Chanyeol didn’t reply to Baekhyun’s confession; he only smiled, showing off all his teeth and nodded. It was already more than Baekhyun could expect, though this was the exact reaction he wanted.

“That Wu Yifan’s a . How can you grade a person’s fashion sense? Hm? Much less mine!” Baekhyun rolled his eyes and Chanyeol patted his head, comforting him, totally what he needed at that point in time. He needed this reassurance.

The six sat around the table and Baekhyun nudged Sehun, making him fall off his chair. “Yah!” “Oops, sorry. Forgot you were ticklish.” “Oh yeah?” Sehun cracked his neck and Kai jumped over the table in one swift motion.

“Is this a tickle fight I see? ‘Cause I’m always on for one.” He winked at his friends, raising an eyebrow teasingly and all shuddered.

“Hell yeah!” Sehun grabbed Baekhyun’s sensitive sides and Kyungsoo dove in before Kai could while Suho just sat there calmly, eating from his usual manly lunchbox. I want these tickle fights in my relationship with Channie. Then again, Baekhyun was okay with not having them. After all, all relationships needed sacrifices, didn’t they?

- 22 years old –

“Bacon! I need to tell you something.”

“How about you change that nickname and I’ll listen?”

“Why not? It’s adorable, just like you~”

“ no, I’m not going to listen.”

“Byun Baekhyun.” Sometimes he wondered why he listened to this whiny little brat rolling around on the floor beside him. It’s dirty, don’t you know? Then again, you don’t ever fall sick. Kai put his face on both hands as he pouted, kicking his feet. If he were anybody else, he would have wrapped the little puppy and brought him home but no. He was Byun Baekhyun, son of the CEO of Byun Enterprise.

He was used to people acting this way around him. Well, I’m not used to Channie’s. His is just cringe-worthy yet adorable. “Fine, what do you want? And don’t,” he pointed at his friend before flipping his fringe, “even think about touching my Channie.”

“Sure! I think I like Kyung hyung.” The boy, still on his stomach, spoke the words without any hesitation and Baekhyun’s jaw dropped. Just kidding. “Not surprised.” He turned back to the magazine, frowning as he scrutinized his senior’s design.

“… Should I confess?” Baekhyun, without looking up from his magazine, nodded his head. “Sure, go ahead.”

“Should I ask him out after that?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“Should I him?”

“No problem.”

“Should we have a with you?”

“Perfect plan.”

“ you, Baekhyun.”

“Great idea.” Baekhyun slammed his magazine shut, not getting the oh-so-satisfactory sound he always got from a book. He then hit his best friend with the magazine, cursing at him. Kai clicked his tongue and Baekhyun frowned back. “The thing is, it’s your relationship, your confession. I’m not a reliable source, since Channie… let’s just say we aren’t normal.” He threw a look over at the puppy, grinning. “You should know.”

Baekhyun took his phone out, his eyes widening at the number of missed calls he had from ‘Kyungie~’ and asked Kai to check his. A long string of colorful words escaped his mouth.

“KIM JONGIN KAI!!” The door to the roof burst out, in storming an angry Kyungsoo.

And all hell broke loose.

- 28 years old -

“So you basically want me to change the colours of design?” Baekhyun had his legs crossed and pen on his puckered lips while answering the call. “Uh huh. So you want me to change the colours, material and… You want me to change the design entirely.” He stopped spinning his other pen, uncrossing then crossing his legs again.

“How about you go fu—” “Mr. Baekhyun wishes for you to rethink your decision. After all, he did spend some time on it with the models and target audiences on mind. Thank you for your call, and we wish for you call us back again.” Luhan’s cheerful voice made Baekhyun shudder and the older one folded his arms. “Sir, if you want to get more projects, you have to be polite!”

“I already have more than enough projects. His insignificant ones don’t matter.” Having made a name for himself in the fashion industry in a mere 5 years, Baekhyun put his feet up his desk then brought them down remembering it was his table after all. I don’t use it much, but oh well.

“Hannah, I’m going to meet—” He ducked down, avoiding the file Luhan threw at him smartly. “I told you to stop calling me that!” The younger chuckled, continuing his sentence. “I’m gonna meet my friends. It’s the Ks’ wedding tomorrow. Wanna come along?” “And be the awkward loner? Nah.”

A playful twinkle shone in Baekhyun’s eyes as he put out his joker card. “As my secretary, you have obligation to follow my orders. Don’t you, Ms. Secretary?” Baekhyun just knew Luhan was a girl in disguise. Not a woman, a girl because he she looked like he she was 16. Either way, Sehun’s gonna like him. I can totally tell he, or she, is Hunnie’s type.

An annoyed Luhan followed after the excited Baekhyun, much like an angry kitten accompanying the prancing puppy to the wolves’ lair. Well, you couldn’t exactly blame Luhan for thinking that way because his boss was forever talking about the things he and his friends used to do. One would naturally assume all 5 of them were on crack. Six, Baekhyun mentally corrected Luhan. There are six of us. But he didn’t have to know.

He knew it the moment he saw Sehun’s eyes, that kid was trapped. Again, Baekhyun couldn’t blame him. If he were a normal homoual, he’d tap that. Luhan had a good figure despite being skinny, but that wasn’t the reason why Sehun’s jaw dropped.

- 30 years old -

“You guys have to thank me, y’know.”

“Yeah yeah… this is fate and I would’ve met him no matter what.”

“EWW, I’m allergic to cheese.”

“WARNING: OVERDOSAGE.”

Baekhyun giggled in his oh-so-manly way, sitting back down. To other people around him, it seemed like there was empty seat beside him. But that wasn’t the case for Baekhyun—Chanyeol was sitting there.

“The bride and groom may… The groom and groom…? You may kiss.” Sehun happily leaned in, and the crowd cooed at the adorable image. This is so funny. The ‘manliest’ out of all of us is the only straight one. Suho was a graphic novelist, while his boss was his girlfriend. It’s funny how he used to complain about her being too strict despite her young age, and now they’re hooking arms.

Daphne was 4 years younger than Suho, not any less accomplished than he was and Luhan always chided Baekhyun to follow her example. She was amazing at socializing, always being able to spot the other’s habits, likes and dislikes.

Kai and Kyungsoo became instructors of the top arts university in Seoul. Their other job though, was being backup dancer and singer. Sehun was no longer lost; he had a company of his own. He made full use of his exceptional brain and started up a publishing house. Which became popularly known as one of the best educational publishing houses in a mere 3 years.

Baekhyun smiled softly as he watched his friends form families. He knew he wouldn’t ever have one, but he was fine with it. I could always adopt, like Hunnie and Hannie are planning to.

God knew how surprised he was when he found out the imaginary friend Sehun had when he was a kid looked exactly the same as Luhan. It was supposedly fate, but love kept them together. Baekhyun rolled his eyes at the mushiness and wondered if it would ever happen to him.

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

28 to 30 years old, same as in Baekyeol. However, Baekhyun's thoughts at the end were slightly different.

Just to clarify, in the Baekyeol part Channie disappears. Because no matter what, he was just "a figment of Baekhyun's imagination", wasn't he?