Characters: Baekhyun & Chanyeol

Rating: PG-16

Word Count: 1500+

Foreword: It’s what the young and the restless are infamous for; unable to grapple with the complexities and obligations of time they all end up chasing the sun. 

 

Photo: I capture you in the sun (by Theo Gosselin) 

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"They said the day won't come

We refused to run

We've only just begun

You'll find us chasing the sun"

– Chasing the sun ; The Wanted

 

Jeans constricting lithe legs, eyes lined to alluring perfection, hair immaculately styled with desperate amounts of product, Baekhyun sauntered into the club with a pearly white smile all full of teeth. This was his scene. This was what he woke up in the evening and slept just before dawn for. He crucified the glorious warmth of the golden sun to find redemption under flashing lights and amongst the suffocating heat of grinding bodies gone flush and high on cheap vodka, tequila and rum.

Put into perspective, it was nothing much to live for. But the anonymity and excuse to act on euphoria without life-binding consequence was all too tempting for the young and restless Baekhyun. He had already lost count of the times he had wasted, submerging himself in an obscene world of pitch black and technicolour. But he knew that it had been one night too many as his body was already set to the rhythm of abnormality, beating in sync with the heavy bass of loud trashy music.

 

It wasn’t after he had enough drinks to make him a complete mess, all reserve and self-preservation washed away in the sea of alcohol coursing through his veins, that he decided to call it a night. His skin was decorated with beads of perspiration, his hair became a disheveled mess and his makeup was slightly smudged after the sheer amount of ‘fun’ he had with the other patrons; greedy hands fumbling over his torso, hungry lips devouring his plush ones, eager hips grinding messily against each other.

He made it through the club, its music already reduced to stagnant beats and its numbers already dwindling down to a sparse few too wasted to make it to the exit. A majority of them lay passed out over the counter or on the feral seats within a booth, the bouncers already too exhausted to care.

 

Baekhyun stumbled out of the club, the night still captivatingly hooded in darkness and capsulated in eerie silence; a far cry from what he had just escaped from. His heated body shivered against the frosty breeze, his leather jacket and low-cut shirt providing little comfort, as he meandered down the deserted streets of Seoul.

He appeared to have wandered purposelessly for what seemed like hours as lights in the odd apartment began to flicker on, signaling the start of yet another routine day of adult responsibilities and obligations. His feet brought him forward, his alcohol-infused mind rendered numb to what little navigational skills he possessed. Lost, he paused in his tracks, glancing upward as he made an attempt to read one of the street signs overhead.

 

Suddenly an intrusive bang resounded through the night, slicing through silence, as Baekhyun found himself unceremoniously knocked to the ground. White powder filled the air around him and settled on his flamboyant attire and through his chocolate brown hair. He let out coughs, dusting himself off as he scowled and gave an unforgiving glare at the culprit responsible for his embarrassing state.

What met his eyes shocked him to the core – a towering boy all dressed in white with curly brown locks barely kept tame under a small white cap. A starched apron was secured around his waist and a biege muslin bag was slung over his shoulder. However, it wasn’t the shear amount of white the other was wearing that blinded Baekhyun. It was the apologetic smile plastered across his lips that threw him off his feet. His smile was brighter than any light not only for the generous amount of teeth shown between thin pink lips but also for the sparkle that reached his dark orbs. Perhaps the twinkle was a mere illusion induced by the subtle right eye twitch the other seemed to possess, but Baekhyun was not sober enough to distinguish between the two. All he noticed was that the lanky boy who had knocked him over was nothing but radiant.

 

“Sorry I didn’t see you there. Are you alright little one?” the stranger’s unexpected baritone voice rang out through the dark as he extended a floured hand towards the ‘little one’ on the concrete sidewalk.

Baekhyun choked on nothing as he craned his neck to take in the other’s height, mouth hanging agape for several reasons. The first being the stranger’s unexpected vocal register which failed to compliment his otherwise chirpy appearance. And secondly, although he was still in his teens, Baekhyun felt that he was no longer of an age which deserved such a demeaning title.

“I’m nineteen…” he grumbled as he placed a delicate hand in the palm of the outstretched one and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

 

“I’m Chanyeol,” the other commented with that same smile and eye twitch.

Baekhyun stared at him, unblinking, with his eyebrows raised for a good five seconds. Finally he hummed softly, breaking the silence, his lips twitching upwards to form a faint smile as the bubbles of laughter threatening to rise from the back his throat were successfully suppressed.

 

Completely off topic, completely irrelevant…so weird…but cute.

 

“Well nice to meet you, I’m Baekhyun,” he replied, deciding it would be best to just play along with the other’s strange behaviour.

This Chanyeol character did not seem that bad. Perhaps a little high on substances youths like Baekhyun would die to get their hands on. But nonetheless, he appeared harmless.

 

“Oh! Nice to meet you too! Sorry. I call anyone who’s shorter than me little one.”
– How can he laugh so loudly at such an ungodly hour? –
“Except this Chinese university student who comes into my bakery for bread with a black-haired kid who has this really bad case of eye bags. He kinda reminds of a panda; an evil looking one.”
– Is his smile always this radiant? –
“Apparently he does wushu as well which makes him ten times as scary. Do you know what that is? It’s a type of martial arts. So technically, his nickname should be kungfu panda.”
– Too bright –
“Do you know that movie?”
– Too loud –
“It’s an awesome animation! If you haven’t seen it, you should rent it out!”
– Too many words –
“The video rental store is just around the co-”

Baekhyun sighed in relief when the incessant words were blocked from Chaneyeol’s spouting mouth by his hand, hiding that grin and muffling that baritone voice. The light in Chanyeol’s eyes flickered like a weak flame battling against a light breeze. But this only lasted for a split second when the sparkle in his eyes was reignited as soon as his attention was directed towards the sky. He removed Baekhyun’s hand from his mouth, his palm curling around it instead as he dropped his bag of flour down on the ground.

“It’s time!” he announced with child-like excitement – the only warning Baekhyun received before he was tugged into the bakery Chanyeol had blindly graced out of.

For reasons unknown, Baekyun allowed himself to be pulled forward, leather boots dragging sluggishly up the stairs, his legs gone stiff from his reverie on the dance floor. Miraculously, he soon found solid ground beside Chanyeol on a wind-swept and barren rooftop.

“We’re just in time to see the sun rise! The best time of the day! My boss calls us bakers ‘sunrise chasers’ because we wake up at the crack of dawn to bake bread. But mostly, I wake up just for this,” the taller of the two announced, swinging their intertwined hands in pure excitement.

Baekhyun tried to pry his hand away from the other’s grip, but his attempts proved futile. Besides a part of him found odd comfort in the way Chanyeol was swaying their arms back and forth like a pendulum. 

He craned his neck up at the taller boy, giving him his most incredulous stare as if he did not believe that the sun would break over the horizon for him. It felt like a decade since he had glimpsed natural light – the mere thought of seeing the sun rising was absurd. But looking up at Chanyeol, he was caught off guard by a ridiculously brilliant smile of giddy anticipation against a background of an unfamiliar light gray tinged with blue, which seemed but a distant memory. Following the other’s gaze, he turned to face the horizon subconsciously holding his breath as he waited.

 

Just as Chanyeol had promised, the sun emerged in all its golden glory; peeping out from between skyscrapers and bathing the cityscape in its warm glow. It was breath-taking. Baekhyun’s mouth hung open in surprise and his eyes twinkled in awe; unblinking and transfixed on the sun. Warm ochre turned to dazzling white and dull gray to brilliant blue as rays made their debut.

For the first time in his life, the void in his heart which he had attempted to fill with meaningless nights of poor lifestyle choices was now bursting at the seams by the simplest of actions from this one gangly stranger beside him.

 

“Sunrise chasers…” he chuckled softly, whispering the title in dream-like wonder and inconspicuously leaning closer towards Chanyeol’s attractive warmth, the beams of sunlight almost blinding the pair.

“I could get used to this…”

 

 

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A/N:

Mood:  Numb &  Anxious

Music: 'Sorry but I' ; C-REAL

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First time ever posting my own writing on aff. *u*

Hope you all enjoy~

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*buries my face in my pillows*

♥