In A Night Of Discomfort and Contentment
Paranormal LoveIt doesn't feel like it, but it's been six months since that night and Baekhyun still thinks about it occasionally. He won't admit that his heart did flips around his chest whenever Chanyeol commented on his singing. He won't admit that he blushed when the other would just stare at him for no reason- but there was a reason, he just didn't know. He definitely won't admit to not being able to breath properly when Chanyeol was an inch close to his face and he could clearly see those faded dark brown eyes in front of him. Yeah, he won't admit that.
Other than the creeping memories, things were normal(?) School on its own with semester finals and all. Baekhyun was never one to study and since the teachers never gave anything but study guides for the previous week, he was able to have more free time then and the weekend before. Don't worry, he still passed his test.
Then, there was that small conflict that Minseok will probably never let Baekhyun live down. It had come up in mindless conversation with him and Chanyeol that his birthday was three months ago. Baekhyun was upset he didn't tell him, somewhat pissed, and yelled at him for keeping "secrets" but calmed down after his brother interjected, "Remember, spirits start to loose some memories if there not occasionally reminded". Baekhyun felt awkward after that and didn't talk to either ghost for the rest of the day. Minseok will always haunt him with this.
It didn't take long, but Baekhyun slowly got used to Chanyeol staring at him for no reason. He also noticed, after silently waking up a few nights, that the younger lays in his bed all night. He heard Chanyeol talking to him about random topics. Baekhyun thought it was because he didn't have anything else better to do but it was actually to keep the other from having another nightmare. Chanyeol never wanted to see him wake up panting with fear written on his face, tears streaming from his eyes again, this was how he thought he could prevent it.
Now it is spring break and Baekhyun has been losing his lazy side lately so this is good for him.
He was near sleep while listening to some SNSD when the door rang. I can't have breaks can I? Good thing it was his moms off day so he wouldn't have to get up and continue his leisure. That is until his lovely mother calls him from downstairs, "Baekhyun-ah! Door for you~!"
The boy groaned, pausing his precious music and ripping his headphones off with a grunt. Taking his precious time to slowly roll off the bed, Baekhyun crawled to the edge of the hallway to peck downstairs. Are these people worthy of my time?
He was really tempted to go back to his room but he knew with these people, it would just make it worse. Baekhyun sighed and made his way down the stairs to the door his mother left open. "What?" He greeted his friends sourly.
"What side of the bed did you wake up on?" Jongdae snorted.
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and noticed that the three boys had duffle bags hanging off thier shoulders. "Are you going camping?" He knew what they were doing. He just didn't want to face the truth.
"No," Yixing says. "We're having a slumber party at your house." He smiled all too cheerfully.
"Don't make it sound gay ,Yixing." Jongdae says jokingly. But he is, Baekhyun thought. "And if you don't mind, which obviously doesn't matter, but I brought my cousin?" Jongdae gestured to an empty space.
Baekhyun raised his eyebrows."Is it the air?"
The other boy made a crease in his face, turning to the space beside him. No one was there. "Where'd he go?" The younger one started turning his head all ways around the yard in search for this missing cousin.
Baekhyun shook his head. "No no, you are not staying the night here. I didn't agree to this."
Joonmyeon put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Baekhyun, it's our spring break. Plus they wanted to invade your house Friday. I convinced them to let you laze around for a few days." He tried the innocent and angel like card.
"Joonmyeon, bless your heart, but I don't want you leeches in my house." Baekhyun petted the older face, making him pout.
Yixing looked offended. "Leeches?"
"Baekhyun your letting flies in, close the door!" His mother called from upstairs. Baekhyun groaned loudly before letting the two in. He closed the door before Jongdae, who was sticking his head under a car, could noticed he let the others in.
He turned to the boys. They were throwing their bags on the living room floor. "Yes, leeches. Every time you guys come here I'm left with barely any food, messes that I have to clean up, and my dog covered in junk food of which, again, I have to clean!", Baekhyun says before catching a breath.
"Okay okay, we won't eat all you food, trash your house, and desecrate your dog." Yixing stated like he just solved the entire ordeal.
"No, Yixing, you said that last time. If you guys are going to stay here for the night, you are not to leave this house in the morning until everything you mess up or "desecrate" is just like it is now. And eat less, for the love of feet, you don't need food in your mouths every half second!" The two nodded, afraid of what would happen if they tried to negotiate any further.
There was a knock at the door. "What?", Baekhyun yelled at the door.
Jongdae walked in dragging his 'cousin' by the arm behind him. Baekhyun's jaw almost left his face. "Hey Baekhyun, meet my cousin-"
"Kyungsoo!?"
- - -
"Kyungsoo?" The tall boy chanted the echoing name he heard. Chanyeol looked in no particular direction, eyebrows creased.
"Who's Kyungsoo?", Minseok asked as he stopped scratching Minnie behind his ears. The large pup groaned a bit before getting up to prance downstairs to the new comers he never bothered to greet when they came in.
"An old friend..." Chanyeol didn't say anything further, getting distracted. He was knee-deep through the floor before he pulled himself back up. "Oh right," he says to himself before making his way through the door and down the stairs leaving Minseok with a confused- but somewhat amused- look.
- - -
Chanyeol got to the top of the staircase but stopped when he saw a small round-eyed boy standing in the middle of the living room beside Jongdae. He had remembered seeing this boy before but he couldn't put his finger on how he knew him.
Just as the memories of the smaller boy and his two best friends came flooding his mind, Chanyeol wanted to fall to his knees.
He had nearly forgotten. He almost forgot the people that made him happy. The people who were always there for him. His friends.
As he thought about it, he sat down on the top of the steps. He couldn't quite remember his family either. It's all fuzzy. The only thing close to a clear picture is of his mother. He could still picture her long black hair covering her youthful face. Her smile that she'd always give him even if he didn't feel like he needed it, but she always knew when he did. She was so wonderful to him and he's so close to forgetting her.
No. I won't let go of her. I can't. I can't let this get to me.
Chanyeol felt like crying. He wanted to cry his eyes out, but he couldn't and that hurt him. He looked up with a distorted expression. Dad...please talk to me. You haven't in a while. I can never forget you and I know that. I really need you to talk to me. I don't want to feel like this anymore. Show me something that can help me.
At that moment, a loud and familiar voice broke through his train of thought. Chanyeol looked down the steps and into the living room at the source of the noise.
His eyes widened a bit as he looked back up. Is it him? Can he really be that something to help me through this? And as if feeling his father nod at him , Chanyeol smiled. He gazed back down to Baekhyun- nearly on his edge. Like he said he would.
- - -
"So let me get this straight." Baekhyun let go of the skin at the bridge of his nose he was pinching. He pointed the small boy across from him who was petting his lazy pup. "Kyungsoo; the smartest person in our year, second rank in the whole school, and the most innocent looking person I have ever seen," he took a breath, "is your cousin?"
Jongdae nodded. "Pretty much."
Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at the younger. "Bull-" He thought about what he was about to say. Kyungsoo's here, I can't say such words...can I? "crap."
"Who says bullcrap?" Yixing muttered, asking no one.
Jongdae rolled his eyes. "Look, he really is my cousin. You think I kidnapped him or something?" A yes is what was answered from the three boys making the other groan. "Fine. Kyungsoo, can you please tell these simpletons that you are my cousin and that I didn't take you from your family?"
Kyungsoo, still patting the pups head, spoke up. "He is my cousin, sadly-"
"Yah!"
"But you kinda did kidnap me."
Baekhyun slapped Jongdae hard across the head. "Why would you kidnap this poor person?"
The younger stepped back, rubbing his head. "My aunt told me to bring him because he's so antisocial. He's worse than you, Baekhyun."
The other looked a little hurt. "I'm not antisocial," he whispered.
"Okay, enough arguing." Joonmyeon stepped between them. "Let's lay out the sleeping bags!" He then ran up to Baekhyun's room while catching his boyfriends hands in his to pull him along. Jongdae following them more calmly.
"I still never agreed to this." Baekhyun shook his head and turned to see that Kyungsoo hadn't moved from his spot, the dog gone unto his small bed. "Are you coming?"
Kyungsoo stood up with his things. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to being in a strangers house."
"Well I'm not a stranger, I'm your friend..who you just met." Baekhyun smiled while guiding him up the stairs. He noticed Chanyeol was just sitting there looking at them. "Um, go on in. I'll be there in a bit."
Kyungsoo nodded and continued to walk down the hall following the noise the others were creating.
Baekhyun sat down beside Chanyeol. "Sup."
"Hey." Then there was a short silence. "He's nice isn't he?."
"Who? Kyungsoo? You know him?"
The other nodded. "We were friends. He was the one the only people I knew in an upper class. We didn't hang out much but he used to tutor me and my friends sometimes." Chanyeol's gazed went to his faded glass-like feet. "I haven't seen him in so long. I feel like I almost forgot about him."
Baekhyun couldn't say what he wanted when the door bell rang. He got up with a sigh and made his way to the door. He didn't bother using the peep whole this time, he had a 99.99% good guess who it was. When he opened the door, he was right. "Annyeong Injoon."
The girl nodded and held up the thin boxes she had in her arms. "Hello Byun, I brought games."
Baekhyun smiled and let her in.
"Injoon-ah!" Chanyeol called to her. Her eyes gave off somewhat of a smile, something Baekhyun rarely sees. "Hey, Monopoly."
"Hello Chan, your feeling rather yellow today, but I sense your shallow green." Injoon hummed before walking into the loud room at the middle of the hall.
Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol. "Sudden nicknames and rare eye smiles.." He crossed his arms. "Are you two hiding something from me?" He joked.
The other shrugged with a small grin before leaving him to add on to the capacity of his room.
Baekhyun could here something collide with the floor rather loudly, the quick silence making him groan. He went to the kitchen to grab a ice cream sandwich before walking back to his room. When he got there, Jongdae was on his used-to-be-clean bed, Yixing on his laptop, Joonmyeon going through his books, Kyungsoo awkwardly chatting with Injoon while setting up Guesstures, and Chanyeol comfortably sitting in the middle of the room waving at him with Minseok in his closet. When did he get in here? Aside from Kyungsoo and Chanyeol being here, this was any normal sleepover at Baekhyun's house and he really hated it.
- - -
"Uh, bird! No, airplane! Standing! Sky scrapper!" Jongdae was literally naming the first thing to come to his mind now, his other team mate, Baekhyun, shaking his head at him, not even bothering to try.
Down we to the last card, the machine stopping, followed by a low groan from Joonmyeon. "Plant! The last word was plant, you idiot. You were just calling out a bunch of randoms! And you don't even act the words out right. Your not playing it the right way!"
"Then what is the right way?"
"Correctly!" Joonmyeon half-yelled.
"It's not like we lost or anything." Jongdae mumbled back. Joonmyeon sat beside Baekhyun, facing away from the immature boy on the other side. He didn't want to be on the same team as Jongdae because he can get unnecessary at times- like now.
Baekhyun took out a piece of paper, pushing up the spectacles he stole from Yixing on his face. "Actually, we are very far behind because of you and your spouts of "randoms". And this is the last round so Team A it's your turn." He motioned to the other three across from them.
Kyungsoo got up from his spot on the floor between Yixing and Injoon. He went to the small box of cards and picked out four easy looking ones before placing them into the slots. He watched his team, asking them if they were ready with his eyes. When both of them nodded, he let down the thick black and white striped stick.
Kyungsoo looked at his first word again, pulling his wrists up to his chest with his hands laying limp almost like a-
"Puppy!" Yixing called out.
Kyungsoo nodded and moved quickly to the next one. He made his hands form circles and held them up to his eyes.
"Binoculars," Injoon says.
Nodding again, Kyungsoo looked at the third word just as the first card was falling down into the slot. He started moving his arms like a-
"Wave!" Yixing called again. At this point, Jongdae was laying on the floor like he had given up on his life by then.
Kyungsoo moved on, he smiled a bit to himself before just standing there- stiff.
"Pole!", says both Injoon and Yixing at the same time. Kyungsoo stopped the machine and turned to Baekhyun to hear there final points for the game.
Picking up the paper and a pencil again, Baekhyun added the points the other team just earned before telling the score. "Team A; 18 points." Yixing cheered in accomplishment, spreading his arms to hug both Kyungsoo and Injoon. "And Team B; 6." Jongdae groaned even louder- being the sore loser he is.
Baekhyun crumpled up the paper, throwing it in the trash bin by his door. He yawned and flopped on to his bed face-down. "You're not tired already, are you? We didn't watch a movie yet." Joonmyeon shook the sleepy- headed boy. A fake snore was heard and Joonmyeon jumped on Baekhyun back, making the boy groan slightly in pain.
"Kim get off of me! Your heavy!"
"Uh... yeah, that's kinda the point."
"Fine! I'll stay up and watch the stupid movie." Baekhyun caved.
Joonmyeon smiles, roles off the younger and over to the side of the room where the DVDs were. He already knew what he wanted to watch and was sure that Baekhyun had it in his possession. When he found it, a wide grin fell upon his young face. "Pirates of the Caribbean!"
Kyungsoo turned to him to ask, "Which one?"
Joonmyeon walked over to the DVD player. "Dead Mans Chest."
A few 'oh's were spoken as Joonmyeon let the previews play. "Baekhyun, come with me to get the popcorn and stuff."
"Why me?"
"It's your house."
"It's your stomachs." Baekhyun retorted.
Joonmyeon narrowed his eyes. "Don't make me squish you," He lightly threatened and smiled once Baekhyun got up with a heavy sigh. And followed him out the door.
Upon walking down the hall, glancing at his brothers room, Baekhyun noticed that a certain giant wasn't in the room since there third game and didn't come back. You better be in there giant....giant?
- - -
It was nearing 3am and the ending credits of their third movie ended. Everyone was knocked out. Kyungsoo and Injoon where in their respective sleeping bags in front of the TV- the top of their heads near touching, Yixing and Joonmyeon were sharing Yixing's big sleeping bag at the foot of the bed, and Jongdae had fallen asleep during the first 5 minutes of the last movie with popcorn still in his hand.
Baekhyun was still awake but very sleepy. Not liking the mess Jongdae was surrounded by, he picked up the bowl lying on the boy's stomach. Before placing it on the bedside table, Baekhyun put the few scattered pieces of popcorn in the bowl.
The boy let out a long yawn before walking over to the TV, cutting it off- the only source of light being the dim moonlight. He walk back over to his bed ready for bed. Finally. He shoved Jongdae to the farthest side of the bed and snuggled himself in the thick covers.
A few minutes went by and it felt like hours. He couldn't sleep and he knew exactly why.
Baekhyun didn't even bother to open his eyes to look at Chanyeol. "Are you bored again?", he asks in a whisper.
"No." The other answered back.
"Okay. You mind letting me sleep though? I'm kinda tired, it's been a long night." Chanyeol nodded."Thanks." Like he said, he didn't have to open his eyes.
Chanyeol turned around where his back was facing Baekhyun, lying against the side of the bed. He waited a couple of minutes before he heard some small puppy-like yelps come from Baekhyun. He smiled and knew he was just about deep into dreamland.
He turned around to see the smaller sleeping peacefully. "They put you through a lot don't they?", he whispered to Baekhyun's sleeping figure.
Chanyeol moved his hand to the boys face, moving a few hairs away from his eyes. "I talked to my dad today. Well, at least I think I did. Indirectly I guess. Anyway, I was asking him for some help- for something to help me."
He started moving his hand along Baekhyun's face. "I almost forgot about Kyungsoo, about Sehun and Jongin. I don't want that, Baekhyun. I don't want to forget the people that I love, that cared for me and still do. I hope they do. Do you think they still love me Baekhyun?"
Said boy shuffled around in his sleep. Chanyeol took that as a response. "Yeah, I know they do. You know I can still see my mom? She's so pretty and nice. Your mom kinda reminds me of her, too. They're both so caring and a bit sarcastic with their kids." He laughed. "She's like my best of best friends. I miss her so much right now. If I could see her smile at me again, I might feel better right now."
Baekhyun sniffled, almost scrunching up his face. "No, don't feel bad. I'll talk about something happier. Me and Minseok are really getting along, you already know that though, right? He's like a brother I never had. He always gives me advice although he likes to insult me but that's what brothers do, right?"
"You know, I've forgotten about Mihyun. I mean, not entirely, but I don't see her as someone I used to love so much. I don't even think you guys look alike anymore. The more I see you, the less I see of her. I see how different you both are. Your eyes are brighter, your laugh is fun to listen to, you're lazy but so much fun to be around. You're snarky at times, sarcastic, and rude when you want to be but you're really nice and loving. You may look like you wish you were sleeping at home, not wanting to be with your friends-and you probably do-but I know you love them dearly and you want to be there."
Chanyeol didn't notice he started caressing Baekhyun's cheek with his thumb- maybe because he can't feel it. "You're smile is just adorable and your voice is comforting. You're so special to me and just every bit of wonderful I-" Baekhyun moved his head back but not fully out of Chanyeol's reach, "-I love you, Baekhyun."
The sleeping boy's body slowly turned to the opposite side, his back to Chanyeol. The latter didn't think anything of it and smiled on. "Goodnight." He slowly got up and left the room, back to Minseok's.
- - -
At the top of the bed lies a heavy hearted boy, breathing unevenly on account of what he just heard.
And at the bottom, a girl lies wide awake, feeling every word said by a spirit and every emotions being felt by the mortal near. She felt the air mix of discomfort and contentment, of pain and happiness.
Oh my god you don't know how long it took me to do this chapter. On account of my writers block, laziness and forgetfulness (don't forget that hell named school and it's homework demons) but here you are~ thank you for reading!
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