“But I don’t love Chanyeol... What I feel towards him, it’s different. There’s a line between friendship and love.” Baekhyun mumbled, lowering his eyes to avoid Luhan’s skeptical gaze.

“There’s so many different kinds of lines, different borders separating people from one another. But these separations aren’t always meant to be kept. I crossed the line that had been separating me from you... the line that had been holding our friendship back from growing to where it has now. I think it’s your turn now, Baek. Are you willing to cross the line between you and Chanyeol?”

“I-I don’t know...”

From beside Luhan, Sehun smiled softly, putting a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure Chanyeol is.”

~~

The Monday after that weekend, Chanyeol finally came all out and told Kyungsoo the entire truth.

“So it was all a lie? Going out with you? Loving you? He never did any of that?”

Chanyeol shook his head, looking sympathetically at this friend who had so easily believed in their act. “I’m sorry for tricking you, but I really wanted you both to realize how much you meant to each other. Kai just couldn’t think of any other way. You and I both know he can be pretty stupid.”

“Excuse me?” Kai demanded with a grin as he walked in and sat down beside Kyungsoo. “Stupid?”

Kyungsoo was already stifling to laugh at this point. “So what urged you to finally tell Kai to stop being stupid?”

Chanyeol chuckled softly, trying to keep the conversation light but still giving his honest answer. “Not to sound selfish, but I really just hated having to hurt Baekhyun.”

“You really do love him, don’t you?” Kai sighed, swinging an arm around Kyungsoo as he spoke. The smaller boy’s cheeks tinted pink as he continued. “You really should just go after him, tell him how you feel. Isn’t that what you told me?”

“I just... I just feel like it’s too late. I can’t imagine Baek accepting me. We’re just too close as friends... I don’t think we could ever be anything more.”

“I thought I was already too late with Kyung, but look where we are now,” Kai smiled. Kyungsoo’s pink tint was slowly turning red. “Things work out unexpectedly sometimes.” He squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand in his as he spoke.

~~

Park Chanyeol, you got this! You’ve been preparing all week. You just have to take a deep breath and say it! Say “I love you Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol tried to give himself a pep talk as he waited on Baekhyun’s doorstep, anticipating the smaller boy to open the door with a big smile. To his surprise, instead of a big smile, he was met by a warm hug.

“Yeol, I need to talk to you,” Baekhyun murmured as he buried his head into Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“O-Oh, s-sure, of course,” Chanyeol stammered, his words of confession immediately forgotten from his mind. He was too distracted by Baekhyun pulling him by his hand up the stairs and into his room, his grip firm and his gaze determined.

“Let me just say this before I lose my courage.” Baekhyun stated decisively as he sat Chanyeol down across from him on his bed. It was a familiar place where he had spent many Fridays lounging around with Baekhyun playing video games or strumming at his guitar. But today it felt completely different. Baekhyun had never been so serious before.

“Yeol, I know people who are creative, innovative, inventive, and brilliant! But I’m not one of them. I’m good at reading books, Yeol, that’s it! I can’t do anything else. It’s all I have going for me. So stop treating me like a genius, like I’m way smarter or greater or better than you in any way. Because I’m not. I’m just a pretender, Yeol. An idea. A figment of everyone’s imagination. The perfect, smart, brilliant Byun Baekhyun doesn’t actually exist. The real Baekhyun is just an idiot. But no one ever sees the real me. The real me is so fragile, so broken, but I’m too scared to let anyone see me fall apart. Anyone, except you. You, Yeol, are the best thing that’s ever happened to an idiot like me. And I don’t think you even realize it. You take care of me when I’m hurt, you hug me when I don’t deserve it. You treat me like I’m special, different, like I’m loved. But I’ve never shown you how much that’s made me love you." 

Chanyeol eyes had widened to a dumbfounded stare, his lips melting into a beaming grin. “Baek, I...”

Baekhyun stopped him from interrupting, the smile still tugging at his lips, before he took a deep breath to continue. “If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I don’t even know if I would be her