Goodbyes. Good-bye. What's good about them? You say them when parting, leaving and we take it for granted to see the other at one point again. But sometimes you won't get the chance to do so, life will thwart one's plans. You will most probably cry because you haven't got the chance to say a proper goodbye; because the deceased one hasn't got the chance to say it neither. I won't let faith play me  though, I will decide myself when it's time to go. I want to give my friends, my family, myself the chance to say a last goodbye. But how could I possibly wait any longer if I don't know what fate has already planned for me? I can only win this game if I stop playing now. I’m well aware that me ending this game means I won’t ever be able to play it again. No one will understand why I did it, what my intentions were, but that doesn’t matter. I know it has to be done. And I shall start bringing my game to an end know.

*knock knock*

“B-baekhyun?” A startled Suho opened the door.
“Hi, hyung”

“What are you doing here?! I-I mean, come in..” He trailed off, mumbling something Baekhyun wasn’t able to understand, wasn’t supposed to hear and didn’t want to hear.

“Is it a bad timing?”
“No no no, it’s ju---”  Suho was cut off mid-sentence by someone calling out his name, asking what’s taking him so long.

“Oh. Lay hyung is here? That’s good. I have to talk with the two of you” Without waiting at the auburn haired boy’s answer Baekhyun walked straight into the living room.

“Baekhyun-ah?” Lay sat cross-legged on the sofa, eyes wide and a big toothy smile forming on his lips.

“It’s been quite some time now, hasn’t it? Good to see you again. You’ve gotten even more pretty over time” He uncrossed his legs and went over to hug the boy. Baekhyun let out a soft, melodic laugh as the other squeezed him tightly.

“Good to see you too hyung, thank you” Lay wanted to ask how he got the honor to be called hyung by the brat he once used to know, but a cough from behind them brought him out of his thoughts and he saw Suho standing there, looking annoyed. Lay immediately let go of Baekhyun and smiled at Suho who only rolled his eyes as a reply.

“So.. What did you want to talk about, Baekhyun?” Said boy mentioned for the two others in the room to sit down on the sofa, himself put between them.

“To be honest, I just wanted to spent some time with my hyungs. Maybe watch a movie or something.. I don’t have that much time anyway.” Baekhyun sounded sincere, his voice coming out soft but controlled, as if every word leaving his mouth was well-conceived. Suho didn’t seem all that happy and wanted to say no, continue the talk he had with Lay and spent some alone time with him. But when his eyes fell on Lay’s face from the corner of his eyes, and he saw how genuinely happy the boy was, he couldn’t help himself but agree half-heartedly.

One movie and a bowl of popcorn later, Baekhyun knew he had to continue the last hours of his game before it comes to its end.

“Thanks for spending time with me hyungs.” There was silence in the room for a few seconds. Again, Lay wanted to ask why he kept on calling him hyung. It was nothing new that he addressed Suho like that. Said boy was the only one Baekhyun ever called hyung; no one knew why, no one shall ever find out.

“You know I love you, right? Baekhyun’s said barely above a whisper.

“Of course we know, Baekkie. Why’d you even ask that?” Lay played with the thought that the boy really just changed throughout the year they haven’t seen each other, but the bad feeling inside him grew more and more every passing second.

“Is everything okay? You seem so different than you used to be, Baekkie”

“Of course he’s okay, why wouldn’t he? He said himself that he just wanted to spent some time with us, didn’t he?” The other two boys in the room both heard very well how annoyed Suho was, but decided to ignore it. Usually Baekhyun would play cute and fake cry at his hyung’s cold behaviour towards him, but he had to follow his plan and end this game without getting sidetracked.

Baekhyun stood up, followed by Lay while Suho kept his seat, not moving an inch. The young korean boy gave Lay a tight hug who gladly returned. After parting, he went up to Suho, who still hadn’t moved from his sitting position and looked up at him, fighting back an eye roll. Baekhyun crouched down a bit and hugged him. Feeling how much the other wanted nothing more but to slap him, he let him go few seconds later though, after whispering something into his ear that made him frown.

“Goodbye”

And with that said he went out of Suho’s house, leaving two boys with shocked expressions on their faces behind.

Heading towards his next target, he ran into another one of his friends.

“Baekhyun-ah!” Said boy was staring at his feet, watching his every own move, when he looked up to see none other than Do Kyungsoo few meters in front of him waving excitedly.

“Hi Kyungsoo-hyung” He said when they reached each other and hugged.

“What are you doing here Baekkie-ah?”

“On my way to Kai’s, have to tell him something.”
“Oh no, I hope it wasn’t anything important? He’s not home for the whole weekend. I was just over there and when no one opened I called him. One good boyfriend he is, not even telling me, or anyone for that matter, that he’s in japan, visiting his grandparents…” Baekhyun stopped listening after he heard Kai wasn’t here. How dare that boy leave the country now? There Baekhyun was, giving everyone, all the important people in his life -which are his friends- the chance for a proper goodbye, and Kai just left. He was about to have a little panic attack. Every little thing right down to the last detail has been planned thoroughly for weeks. But this won’t bring Baekhyun out of his concept. He thought about calling him. It’s not face to face, but his friend would still get a goodbye and here his voice. It should be okay, right? A loud laugh coming from the boy beside him made him come back to real life again.

“Ah, sorry to ramble on and on about how much of a pain in the Jongin is..” Kyungsoo stopped laughing and turned serious, looking intensely at Baekhyun.

“Baekkie? Is something wrong?” Kyungsoo, being the mother he’ll never be if Kai stays his boyfriend was obviously worried.

“Don’t worry, hyung. Everything’s fi---”

“You never call me hyung now that I think about it. Seriously , tell me what’s going on!” Baekhyun smile warmly and pulled Kyungsoo into a hug, whispering softly.

“Nothing’s going on, hyung. I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. Never forget that”

“Baekkie, you’re really scaring me now” Kyungsoo had tears filling his eyes. Baekhyun smiled softly and wiped one fallen tear from the big eyes boy’s cheek.

“Don’t cry, hyung. It ruins your beautiful face.” Kyungsoo shook his head, being honestly confused about everything that was happening. It was a rather weird day for him, first he finds out that his boyfriend left the country, saying he ‘forgot’ to inform him beforehand, and then when he met Baekhyun, a boy he loved like his own son, on his way home, he starts acting weird. Kyungsoo had a bad feeling in his gut the whole day, and he used to think it was because of Kai, but now he knows it has something to do with Baekhyun.

Baekhyun leaned in and placed a peck on Kyungsoo’s left cheek, his cold soft lips meeting warm tear stained skin. He looked him into his eyes and his voice was barely more than a whisper. Never before had Kyungsoo heard him speak with such confidence before, but he also couldn’t help but notice the small resistance behind those words. As if he wanted nothing more than to say it, but hated it at the same time, hoped someone would stop him from wording it.

“Goodbye”

Even if Kyungsoo wanted to stop the boy, he was too shocked and stood like frozen on the spot.

“Goodbye?” His voice showed nothing but desperation.

*Ring*

“Ayo Baek. Why’re ya calling?”

“Hello Jongin. Why didn’t you tell anyone you’re in Japan?”

Seconds of silence passed before Kai found his voice again.

“Jongin? Baek are you sick or something? Do you have a fever? Are you alright? No one beside Kyungsoo calls me by my real name unless it’s something serious?” Baekhyun laughed softly.

“I’m fine, Jongin. But I’m a bit sad you’re not here to be honest. I ran into Kyungsoo about half an hour ago and he told me you’re in Japan”

“Well yeah, my granny’s sick as you know and it got worse this week, so I came over for the weekend to help grandpa run the household, help with the chores, all that jazz.”
“You’re such a sweetheart.” Baekhyun chuckled, and his way of speaking freaked Kai out.

“Baek.. Something’s wrong and if you won---”

“You know I love you, right?

“---’t tell me.. what? Of course I know, and I love you too, as a friend of course as you know. Wait. I hope you're not confessing! You know Kyungsoo is my one and---”

“I just want you to remember that, Jongin”

“---only… Baek.. I’m really starting to worry over here. We’re gonna have a talk on monday, okay?” Hearing this Baekhyun laughed again, soft, melodic, controlled.

“Goodbye, Jongin”
“Goodbye?” Wha---” Baekhyun hung up.

Kai kept calling him over and over, but the boy always reached voicemail.

Baekhyun was in the park he and his friends used to visit frequently when they were just kids. There weren’t many people around, which made Baekhyun frown. The only ones around were three kids playing hide and seek and an elderly couple walking around smiling, probably taking a trip down memory lane. When he was younger and played there almost everyday with his friend many people were around. Just why had this changed? The park was pretty, a big green meadow, many rather old trees and what once used to be colorful and now dull looking flowers. It was as if someone took the life, the spirit from this place. Almost as if it stopped..playing the game. Baekhyun shook his head and looked up to see two boys coming his way.

“BAEKKIE HYUNG!”
“Baekkie~”

When the two reached said boy they pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, making Baekhyun smile again.

“Hey Sehun-ah, Luhan hyung” The two shared a look before sitting down on each side and grabbing his hands one each.

“We’ve got calls from Lay, Kai and Kyungie”
“They said something's wrong with you”

“They seemed pretty scared too!” Baekhyun had to laugh at how those two ended their sentences for each other perfectly, yet deny their relationship goes deeper than friendship.

“You’re really acting strange, Baekkie” Luhan pouted. He was used to Baekhyun being all smiley and joking around, but it seemed like that part of Baekhyun vanished.

“How so?”

“You seem so distant, and you talk weirdly” Sehun answered for Luhan. Baekhyun let out a breath and looked up at the sky. Even though it was already late fall, the weather had it’s own mind, still being warm and nice.

“I love you guys. Never forget that” He smiled and stood up from the bench. Sehun looked confused at his hyung, while Luhan’s eyes started to form tears, almost falling down.

“Goodbye”
He turned around and left. Luhan and Sehun will never understand why they didn’t ran after him.

Baekhyun’s next destination was his favorite cafe in town. The cafe his friend Xiumin worked at.

“Hi Minseok” Xiumin turned around with wide eyes, startled upon hearing his real name.

“Ehm.. Hi Baek” Why’d you call me that? It’s been ages since someone said my name” Baekhyun didn’t answer. He just smiled at the older and shook his head softly. Xiumin let it go without further questions, thinking it was this time of the month again.

“So~ anything you’d like to drink? That’s why you’re here, right? At a cafe?” Xiumin batted his eyelashes cutely and tilted his head to slightly to the left. He had to serve at least 15 customers a month, and the business has been dull for a while now.

“Give me whatever you want, hyung. Everything you make is delicious” Both boys started to laugh at this. Xiumin wasn’t the best in his job and both knew this.

“Oh my, why so nice? And what’s it with the hyung? Should I worry?” Xiumin joked around. Baekhyun just smiled at his hyung, fascinated at his innocence and how he couldn’t see how his eyes told it’s own story.

“Here you go~” The boy put a cup of hot chocolate in front of him on the counter. Baekhyun took it and took a sip, smiling in glee.

“Ahh~ best hot chocolate ever, hyung” Xiumin didn’t seem to notice what all his other friends did and felt great that his young friend bathed him in compliments and respected him for once.

“Thanks~”

Half an hour and some small talk later Baekhyun had to go though. The two boys were laughing at a joke Xiumin told when Baekhyun suddenly turned serious.

“Hyung”

“Yes”

“You know I love you right?” Xiumin stopped laughing instantly and his eyes turned soft.

“Of course I know, I love you too”

“Never forget that please” Xiumin placed both of his hands on the delicate small one’s in front of him and squeezed them.

“Baek. If something’s wrong you can talk to me, you know” The younger just smiled again and shook his head. He looked him straight in the eyes, repeating the same word he had to say many times this day, and each time broke something in him more and more.

“Goodbye, hyung” He turned around and walked out of the cafe.

“Goodbye, Baek” Xuimin whispered behind his counter, filling the deadly silence with his words.

“Whoever this is, GO.AWAY!” Chen screamed through the door of his apartment.

“Chen..” Some  ruffling was heard from the inside.

“Baek?” And then the door opened. Chen looked horrible with his dark eyebags, red puffy eyes, messy hair and clothing, and his tear stained face. Baekhyun went inside before closing the door and immediately pulled the still crying boy into his arms. Chen sobbed into his Baekhyun’s chest for a few minutes until he calmed down enough and they  sat down on the sofa.

“Tell me, what happened?” Baekhyun asked in a comforting voice while rubbing the others back.

“He left me” Chen’s voice was barely audible, but Baekhyun heard him clearly.

“He just broke up..telling me I’m not good enough..” He had to stop talking for a while, as he started to cry again.
“He’s not worth to cry over him, Jongdae” Said boy looked up, confused at the mention of his real name, but didn’t say anything.

“if he can’t see how wonderful you are, and what an amazing man he just lost, it’s his loss” Both stayed silent for a minute.

“You’re acting strange” Chen mumbled, tears still falling down his face.

“Never forget that I love you, Jongdae” Baekhyun smiled at the still frowning boy and pecked his left cheek, giggling softly at the saltiness the tears left. He stood up and kneeled down in front of Chen, looking him into his eyes.

“Goodbye”

He stood put for a few seconds until Chen whispered his goodbyes back and left the apartment.

He was on his way to Tao and Kris’ apartment when the two said boys kidnapped him..to where he was just heading to.

“We got many messages, voice mails and calls from our friends, telling us we should interrogate you. What.Is.Going.On?” Tao looked furious, while his boyfriend just stood still, shaking his head. Minutes of silence passed when Kris nudged Tao, pointing at the young boy sitting on their sofa.

“I think you were too harsh” He whispered into the dark haired boy’s ear, hoping Baekhyun wouldn’t hear, but he did. He wiped the tear that fell down his cheek away with the back of his hand, laughing softly.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Baekkie ge! I didn’t mean to make you cry! We’re just worried about you!”

“I’m so stupid. Why would I cry. Kris hyung, Taozi, could you maybe just hug me?” The two lovers looked helplessly at each other, trying to find out if the other had any idea of what was going on. But they didn’t and gave in to Baekhyun’s request, hugging the petite boy. They stayed like that for a few seconds only, until the smallest out of the three began to speak again.

“You know I love you guys, right?” The two Chinese men froze.

“Never forget that.” He stood up  and went to their apartments door, stopping right in front of it and turned around one last time to face them.

“Goodbye”

And then he was gone.

His last destination would be the hardest. He loved all of his friends with a passion, but this one made his heart skip a beat every time he saw him.

“Baekkie? What are you doing here at this time” A sleepy Chanyeol asked after opening the door, rubbing his eyes. Baekhyun had to suppress a laugh at the cute sight in front of him.

“Channie, it’s 9 pm, why are you sleeping already?” Chanyeol’s eyes popped out and he started to whine, making Baekhyun finally laugh out loud.

“9 pm! I slept the whole day?!”

“Oh my gosh Channie!” Said boy joined Baekhyun’s infectious laughter after pouting for a few seconds.

“So~ Back to the question I already asked when I opened the door, what are you doing here? Missed me so much?” Chanyeol teased, which usually resulted in an pretentious angry or bright red Baekhyun, but right now the boy couldn’t do anything else than smiling sadly.

“Yea, you don’t have to answer, I know you missed me” He started laughing loudly making the smaller one look up in surprise.

“No one called you today?” Chanyeol stopped laughing instantly, looking confused and checked his phone for missed calls.

“No? Why? Should someone have called?” He frowned. Right now, it was Baekhyun though who is the confused one. Why didn’t anyone inform Chanyeol about his strange, weird behaviour today?

“Ah, no, it’s nothing actually, just forget I asked” He smiled, and if there’s one thing that makes Chanyeol forget everything it’s the boy’s smile. The tall male did notice that the smile was different though, but decided against asking him what was wrong. He knew better than to ask for something first.

The two smiled at each other, when Baekhyun remembered that it was already pretty late. He inched closer to his best friend on the sofa and hugged him right, resting his head on the other’s shoulder.

“Hey, why so touchy, huh?” Chanyeol giggled and caressed the boy’s cheek. Baekhyun buried his head in Chanyeol’s chest now, hoping the other wouldn’t see the few tears that threatened to escape.

Silence, comfortable silence. The only thing heard was the soft and steady breathing of the two young men on the sofa. Baekhyun sat up and looked the other straight in his eyes.

“I love you”

He said it so many times this day. He meant all of them, but his last time saying these words had a much deeper meaning. He loved this boy with all of his heart since the first time they met when they were only young kids.
“And I love you too, Baekkie” Chanyeol smiled at him.

He didn’t get it.

Baekhyun stood up and put on the best smile he could, which made Chanyeol smile even brighter. But Baekhyun’s smile was a lie, a well practiced mask, if only Chanyeol would have tried to see behind it he might could have saved him. Or maybe he already saw behind it.

“Goodbye” He turned around and was about to push the door open when he heard his name being called.

“Baekkie. Thank you. Goodbye” Chanyeol sounded sad and a tear escaped his eyes when the closed and Baekhyun was gone. For once and for always.

Goodbyes. Good-bye. What's good about them? You say them when parting, leaving and we take it for granted to see the other at one point again. But sometimes you won't get the chance to do so, life will thwart one's plans. You will most probably cry because you haven't got the chance to say a proper goodbye; because the deceased one hasn't got the chance to say it neither. I had the chance, I took the chance, and I did it. I said goodbye to all my friends and told them I love them. I gave them the chance to always remember me being nice and comforting, a good dongsaeng and a good hyung. I know that no one will ever understand why I did it, but that doesn’t matter because i know.

Goodbye.

A/N: Here it is, my first one-shot with 3599 word count :D (never wrote that much before, but damn this was fun) Hope you guys liked it and yeah..I'm still a noob when it comes to writing, don't judge me >> It would be nice if you leave a comment - maybe I'll write another one shot one day again~ prbably not though .-. anyways, thank you so much for subscribing and reading this!! <3