All three gathered at the table to eat their dinner. Baekhyun still couldn't get over the whole 'staying after school' situation, so he remained silent; probably beating himself up. Chanyeol wasn't really talkative since he knew Baekhyun wasn't in the best of moods at the moment. Hopefully Ms. Byun didn't suspect anything.

If anything, Chanyeol was starting to be a little nervous around her. This woman could probably decipher anything as fast as the words were shooting from . 

Which brought up something Chanyeol knew he would eventually have to tell her. He chose sooner and began for the sake of everyone's ears. "Ms. Byun?"

Thankfully her rambling slowed and quieted at the sound of her name. She looked at the boy, urging him to continue.

"Well..." Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun for signs of support. He knew what Chanyeol was trying to say. Better now than never. They weren't really sure how Ms. Byun was going to react.

She noticed their exchange of looks and she smiled to herself. "Are you trying to tell me theres something going on here?" She said, wiggling her eyebrows and motioning her finger between the two boys.

Both boys perked up in an instant, an argue or defense each to their own. "No, tha-"

"It's about time!" Ms. Byun cut them off, their words completely missing her ears.

Baekhyun stood up. "Mom! Stop saying things like that. Why would you even think that? Like that would ever happen.."

Ms. Byun paused and showed slight disappointment. Sighing, she continued. "Then what? Whats so important, huh?!"

Baekhyun inhaled deeply and kept his feet planted on the ground. He mentally braced himself.

"Mom..." he glanced at Chanyeol and back to his mother. He was honestly scared of how she would react. "We're moving out."

"Well, that went better than I expected."

"Better? What did you expect? Did you expect her to, like, throw a tantrum or something?"

Chanyeol and Baekhyun moved into the living room.

Propping his feet on the table in front of the couch, Chanyeol answered. "What? No.. but I mean, she just stood up and went to her room. She didn't even say anything."

Baekhyun didn't reply and just let it sink in. Was that a good thing? He wouldn't be surprised if she was really upset, though. Her only son was leaving her, and she was going to be living by herself. But this was all a part of growing up, wasn't it? Baekhyun was going to have to leave eventually. Why couldn't it be now?

And it wasn't like it was permanent... it would only be for a maximum of two years, and he would come visit during breaks/vacations. So what was the big deal?

Baekhyun shifted to a more comfortable position and put his feet up on the table like Chanyeol did.

"So how are we going to do it?" Baekhyun asked the other boy.

"Do what?"

"The dorm? We can't just move right in. Aren't there some papers to fill out?" Baekhyun inquired.

"Oh, yeah!" This was definitely an exciting topic for Chanyeol. Using hand motions, he answered, "we can just go to the front office tomorrow and ask for the papers. It's not that complicated." He shook his head with the last sentence.

"Ahh..." Baekhyun understood, but something made him suddenly curious. He turned his head to the boy. "How do you know so much about this?"

Chanyeol paused for a second. "Uh," he scratched the back of his neck. "I went to some... fancy high school my freshman year. But I... got kicked out." He looked at Baekhyun for a reaction. By the looks of it, he was trying to hold back a laugh. Chanyeol jokingly frowned and Baekhyun let out a small laugh. Chanyeol smiled to himself at seeing the boys reaction. Hearing his laugh was something he knew he could never get enough of.

Baekhyun sighed contently, shifting his body to face Chanyeol. He tilted his head and put on a questioning face. No matter how adorable he thought Baekhyun looked at that moment, he was still confused as to what he was thinking.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Chanyeol knew the boy would have second thoughts. Copying his actions, he faced Baekhyun with his head tilted similarly.

Baekhyun kept his position and waited for a response.

"Do you think it's a bad idea?" Chanyeol replied. He didn't want to force the boy into living in the dorm; but trying to persuade was a different story. Baekhyun was too nice to decline, especially after seeing how happy it made Chanyeol. But Chanyeol didn't exactly want to take advantage of that.

Baekhyun pursed his lips before shrugging as his answer. "I guess I'm just... not completely sure, you know?" He looked at Chanyeol with unsure eyes. "I mean, this is kind of a big commitment, isn't it?" Moving his gaze to the floor, he weakly added, "I don't know." His expression looked so... sad. 

They'd be living there for at least a year. It was obvious Chanyeol didn't think too much about it, or at least wasn't worried about the commitment they would be making. Baekhyun on the other hand felt he needed to think this through more before he could be completely confident about living somewhere else for a while. It might not seem like a big deal, but to Baekhyun it was.

Chanyeol could see the uneasiness in Baekhyun and his expression softened. He just wanted to trap him in his arms and never let him go.

And his thoughts took over as he leaned forward to embrace the smaller boy in his arms. Feeling Baekhyun flinch under the sudden contact, he couldn't help but hold him tighter. Chanyeol felt as if Baekhyun was so fragile and vulnerable at the moment; and he just wanted to keep him by his side forever and not let anything or anyone hurt him.

And Baekhyun thought he was going to suffocate. Not just from how tight Chanyeol was hugging him, but this was literally too overwhelming. He was sure his heart was going to burst any moment. Hopefully Chanyeol wouldn't notice how rapidly it was beating just at his simple embrace.

"Don't worry about it, Baek," Chanyeol advised, inches away from the boy's ear. His voice sent a shiver down Baekhyun's spine and soon he could feel the emotion rushing into him as he wrapped his arms around the taller boy's torso.

Where was all this coming from?

Why did Chanyeol have to do this to him? Who knew such a simple gesture could sweep Baekhyun away.

Their position on the couch started feeling a little uncomfortable, so Baekhyun went first and removed his arms. Chanyeol got the hint and shortly backed away, smiling at the boy. Baekhyun returned it and sighed, moving his gaze around this room.

The atmosphere surrounding the two was quiet and peaceful, anything from awkward. The only sounds that could be heard were their faint breathing... until tiny sobs came into earshot.

Baekhyun looked around confusedly until he turned back and noticed Chanyeol looking up with eyes wide and lips pursed. Baekhyun looked in the same direction and his eyes widened.

Holding a box of tissues was Baekhyun's mother staring down behind the railing. "That was so beautiful!" She exclaimed between broken sobs, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. She turned away and sloppily tried to make her way back into her room.

Loudly crying and whining, "why do my boys have to leave?!" was the last thing they heard before a sudden slam of the door.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol with a creeped-out expression. Chanyeol scrunched his nose.

"On second thought, I think living somewhere else for a while would be a good idea."

Chanyeol couldn't agree more.

A/N heyyy more of a filler chapter, i know.

This chapter is really, really short. Like 1300 words. I just suddenly got motivated and wanted to write something. It was going to be longer but i couldnt think of anything else to add for this certain chapter so i decided that was a good enough place to end it.

And I couldnt stop thinking about these cute moments for future use in the story, so i wanted to write something more affectionate but still appropriate for the storyline so far.

I also think this chapter is a little more serious than the others... do you think so? I kinda like it tbh.

I neglected all homework for this chapter, and I think it came out pretty well. I liked the part with the mom at the end lol. I thought that was kinda funny.

but yeah thanks for reading! Next chapter will be soon so look forward to it :3

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