming exercises and practice speeches. And I can get my friends to help with your people phobia,” Baekhyun smiled. Kyungsoo thought about it. He was willing to give it a shot, he had nothing to lose, so he agreed. And thus the friendship between Kyungsoo and Baekhyun commenced.

----------------

“Hyung?”

Kyungsoo was back to visit again. It's been about a week and his grandfather was still hospitalized. Kyungsoo would make time to visit the other older male to keep him company. Kyungsoo was slowly making progress under Baekhyun's guidance. He was able to speak with minimal stuttering at least. His parents were happy that he was improving, but Kyungsoo kept forgetting to tell them the source of his growth.

“Kyungsoo-yah,” Baekhyun acknowledged Kyungsoo's presence. “Kyungsoo-yah, I missed you. You were a little bit later than usual.”

“Sorry, H-Hyung, I had errands to run and I had to go grab some lunch.”

“You wanna share? Hospital food isn't the best.”

Kyungsoo chuckled. He knew that hospital food wasn't the best but he knew that it was safer to eat that take out, especially since his hyung was still recovering.

“Sorry, Hyung. Maybe a little if I don't finish it all.”

Baekhyun could only groan. He had to suffer because of the hospital food. They ate together, even if Baekhyun was more reluctant to do so. They laughed and joked as the food eventually dissapeared. But Kyungsoo then realized.

“H-hyung.”

“Hm?”

“Um... I-I was curious... B-but why are you in the hospital?”

Baekhyun looked surprised. He was having such a fun time with Kyungsoo that he never told him why he was in that situation in the first place. Baekhyun chuckled to himself and reached up to stratch the back of his head.

“I was hit by a car,” Baekhyun said. Kyungsoo's eyes widen considerably.

“W-what?! Why?! H-how?!”

“Woah, calm down, Kyungsoo-yah. I'm blind, so I have a better chance of getting run over than someone who has 20-20 vision.” Kyungsoo settled down after he thought about what Baekhyun said. It was certainly logical, and possible that a blind person could accidentally walk into the streets. Baekhyun continued with how his walking stick suddenly fell over and he was trying to find it, but it seems he ended up crossing into the road and he was hit.

“S-so... you were born blind...?” Kyungsoo asked. He didn't want to seem nosy, but he was worried about the health of his friend and honestly, he wanted to make sure he was correct. Baekhyun only answered with a “Yeah.”

“Have... Have y-you ever thought it was a burden...?” Kyungsoo hoped he wasn't speaking of a touchy subject.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I can't see. I don't know what flowers look like, I don't know what the ocean looks like, I don't know what the sky looks like when the sun sets. I don't know the faces of my friends and family.

“But I've come to accept it. There's really no point in cursing whatever put me in this position because I already have so many people helping me. I feel like if I just throw it all away, that's like wasting their efforts. Like yours, Kyungsoo-yah,” Baekhyun gave Kyungsoo a big smile. Kyungsoo was slightly thankful that Baekhyun was blind so he didn't have to see him blush.

“B-but... I haven't done much...” Kyungsoo said.

“That's not true! I'm having a great time even though I'm in the hospital.”

But Kyungsoo remained doubtful. Baekhyun sensed this because Kyungsoo kept quiet. He motioned for Kyungsoo to come closer and held out his hand. Kyungsoo obliged and held the older male's hand. He didn't know why it was necessary but Kyungsoo looked up and saw that Baekhyun was giving him a big smile. Kyungsoo's doubt vanished and it was replaced with a much warmer feeling.

----------------

Kyungsoo visited again the next day. He crossed the hall to enter Baekhyun's room before knocking on the door and entering. He called out to the older male.

“Hyung, I'm he-” Kyungsoo froze as soon as he looked around the room. There were people. A lot of them. And they were staring at him. Kyungsoo could feel himself start to shake. It was getting hard to breathe. His heart started beating at a rapid pace. His palms and forehead started to become sweaty. It was getting hard to focus. He wanted to run away. He needed to run away. He felt like he was going to collapse because the anxiety was crushing him.

“Kyungsoo-yah!”

Kyungsoo's eyes instantly zoomed to the one who called his name. It was Baekhyun. Kyungsoo was finally able to breathe again but he was still shaking in fear.

“Kyungsoo-yah, come here,” Baekhyun motioned with his hand for Kyungsoo to approach him. Kyungsoo obeyed his hyung without hesitation. Kyungsoo was by the older male's side in an instant as he crossed the distant between him and the other while avoiding the other people four people in the room. He grabbed the hand that called him over in desperation and Baekhyun smiled upon contact. He didn't mind the sweat from Kyungsoo's hand because it was going to disappear once the younger male was more comfortable with the others. Baekhyun started to speak.

“Everybody, this is Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo, these are my friends. They agreed to help you with your people phobia. There's Joonmyun-hyung- you can just call him Suho-hyung- and Chanyeol-ah. Then there's Jongin-ah- we call him Kai- and Sehun-ah.” Kyungsoo followed along as each raised their hand when their name was called.

“There's more, but the others will come later. They went to go get lunch for everybody, and it would be overwhelming for you if you saw all ten of them.” Kyungsoo gasped. There was ten? Kyungsoo could only shake more, but Baekhyun tightened his grip to show his support. Kyungsoo forced himself to calm down.

The day commenced and Kyungsoo was able to befriend the rest while waiting for the other six. Kyungsoo had a fun time watching the not-so-serious dance battles between Kai and Sehun, and he just knew that Chanyeol and Suho would help him. Even if they seem childish at times and Chanyeol has a scary smile.

Kyungsoo stole a glace at Baekhyun as he laughed at the jokes being told. He noticed that their hands were still connected, and he didn't mind. Kyungsoo smiled. It hasn't been that long, but he improved a great amount. He couldn't find a way to thank the other, but he was hoping to stay by his side long enough to try.

----------------

1- i'm going by international age.

Other notes:

please excuse any grammatical and spelling errors. I don't have an editor, editing myself only gets me so far, my grammar and auto correct is the devil.

There needs to be more baked dough in my life.

I said I wouldn't write any exo fics until I researched them(I don't really have enough interwebs right now to do so), but... ughhhhhh ;_;

Kyungsoo is such a scaredy cat in my fic~ i'm sorry kyungsoo-yah ;~;

I probably killed everyone's personality. I'm sorry if I did TT.TT

Graduated high school today~ but I have to go back in november for another graduation lol.

suggestions/crits are loved, comments are amazing and I eat flames for breakfast so please give a heads up!

To those that comment(ed) and subscribe(d), cookie for you.

Hoped you enjoyed reading!

-fmaXp3rt

PS: Spread the Baked Dough!