"Chanyeooool," Baekhyun groaned, trying to get the younger's attention for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day.

 

"Yeah, Baek?" Chanyeol answered, turning his head around for a brief second to look at the older.

 

"I'm bored." Baekhyun whined, hoping Chanyeol would stop talking to Kyungsoo and start playing with him instead. The tall boy had been talking to the wide-eyed vocal the whole day today, and Baekhyun was fed up with the lack of attention.

 

Chanyeol smiled a non-toothy grin, reaching his hand behind to ruffle Baekhyun's hair playfully. "Go play with Suho hyung. He seems bored too. I have to talk to Kyungsoo."

 

But you've been talking to him all day! Baekhyun thinks.

 

"Nevermind," he sighed, tempted to bang his head on a table to release some frustration. Dejected, he rose from his seat to get away from the talkative duo, but Chanyeol didn’t even seem to notice because he was laughing so hard at something Kyungsoo said.

 

Baekhyun's frown deepened as he walked away. What was he expecting anyway? Chanyeol probably just thought of him as a friend after all. Maybe he even had a thing with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun was just being a nuisance, getting in the way. Baekhyun felt like crying as he trudged past the living room, heart heavy and boiling with jealousy. Kyungsoo was good at so many things – it was no wonder Chanyeol liked him. He had a perfect voice, the most huggable, nicely shaped, petite body, two cute, round eyes, hilarious jokes, and most of all, unbeatable cooking skills. Kyungsoo was perfect, and Baekhyun... well Baekhyun was just plain old Baekhyun whom Chanyeol only saw as a playmate. Actually, he wasn't even a playmate anymore because Chanyeol was so busy talking and fooling around with Kyungsoo now. Absolutely fantastic.

 

Baekhyun sulked, walking to the bedroom he shared with Chanyeol. His roommate's loud laughter could be heard from all the way across the living room and it made his shoulders droop. Baekhyun opened the door — their door — and buried his head into the pillows as soon as he hit the bed with a heavy sigh. All day, Chanyeol hadn't looked at him for more than five seconds at a time, and Baekhyun felt dead.

 

Willing his poor, shattered heart to gather itself together, Baekhyun closed his eyes and wooed himself to sleep. If he could just fall asleep, things would feel so much better. He wouldn't have to think about Chanyeol and his goofy smile or the way his right eye twitched whenever he laughed, or even those twinkling, round orbs that made him look like a little kid, and especially all of Chanyeol’s caring actions toward him, and... and...

 

Chanyeol simply refused to stop swimming around in Baekhyun's head, even behind closed eyes.

 

Sighing, Baekhyun gave up. No matter how hard he tried to get Chanyeol out of his head and fall asleep, he just couldn’t. It was embarrassing how little self-control he had over himself whenever the younger was around, but he couldn't help but get angry over every little thing Chanyeol missed about him. He couldn't help that his fingers trembled with the absurdest of emotions whenever Chanyeol wasn't looking, wasn't listening, wasn't with him. All he wanted was for Chanyeol to spare him a glance and give him a smile, maybe give him a chance. But Chanyeol's back had been turned the whole day, and Baekhyun just couldn't take it anymore.

 

 

Park Chanyeol, you're an idiot, you know that?

A really tall and dumb, “I only love Kyungsoo” kind of idiot.

 

And I’m hurting so much because of you - why can’t you tell?

 

 

»»»

 

 

The next two hours were the quietest two hours Baekhyun had ever spent in his whole life. Without Chanyeol loudly barking out his crazy laughter with that creepy smile on his face, time seemed to slow down to an agonizing pace, dragging and dragging backwards with nothing but the sound of the wall clock ticking. Was Chanyeol still talking to Kyungsoo? He probably was. Night was falling already and Baekhyun had (efficiently, yes) wasted a whole day craving for his roommate's attention. If it were just a few hours ago, Baekhyun would have bolted right up and tried pestering Chanyeol again, but now, he was just tired and sad and deprived of Chanyeol's love and he felt like breaking down into tears because dammit...

 

Why won't Chanyeol look at him too?

 

Baekhyun clenched his teeth as he could hear Chanyeol and Kyungsoo laughing in the bedroom next to his. Why did the walls have to be so thin? So now, Chanyeol was in Kyungsoo's room while his real roommate was on the verge of pouring a waterfall from his eyes? How very nice of him.

 

Baekhyun pulled the blankets over his head, aggravated and simply worn out. It was always Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo these days and never Baekhyun anything. He knew that he was being childish for getting so jealous, but he couldn't help it. He was the one who was supposed to make Chanyeol laugh. He was the one who was supposed to crack up at all the lame jokes with Chanyeol. He was the one who was Chanyeol's roommate from the start, and he was... He was the one who liked Chanyeol - the one who was there all along through thick and thin from the start of his trainee days. Chanyeol's best friend was Baekhyun, and Chanyeol's boyfriend should have been Baekhyun too.

 

Kyungsoo's laughter rang clearly through the thin walls, making Baekhyun burrow into his fort even deeper. What was so funny anyway? He could hear Chanyeol's deep voice seep into the walls along with a loudly laughing Kyungsoo.

 

"And then Baekhyun - oh my gosh it was so funny. He was ready to bawl on the floor because of that leaked video of him dancing that light switch dance. You’ve seen it, right? Hahaha! All the fans were making fun of him on our couple fan site and it was seriously so funny how Baekhyun was groaning in embarrassment for three hours straight."

 

Baekhyun froze. Were they talking about him?

 

"Baekhyun, he's such a dork."

 

"I know, right?"

 

Baekhyun tried to strain his ears so he could hear better, but the talking had subsided to a quiet level suddenly and now he couldn't hear anything. Frustrated, Baekhyun clawed at the blanket above him.
 

When I actually want to listen in, they get quiet? Seriously?
 

Why was Chanyeol talking about him to Kyungsoo anyway?
 

And what? Dork? I am not a dork!

 

Baekhyun seethed, eyebrows furrowing in annoyance. So first, Chanyeol decided to dispose of him like an old, overused rag doll and now, he was talking about him behind his back? Baekhyun didn't even know what to be more mad at: the fact that Chanyeol was disregarding him, or the fact that Chanyeol was regarding him, but only to others. Now what kind of relationship was that? Definitely not playmates or boyfriends for that matter. Baekhyun couldn't help but think it was more like old friends - the type who tell others about a childhood friend they used to do everything with. Everything was past tense.

 

An uneasy silence filled the room, and Baekhyun frowned. Why are they so quiet? They aren’t doing things in there, right? he hoped.

 

For a second, Baekhyun thought he could feel his stomach churn at the idea, but it immediately died down when he heard the door open on the other side. Maybe they just left the room to get something from outside - Baekhyun could only pray this was so.

 

Wallowing in self-pity, Baekhyun sighed. It was most likely that they went out to get some late night snack somewhere without him. Without him. Baekhyun counted the seconds and let the darkness sink in closer.

 

One minute… Two minutes… Three min-

 

Suddenly, his door opened with a loud creak, a still-laughing Chanyeol walking in with Kyungsoo close behind him. It was unexpected, but the main vocal didn't need to peek out of the covers to see who the intruders were; they were loud enough.

 

"Hmm... I forgot where the game went...," he heard Chanyeol say. There were sounds of messy rummaging, most likely through their joint piles of stacked video games; Chanyeol was looking for Call of Duty, no doubt about it.

 

"Why don't you ask Baekhyun if he knows where it is?" Kyungsoo asked, peering over Chanyeol's shoulder. The two boys turned to see the lump on said friend's bed.

 

Routine to always waking Baekhyun up, Chanyeol crawled his way over to the plush bed and sunk his knee into the mattress. The heat pad was turned up as usual. Chanyeol honestly could never understand how Baekhyun was able to sleep in such burning temperatures. Didn't the poor boy ever get hot on that thing?

 

"Hey, Baekhyun, are you sleeping?" Chanyeol asked quietly, and Baekhyun could feel the bed dip under the added weight of his bandmate.

 

"Baek?" Chanyeol repeated when Baekhyun didn't answer.

 

Both furious and sad, the vocal willed Chanyeol to go away because the tall rapper was always so oblivious to his inner turmoil. He was also mad at himself too, because he'd let himself get so affected by something that was supposed to be trivial. Baekhyun was being ridiculous and helpless, and Chanyeol was too dumb to notice. Frustration blinded the older.

 

"I'm sleeping." Baekhyun replied gruffly, voice muffled by the mountain of pillows and blankets piled on top of him. He just prayed that Chanyeol wouldn’t come any closer because he knew he would burst if he did.

 

"Oh, sorry. Quick question though, just give me a second. Do you know where my Black Ops went? I remember playing it with you last."

 

Baekhyun shrugged as best as he could under all the layers. He knew exactly where it was, but he didn't want to tell Chanyeol. And since when was it his Black Ops? They'd paid for it together, or at least that was how Baekhyun remembered it.

 

He heard Chanyeol sigh as the bed leveled again, the younger's weight now gone.

 

"Hey I think I found it, Chanyeol," Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo say. The shorter was crouched down in front of the Xbox 360 by the TV set comfortably, the disk compartment opened wide. Kyungsoo pointed at the object in the machine. "It's this, right?"

 

Chanyeol bent down to read the logo on the CD. "Yeah, it's that one. Man, that was stupid of me. I should have checked there first."

 

Chanyeol stooped down to grab the game and put in in the proper case. There was an Xbox in Kyungsoo’s room too, so he figured that if Baekhyun was sleeping, then it’d be better to play in there. Unless Baekhyun wanted to play too, that was.

 

"Hey Baek, wanna play with us?" Chanyeol asked, but Baekhyun was way too upset by that point to take up the offer he usually would have been quick to accept.

 

"No," Baekhyun bluntly replied, voice almost growling. Chanyeol was taken aback by Baekhyun's suddenly cold tone, but he decided not to pay too much attention to it; the shorter was probably just groggy with sleep.

 

"Then I'm gonna let Kyungsoo play with your controller okay?" Chanyeol said, reaching for the other controller on the floor to hand to Kyungsoo. Jongin had accidentally smashed both his and Kyungsoo's into the wall after Kyungsoo beat him seven times in a row, so they were going to need another one if they were to play next door. Without really waiting for Baekhyun’s reply, Chanyeol grabbed the game controller in his large hand, ready to hand it to Kyungsoo when suddenly, Baekhyun jumped out of his bed and stomped over to the two in blind fury. Before Chanyeol or Kyungsoo could utter a full word, the older snatched the Xbox controller out of Chanyeol's hand and ran back into his bed, burying himself and the device as well in the artificial Baekhyun cave he made out of blankets and pillows. He hadn’t said any words, but the actions made it clear enough.

 

Confused, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo both looked to the lump that was once again Baekhyun and raised an eyebrow. Chanyeol knew that something was definitely wrong because Baekhyun had never acted like this before, but Kyungsoo just shrugged when the taller looked to him for an answer.

 

"I think I should... uh... go," Kyungsoo whispered quietly, so that only Chanyeol could hear.

 

"Yeah, that's a good idea." The taller nodded, waving the vocalist off. Kyungsoo left after giving him a reassuring smile, and the rapper closed the door quietly behind him.

 

"Baekhyun, are you mad at me?" Chanyeol asked slowly, walking towards the lump on the bed step by step. Under the covers, Baekhyun held tightly onto his game controller as silent tears ran down his face. Chanyeol was being so stupid.

 

"Baek?" Chanyeol asked again, now a bit worried. The tears continued to stream down Baekhyun's face as he tried to bite back his sobs. The blanket fort was making it hard to breath and the heat was making him dizzy, but the older didn't want to bring himself out of the covers.

 

"Baekhyun...?" Chanyeol called again, placing a knee on the bed this time as he tried to crawl closer to Baekhyun.

 

"Go away!" Baekhyun shouted when he felt Chanyeol's weight shift the bed again. He didn't need Chanyeol to see his stupid tears or ask what was wrong. Although, it didn’t matter anyway because when he spoke, Chanyeol immediately noticed the difference in his voice.

 

"Baekhyun, are you crying?" Chanyeol asked, trying to peer at Baekhyun's face. He attempted to lift the covers off of Baekhyun, but the smaller didn't budge.

 

"Hey, why are you crying?" Chanyeol asked, hands tugging at the covers again. "Are you okay? Let me see!"

 

Baekhyun let out a cry in frustration, turning his body away from Chanyeol. The rapper immediately pulled the barriers away at the chance and threw them off of Baekhyun so that he could see the older’s face.

 

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol breathed quietly as he saw a tear-stained vocal with an arm over his watery eyes. His cheeks were shiny with tears and Chanyeol knew for sure that Baekhyun had been crying.

 

"Byun Baekhyun, why are you crying?" Chanyeol asked, hands working to pry Baekhyun's arms away from his face. The smaller struggled for a bit before Chanyeol was able to crawl over him and pull them off easily, but Baekhyun still looked away, eyes red and puffy as they avoided the younger's gaze.

 

Out of instinct, Chanyeol worriedly ran his thumb across Baekhyun's cheek, wiping the fresh tears. Baekhyun looked up at him briefly then turned away, swatting Chanyeol's hand away before wiping the tears hastily himself.

 

"Baek, you okay?" Chanyeol asked again, trying to lock a steady gaze with the petite boy under him. Baekhyun clamped his mouth shut, small hiccups trapping at his lips. Chanyeol leaned in closer, trying to get Baekhyun to look him in the eyes. "Baek?"

 

This time, Baekhyun's eyes flickered to Chanyeol's.

 

Chanyeol smiled weakly as he held the gaze with the boy beneath him, rubbing his thumb across Baekhyun's cheek again. There weren't any new tears, but Baekhyun's face was still wet from both the sorrowful drops and the thin line of perspiration from being under the blankets for so long. Chanyeol softly ran his fingers through Baekhyun's hair, pushing back the baby hairs that were sticking onto his forehead from the sweat. The smaller stayed silent, but there was something different about the way his usually twinkling eyes failed to shine.

 

Relaxing the older with his caring touches, Chanyeol waited for Baekhyun to speak because he knew that Baekhyun always did, no matter how mad or upset he was with him. Sure enough, Baekhyun's eyes finally found the courage to look deep into the younger’s and trembled as if he was looking for an answer in those dark brown orbs. Baekhyun swallowed, throat dry from his repressed sobs.

 

"Chanyeol?" he asked quietly, as if testing out his voice. Baekhyun dug his other hand out of the giant blanket mess and gripped the strings of Chanyeol's jacket with both hands. The controller rolled out of the mound and Chanyeol’s fingers stopped moving in Baekhyun's hair as their arms touched. It wasn't until then that he noticed the awkward position they were in.

 

"Hmm?" Chanyeol hummed in response, choosing to ignore their unusual proximity. It was hard though, because his legs were laying over Baekhyun's coated ones now (somehow it had happened) and their faces were at a dangerously close distance.

 

A lone tear fell from Baekhyun's left eye, traveling down the side of his face. Something had been broken inside of him, and everything just hurt.

 

"Chanyeol," he croaked out again, tears choking his throat. "Look at me, too."

 

Chanyeol blinked back at Baekhyun, the depth of the older's words failing to register in his head. Once it sunk in, however, his eyes widened in surprise; Chanyeol didn’t know what he was expecting, but it sure wasn’t something like that. It made his head spin how jealous Baekhyun was. Baekhyun was crying because he was jealous - which directly meant that Baekhyun liked him. Not just liked him, but like-liked him. Chanyeol felt a rush of oxygen flow into his lungs.

 

But why had Baekhyun gotten so jealous anyway? The idiot didn’t even have anything to worry about. It was relieving to know the exact cause of Baekhyun's precious tears, though. Chanyeol thought that something had been terribly wrong the whole time, but it turned out that Baekhyun just wanted his attention - that was all. But it still broke his heart to see the person he treasured the most so sad.

 

Baekhyun shyly played with the strings of Chanyeols jacket with his fingers; he couldn't bring himself to look into Chanyeol's eyes anymore. "I-I'm here too, Chanyeol..."

 

Baekhyun glimpsed back at the younger's eyes, searching, almost begging for a reaction. Something? ...Anything?

 

As if he knew Baekhyun was looking for something, Chanyeol leaned in a bit closer. His eyes stared into Baekhyun's wide ones, making the older swallow again. Baekhyun was nervous as hell, but his mouth refused to shut up. "I… I don't like it when you're with Kyungsoo, Chanyeol. I-"

 

Whatever he was going to say was cut off because Chanyeol shushed him with a sudden, but gentle kiss, elbows falling beside Baekhyun's head as he lowered himself slowly and softly on top of the older. Baekhyun froze under the sudden warmth that was enveloping his lips, the unexpected taste of Chanyeol making his head spin dizzily. Heart pounding loud in his ears, Baekhyun felt his eyes flutter closed as the younger's lips moved softly against his. His own lips quivered when Chanyeol s a hand under his back to pull him in closer, deepening their kiss. Baekhyun didn't refuse, letting Chanyeol have his way with him.
 

When Baekhyun finally mustered up enough courage, he shyly parted his lips, kissing back ever so slightly because this was all he’d ever wanted – for Chanyeol to run his fingers through his hair and give him attention for just a bit longer than usual. They didn’t need any words to explain the hidden meanings and misunderstandings as they brought each other closer, melting into one. Baekhyun had to break away for a moment shortly after, giddily coming up for air because he wasn’t used to kissing someone he had wanted for such a long time. When Chanyeol backed away a considerable amount, Baekhyun could only gaze into his eyes with a sheepish grin playing at his swollen, damp lips as he bit down on them bashfully.

 

Chanyeol smiled with warmth, eyes staring back into Baekhyun's as his hands comfortingly ran through Baekhyun's hair again. Baekhyun bit his lip harder, embarrassed all of a sudden now that they weren’t closing their eyes and looking at each other instead.

 

"You're an idiot Baekhyun," Chanyeol said softly, wiping Baekhyun's stray tear from before.

 

“Hey,” Baekhyun defended quietly. "I am not..."

 

“You didn’t even have to be jealous you know.” A smile inched across Chanyeol’s face as he rubbed small circles on Baekhyun’s cheek. "Because it's always been you, Baek. I really like you."

 

Baekhyun couldn't help but blush as Chanyeol brought his loving lips down on his damp forehead, hands now caressing the side of his face. Baekhyun felt numb all over.

 

"I'm sorry I upset you today," Chanyeol apologized, pressing a light kiss to Baekhyun's nose this time, making the shorter blink. "But I've always been looking at you, so don't worry, okay?"

 

Baekhyun nodded shyly, eyes lowering in embarrassment.

 

Chanyeol smiled, bringing his forehead down to Baekhyun's. "I'm really sorry for making you cry, Baek."

 

Baekhyun felt his ears go red. "Idiot...," he whispered, barely audible but still loud enough for Chanyeol to hear. Baekhyun pulled at the strings of the younger’s jacket timidly. Chanyeol's sudden confession made him shy as hell and it being shy, but he wasn't going to complain.

 

"I know. But I'm your idiot, right?" Chanyeol said, lips curving into a smile.

 

Baekhyun responded by pulling in the strings abruptly, tilting his head upward a bit to meet those addicting lips again. He pecked Chanyeol quickly, smiling on the younger's already-grinning lips.

 

"So why don't you like me talking to Kyungsoo again?" Chanyeol teased, muttering against Baekhyun's soft lips.

 

"Shut up," Baekhyun replied, lips still tingling and ghosting over the younger’s before they broke away. Chanyeol wiggled into the blankets with Baekhyun and s his arms around the smaller's shoulders, enveloping him in a warm hug. Baekhyun's heart fluttered when he heard Chanyeol's deep chuckle by his ear.

 

"Baek?" Chanyeol whispered.

 

"Yeah?" Baekhyun replied, finally allowing himself to snuggle into Chanyeol's warm chest after so many hours of wanting to do so. Chanyeol cradled the older in his arms protectively.

 

"Can we.... turn down the heat?" Chanyeol chuckled lightly, chin resting on Baekhyun's head.

 

Baekhyun laughed and nodded under him. If he was going to be in Chanyeol's arms like this from now on, then he wouldn't need artificial warmth like that. Chanyeol was the best source of warmth after all.

 

 

 

- the end-

 

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