Baekhyun loved to paint.

He wasn't very good at expressing himself and always seemed to be stuck in a permanently blank expression.

When he painted, he managed to paint his feelings onto the canvas, giving him another way to communicate.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, couldn't paint at all.

He ran his fingers through Baekhyun's soft hair and murmured,"Is it weird to fall in love with someone because of a painting?"

[Flashback]

Chanyeol poked his best friend's shoulder.

"Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo slammed down his neatly packed lunch and glared at Chanyeol with affectionate irritation.

"Whaaaaat?" He whined.

"Is it weird to fall in love with someone because of a painting?"

Kyungsoo shrugged.

"Not really. I like this dancer guy. I fell in love with his dancing. No big deal."

Chanyeol sighed. "But the painting wasn't even finished, but I could feel something."

"Um, yeah. That's a little weird."

[End Flashback]

Baekhyun shot up.

"I never finished that painting. We should work on it together!"

Chanyeol frowned. "Are you sure?" 

Baekhyun nodded sincerely.

"Yes. Definitely."

The next day, Baekhyun mixed some paints and delicately tied a smock onto Chanyeol.

"Let's go over some basics so you don't up the painting. I like you, but I love the painting a little more."

Chanyeol gave a look of mock hurt and flung his hand up.

A paintbrush, which was in his hand, whizzed across the room like a dart and impaled one of Baekhyun's other paintings.

Baekhyun, upon seeing Chanyeol's panicked expression, laughed stiffly and said,"It's okay. The college that is giving me the scholarship already saw it. Now you know why I wanted to go over the basics with you?"

After Chanyeol got the hang of things, they both worked on the painting, incorporating swirls of color onto the canvas.

Baekhyun suddenly straightened up and squinted at the painting.

"Is something wrong?"

"No... Nothing's wrong..." Baekhyun trailed off, dipping his paintbrush into the water.

Chanyeol discreetly moved the water cup over so that Baekhyun's paintbrush actually made contact with the water.

Baekhyun visited the doctor later that day.

What the doctor told him caused his eyes to well up in tears and his head to drop into his hands.

He started to wear sunglasses too.

Chanyeol teasingly tried to take off the sunglasses.

"DON'T."  Baekhyun snarled harshly.

Chanyeol backed off. "Baekhyun, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He curtly said, lowering his head so that it appeared as if he was looking at the ground in remorse.

Chanyeol wrapped his arms around him in response.

The distinct separation began around that point.

Baekhyun became more irritable and Chanyeol couldn't help but to smother him in love.

Trying to keep his distance, Baekhyun started to avoid Chanyeol.

Chanyeol noticed.

It was painfully aware to him, but he pretended not to notice.

Surely Baekhyun had a good reason.

Chanyeol decided to leave a note in his locker.

It read: We need to talk. I'll wait for you in front of the school, okay? Near the end of the parking lot. I love you. 

Baekhyun opened his locker and took out his backpack, getting ready to go to the art room and paint.

A letter fell out.

Baekhyun didn't notice and stepped over it as he walked towards the fine arts wing.

Chanyeol waited in front of the school, just as he said he would in his letter.

A few drops of rain started to sprinkle down, one catching on his cheek and sliding down to his chin.

Baekhyun fumbled around, looking for paints.

He sat in front of the painting, feeling on top of the surface.

In a fit of rage, he smashed down the painting and poured whatever he could grab onto the floor.

He heard the wood splinter and started to cry, sobs racking through his chest.

He ran his hands through his hair, his fingers trembling.

Baekhyun roughly swallowed and slowly removed his sunglasses, his unseeing eyes staring blankly at the ruined mess in front of him.

Thunder crashed and raindrops poured down like tears on Chanyeol, who stood there waiting.

He waited,

waited,

And waited.

And Baekhyun never came.