This was supposed to be a one shot but I got carried away so now it's a three-shot x_x

Enjoy!

When Kris had invited Baekhyun over, the last thing he had expected to do was to babysit a very much hammered twenty-two year old.

It was known to every one of their circle of friends that Baekhyun was the absolute worst when it comes to holding down liquor. So why, oh why, did he think it was a good idea to put Baekhyun and vodka in the same picture?

The evening had gone off to a great start. Kris had greeted Baekhyun at the door and had ushered him in after a brief moment of being star struck.

After all, he has always had a little crush on the boy ever since they met in college. This wasn’t a secret to anyone, though. In fact, Baekhyun is used to having a long line of admirers waiting on him. Even their circle of friends hadn’t been spared from being in by his cute charms. Jongin, Sehun, Luhan, Minseok – they’ve all (gay or not), at one point of time or another, had a thing for the bright-eyed boy with the sweet and lively personality. People had a way of easily gravitating towards him and his attractive ways as if he possessed some sort of magnetic energy.

At first glance, Byun Baekhyun is flawless in more ways than one. But truth is, nobody’s perfect, Baekhyun included. If there ever was one flaw to the almond-eyed beauty, it would be his hard-headedness. It works both ways for him but more often than not, it leads to his downfall.

Add Park Chanyeol to the equation, and a disaster is inevitable.

Why Park Chanyeol, you may ask? Because he was, is, Baekhyun’s kryptonite. What is it about Chanyeol that always seems to make Baekhyun grin like a prepubescent teen in love? Baekhyun doesn’t know exactly why but he feels different around the tall lanky goofball.

Whenever Chanyeol’s around, his heart starts to beat a little faster, the butterflies in his tummy swirl like a tornado, his smiles gets a little wider and his eyes lights up like the stars--

-- "You’re doing it again,” Kris deadpans as he takes a seat on the sofa beside his guest.

Baekhyun peels his eyes from the framed picture sitting innocently on one of the side tables. Kris was referring to the heavy blinking and dazed look gracing his features that had now replaced the adoration he once held for Chanyeol. The bright smiles had made way for pursed lips and a hint of melancholic sadness. But apparently, Baekhyun had no clue he had been doing so.

“Huh?”

“The thing you do whenever you see Chan—”

“—DON’T SAY HIS NAME!”

Baekhyun’s sudden loud cry causes Kris to jump backward in surprise.

“Baekhyun, it’s been six months.”

“Just… don’t. Please,” Baekhyun pleads. Kris holds the younger man’s gaze for a while before he nods in acknowledgement. There was no way he could protest against the desperation in the poor heartbroken kid’s eyes.

“I made us some Kimchi fried rice,” Kris declares as he stands up, clapping his hands together with a smile. He holds a hand out to Baekhyun. “I hope you like your fried rice extra burnt.”

Kris spots a small smile tugging at the corners of the younger man’s lips as they make their way into the kitchen. He mentally pats himself on the back for having made Baekhyun smile – the first he has seen in a long while.

Baekhyun stands by the kitchen island in the middle as he watches his friend prepare the meals, pulling out two glasses and pouring some red wine in each. Kris has his back to Baekhyun, and the latter pouts a little when he realises just how similar his friend is to his ex-lover. Same height, same short cropped hairstyle. Even the quiet random humming reminds Baekhyun of how he would wake up to Chanyeol singing off-pitch to himself as he prepares breakfast for the both of them.

“Let’s eat out at the front. I borrowed Monsters vs Aliens this week.”

Baekhyun takes his plate and wine in his hands and follows his friend out to the t.v room once more.

The first few minutes of the movie was awkward, to say the least. It’s been a while since they’ve hung out like this, what with Baekhyun practically disappearing off the face of the earth for the months after his breakup with Chanyeol.

They were into the first hour of the movie, plates all cleared and glasses empty, when Kris finally speaks up.

“Jongin’s birthday party was mental.”

“It was? What did you guys do anyway?” Baekhyun turns to face Kris, pulling his legs up onto the couch.

“The usual. Party at the club till we got wasted. Well, till they got wasted. One of us had to be the responsible adult. And Jongin and Sehun made out in the backseat of the car on our way back,” Kris relays the gist of it.

Baekhyun’s eyes widens at the revelation. “They made out?! Were they that drunk? They’re not even gay.”

“They were, but between you and I, I think they’ve got a thing for each other. They’ve been acting really touchy with each other lately.”

There is a brief pause before Kris continues, “But you wouldn’t know, would you?”

Baekhyun feels pricked at Kris’ sarcasm but who was he to say anything? It’s true. He has been such a friend, too caught up in the heart break following his breakup. Not only that, though. Chanyeol and him had the same friends, so they were bound to bump into each other. Which was exactly the reason why Baekhyun hadn’t been attending any of their get-togethers.

“I’m sorry. But I’m better now, I promise. I’ll come for the next one.” As long as Chanyeol’s not there.

“You better. Minseok’s been bugging me about dragging you out for weeks now.”

Silence ensues once more as they turn their attention to the movie, though neither were following the storyline anymore. Baekhyun feels Kris’ burning gaze on him but he can’t bring himself to face his friend for he was afraid of the questions to come if he did.

“Wanna do something else?” Baekhyun finally looks to Kris once more, his head tilted questioningly.

“Let’s play Call or Delete.”

It was a game the gang had played once or twice before, and they’d had fun doing so. Baekhyun gives a shrug as if to say okay.

They both extricated their phones from their pockets. Through a round of scissors, paper, stone, it was decided that Kris would go first. He began to scroll through his contacts.

“Stop,” Baekhyun says after a three second counting.

Kris’ index finger stops at his current crush’s number. Baekhyun smirks evilly, knowing that the number has been saved into Kris’ phone for a month now but he has yet to do something about it. Being the coward he was, after successfully obtaining the contact, he hasn’t found the guts to give his crush a call.

Kris swallows hard as he stares sullenly at the name.

“Call or delete, Kris.” Said man has a sudden urge to wipe that stupid smug grin off the other’s face. A minute passes with Kris having an internal battle with himself. If he deletes it, it’ll be forever. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but he certainly won’t get it back anytime soon considering how the boy he had a crush on -- a Chinese boy like himself who works at the Logistics department of the same company -- rarely looks his way. But what would he even say if he calls? Hi, you don’t know me, but I’m the creepy guy from Marketing who watches you every other day as you eat your home packed sandwich during lunch at the cafeteria.

He goes against his every instinct to delete the number and presses the call button, smiling obnoxiously when the grin disappears from Baekhyun’s face, making way for one of complete shock.

As it goes on to the fourth ring, Kris realises he still has a chance to back out of this though his curled fingers remains frozen around his phone. His mind is screaming for him to end the damn call before the person on the other line picks up, but before he could, the call connects and an uncertain voice fills the room.

“Hello?”

“Hello, who is this?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes when he sees that his friend is in a daze and reaches over to flick his forehead. That did the trick.

“Y-Yo, I mean, h-hello, h-hi.”

Baekhyun bites at his sleeve to keep himself from bursting out into raucous laughter. Kris has always been a cool and collected guy and it was an amusing sight to see the fella stuttering over his words because of a pretty boy.

“May I help you?”

“Is this Tao? I mean, Zitao?”

“Yes it is. Who’s speaking?”

“I’m… Kris.” He finishes lamely, not knowing what else to say. Baekhyun shoots him a glare as if to tell him to do better. If he had been the one in Zitao’s place, he would have already hung up on Kris the moment he greeted with a ‘Yo’.

“Okay… I don’t know any Kris. Do you need something?”

“Actually… I’ll just stop beating around the bush,” Kris says as he straightens himself out, suddenly gaining the confidence he always had, “I work two floors above you and I always happen to see you during lunch. I think you’re gorgeous, honestly. And I’d like to maybe take you out on a date.”

There was a pregnant pause on the other line and Baekhyun snickers lightly. Kris’ shoulders sagged with the thought that the other had hung up on him. He lightens up, however, when he hears the boy once more.

“How’d you get my number?”

“A mutual friend of ours. Jongdae. You do know him, I presume?” Kris rushes to explain himself.

“Oh, you mean that troll,” Zitao’s tinkle of laughter causes Kris’ heart to race.

“Since you’re his friend, I’d assume you’re not a creep,” Zitao jokes, “Why don’t you introduce yourself tomorrow during our lunch break and then maybe I’d let you take me out?”

He didn’t have to be told twice. 

“Okay, I will!”

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Kris confirms with a smile. There was a click and the line went dead.

He looks up from his phone to see Baekhyun with a look of surprise on his face.

“Thanks to you, my friend, I’ve got myself a date,” Kris grins, patting Baekhyun on the head.

“Well, then, you should treat me to dinner,” Baekhyun bargains.

“Didn’t I just do that?” Kris points to their plates.

“I meant, take me out. I love you, Kris, but the meal was horrendous. You shouldn’t cook again. Ever,” Baekhyun says seriously, causing Kris to chuckle.

“Okay, okay. Now it’s your turn.” Kris motions to the phone in the other’s hands. Silently hoping for the best, maybe to get his mum or cousin, Baekhyun unlocks his phone and starts scrolling through his long list of contacts.

Kris watches the screen intently, narrowing his eyes as if he had the power to control the phone.

“Stop.”

Baekhyun’s fingers ceases their movements, but his eyes remains fixed on the man  before him, anxious of the results. He has this nagging feeling when he sees the slow smile spreading across his friend’s face.

“Is it bad?” he asks meekly.

“Depends.”

“What do you mean? Don’t give me a vague answer!”

“If you want a definite answer then you should look at your phone, you ,” Kris rolls his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Baekhyun’s eyes flicker down to the screen of his phone. The name that he sees isn’t one he had been hoping to see. The letters were practically screaming at him almost mockingly.

Park Dobby <3

Baekhyun scoffs miserably at the stupid heart at the end of the stupid nickname. Why does he even have it in his phone, still? That was a rhetorical question because everyone in the whole ing universe knows he is not over the goofball.

“,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath, finding that he is unable to peel his eyes off the screen.

“What should I do?” He looks to his friend for advice but the answer Kris gives him makes him want to strangle the man.

“Call or delete, Baekhyun. You should call, or delete,” Kris replies the obvious.

Kris tries to stifle his laughter as he waits for Baekhyun to make a decision. He was looking up at the ceiling as if the answers were written there. Unknowingly, his eyes trail over to the picture he had been staring at before -- the one with Kris and Chanyeol in it -- and his body starts to burn uncomfortably. The room becomes too stuffy for his liking as he rolls the sleeves of his sweater up and tugs at the rounded collar.

“I need a drink. What do you have?”

“The wine we ha—”

“—Anything else? Anything stronger? I’m going to need it,” Baekhyun deadpans.

Reluctantly, Kris gets up and disappears into the kitchen only to return with a refrigerated bottle of Absolut vodka. Baekhyun grabs the bottle even before Kris hands it to him. He aggressively uncaps it and takes a long swig from it without a moment’s hesitation. Kris watches in dread as the smaller male’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows hungrily. It’s the first time he has seen someone drinking straight out of a vodka bottle and he has a feeling thing’s weren’t going to end well.

Baekhyun sets the bottle on the table in front of them with a loud thud and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. The cool liquid had left a burning sensation in his throat and his gut but that was exactly what he needed to spur him on.

He returns to staring at his phone as Kris nervously pulls his legs into a cross on the sofa.

“Maybe we should stop playing…” Kris trails off when he sees the murderous look Baekhyun gives him.

“I started this, so I should end this,” Baekhyun snaps as Kris holds both hands up in surrender. He could read between the lines. Baekhyun wasn’t talking about the game anymore. He was clearly referring to the endless game of avoidance and hurt the broken couple has been playing ever since their breakup.

“But I don’t know what I should do!” Baekhyun’s wail had caught Kris off guard.

“Call him for answers or delete him from your life to get over the past. You know you have to do this if you ever want to move on,” Kris says softly, squeezing Baekhyun’s hand as an encouragement.

Minutes pass and Baekhyun was nowhere close to making a decision. The alcohol in his system was making him all lightheaded and he was starting to see double of everything. This only made things worse because he could still think and thinking was the last thing he wanted to do right then. All he wants is for the answer to descent upon him. Frustrated at his fickle-mindedness, he grabs the bottle once more and takes a few long chugs, much to Kris’ horror. He attempts to swipe the sinful drink from Baekhyun’s grasp but the latter grunts at the interruption and shoves the hand away.

“I’m, hic, deleting him!” Baekhyun declares rowdily, lifting the bottle in the air. Kris sees the way Baekhyun’s eyes are occasionally crossing over and notes that the smaller male is indeed drunk out of his wits.

Baekhyun slams the vodka onto the table and lifts a shaky finger to the red Delete button. He doesn’t go further than to hover over it, though.

"Okayyyy," Baekhyun slurs, "I’m going… My thumb is hereee… pressing delete, so, hic, good... ing... bye, hic, Park Chanyeoool...”

His mouth is spewing words but his thumb isn’t moving an inch.

“What are you waiting for?” Kris taunts, certain that Baekhyun was going to change his mind again within the snap of fingers.

“B-But…” Baekhyun blubbers with a pout. He stares at the screen that seems to be glowing brighter as if to say he’s making the wrong call. Or maybe that’s just the alcohol.

“All you have to do is press the button, Baekhyun,” Kris urges.

Baekhyun’s brings his slender finger to the other button as his eyebrows furrow in contemplation.

“O-On second thought,” he slurs, “I’m gonna call that lil’, hic, . I’m gonna, hic, call him, an’ I’m gonna, hic, tell him how much of an… of an he is! An’ I’m gonna, hic, tell him that I’m happy without him! I’ve never, hic, BEEN BETTER!”

Kris grins to himself at how adorable Baekhyun actually looks trying to be angry. He can never pull off the angry face. His features were too soft and cute for that. His hiccupping habit that appears whenever he drinks doesn’t help one bit.

On one hand, Kris wants to stop the other from doing so in fears of him embarrassing himself in front of his ex-boyfriend, but part of him was looking forward to watching the scene that was to unfold.

In the end, the latter won.

This time, Baekhyun doesn’t waste a moment’s hesitation to press on the Call button. He just went for it, eyes ablaze with determination.

The shrill ringing reverberates off the walls of the pin-dropped silent apartment. Kris notes that Baekhyun’s holding his breath well for someone who is heavily intoxicated.

Into the fifth ring, Kris wonders if Chanyeol wasn’t picking up on purpose considering that it’s Baekhyun calling. It’s been six months, of course he wasn’t expecting to receive a call from his ex-boyfriend.

To Baekhyun’s dismay, the call goes to voicemail.

“This is Chanyeol and you must have caught me at a bad time. Leave me message and I’ll get back to you, yeah?”

Baekhyun visibly winces at the all too familiar deep voice he hadn’t heard in months. It used to be his favourite thing in the world but funny how it’s the one thing that’s hurting him right now.

“L-Listen here you, hic, punk! I’m over… you! Got it? Hic. Am so sick of it all! Sick of crying, hic, sick of, hic, hurting….” Baekhyun trails off. For a moment, Kris thought that the smaller man had finally conked out but then he realises the tears streaming down the other’s flushed cheeks.

“Uhm…”

Kris sighs as he stands up and paces in front of the sofa with hands on his hips, not knowing what to do. He is literally the worst person when it comes to comforting someone who is crying. Great. The drunk baby and the awkward cold guy.

He stops in his tracks and whirls around to face the sitting man when he hears his friend’s slightly husky voice coming through the speakers.

“…Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun’s only response was to sniffle as he rubs his nose with his free hand.

“…Are you okay?”

What a question to be asking, Kris thinks to himself with a mental roll of his eyes. Of course Baekhyun is not okay. Why would he be if he’s being an awfully drunk sobbing mess through a voicemail to his ex-boyfriend? Kris is probably the most emotionally detached one in the group, but Chanyeol definitely has to be the densest.

Seeing as to how Baekhyun has suddenly seemed to run out of words to say (when in fact, before, he had been so vehement in telling it to his ex-boyfriend), Kris pries the phone from the sitting man’s hand.

“Hey, man, it’s Kris. Sorry ‘bout that, Baekhyun must have -dialed you.”

“Oh. But he seemed pretty pissed in that voicemail. And was he…” There was a brief pause, almost like a hesitation. “Was he crying?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m here with him. I’ll take care of it.”

At this moment, Baekhyun jumps up from the sofa after having managed his sobbing. He attacks Kris by the side and clings onto his shoulder. The taller of the two staggers backward from the weight but finds his ground soon after, nevertheless.

“Let me… L-Let me talk to, hic, him!” Baekhyun cries as he digs his fingernails into the cotton sleeve of Kris’ black top.

“Is that him screaming? What are you guys doing?” There’s a hint of curiousness and some sort of annoyance in his tone that Kris can’t seem to pinpoint the exact reason to.

“Yes, he’s screaming,” Kris admits, trying to keep the phone out of the shorter man’s reach. “This isn’t a good time, Chan, I’ll call you back later okay?”

“No, wait! What’s going on, Kris?”

“Uh… well.”

“What is it?” Chanyeol demands, sounding a little more desperate to know what’s happening. In the background, he hears the unmistakable voice of his ex-boyfriend cursing Kris’ existence.

“We were playing Call or Delete and he got your number. He was planning to delete it but then he changed his mind and decided to give you a call just to prove that he’s doing fine.”

“Though it’s quite obvious he’s not, is he?” Kris continues with a short, dry laugh.

“Dammit, Wu, hic, Yifan! Give. Me. My. Phone. BACK!” Baekhyun flails his unfortunately shorter arms around his tall friend. Kris shoves him back down onto the couch with a hand to his face.

“Is he drunk?” Chanyeol questions angrily when he hears Baekhyun’s high-pitched hiccupping punctuating the silence that follows.

“I didn’t know it’ll end up like this!” Kris retorts in defense.

On the other end of the line, Chanyeol sighs heavily as he massages the bridge of his nose with eyes closed. A drunk Baekhyun isn’t good in any situation. He was every kind of a drunkard. He could start throwing things around in anger, he could do something reckless, he could puke his guts out like there’s no tomorrow, he could be , and he could start bawling his eyes out like a baby. He could even go through all those different emotions in an instant.

Anything was possible when Baekhyun is drunk.

Chanyeol has always been the one to look after him whenever he decides to drink but since he isn’t there this time around, he feels uneasy.

“Look, I’ll fix this. You don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll give you a call once he’s down.”

Kris hangs up even before Chanyeol could protest. He throws the phone onto the sofa and pushes Baekhyun back down as he tries to stand on his feet.

“Stop treating me like a, hic, baby!” Baekhyun shrieks manically, though his actions contradict his words. His legs starts kicking at Kris’ shins as the latter tries to calm him down by getting a good grip on his shoulders.

“Then stop acting like one!” Kris bellows, causing Baekhyun to cease his actions. For a charged moment, they held each other’s glare till the latter reaches over behind the standing man. In a swift movement, Baekhyun has the vodka back in his hands in a secure grip. He smirks before bringing the tip to his mouth to take a swig.

“Give me the bottle.” Kris releases Baekhyun from his hold as he stares the petite male down.

“No!” Baekhyun cries in a childish tone.

“Baekhyun, I’m serious. Give me the bottle.” Kris reaches a hand out to receive the bottle but Baekhyun slaps his hand away.

“Baekhyun,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Ke-ris,” Baekhyun says mockingly in the same tone only to erupt in a fit of giggles.

Kris lets out an annoyed huff as he throws a dismissive hand in the air.

“You know what? Do whatever you want, Byun Baekhyun.”

Kris has never had much patience and it was a miracle he has even held out for this long. He storms away to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He figures he should give it a bit of time before he goes back outside to check on his friend. Hopefully, he’d be knocked out cold by then.

It hadn’t been five minutes when he hears a deafening crash that sounds suspiciously like the shattering of glass coming from outside. Panicked, he hurries out to see shards of porcelain scattered all over his wooden floorboards.

“Baekhyunnie!”

Kris rushes to the huddled being on the ground in the middle of the mess, careful not to step on the sharp pieces. Baekhyun stares blankly at his right hand that was being cradled by his left, still hiccupping.

“Oh no, what did you do, baby?” Kris asks in concern, his inner hyung instincts showing.

“I-I tripped, hic.”

He takes Baekhyun’s injured hand in his own, examining the damage done. A thick trail of blood drips from a cut on the inside of his right palm. Kris winces at how deep the cut is as he rests the hand on Baekhyun’s lap.

“You stay here. I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

Kris returns with the kit and a clean wet towel. He kneels beside his friend before tending to the wound. For once, Baekhyun is quiet as Kris wordlessly works over his hand. Once his hand is all wrapped up with gauze, Kris cleans the mess with a broom and dustpan and helps Baekhyun to the sofa.

“I m-miss him, Kris,” Baekhyun starts to sob into his hands as he leans back into the cushion. Honest Baekhyun finally makes an appearance. Kris pats Baekhyun’s knee, not knowing what to say. He can’t promise Baekhyun that things will get better because it’s been six months and both Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still hurting from their separation. To be honest, nobody really knew why they had broken up. Things were going great between them and the news came as a sudden blow to everyone. From what they all knew, Chanyeol had been the one to ask for it without so much as a legit reason. Both parties hadn’t wanted to talk about it so everyone was still in the dark as to what caused their relationship to fail.

Just then, the doorbell rang persistently. Kris leaves the quietly crying male on his own as he gets up to see who it was. The doorbell stopped ringing, but it was soon replaced by furious knocking. Kris is greeted by the sight of a worried-stricken Chanyeol on when he swings the door open.

“Is he okay?” Chanyeol asks breathlessly.

“Did you run all the way here?” Kris narrows his eyes at his friend in suspicion, noticing how he was only decked in a wife beater beneath his coat and a pair of slacks.

“I took the car, how did you think I managed to make it here in fifteen minutes?”

“So is he?” Chanyeol asks impatiently, peeking behind the tall blonde to see if he could catch a glimpse of the person he came here for.

“He’s fine. And I’ve been trying my best to cheer him up, Chan, but there’s only so much I can do. You two need to sort your out.” Kris folds his arms as he declares with finality.

“There’s nothing to sort out,” Chanyeol shrugs as he turns to leave. He is quickly stopped by a hand clasped tightly on the shoulder.

“I don’t even know what this is, but it’s got to stop, Chanyeol.”

“I can’t ing do anything about it, okay?!” Chanyeol glares at his friend over his shoulder. Kris notices his eyes glistening with tears and he knows that there’s more to this than meets the eye.

“ man, Chan, I don’t want to get involved but Baekhyun’s my friend and so are you, and I can’t deal with seeing you guys like this. I know he still loves you, and I know you still love him, so what’s stopping you from getting back together?” Kris throws his hands up in exasperation.

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol whirls around and looks to his friend with ferocity as he declares, “You’re wrong. Baekhyun needs to it up and move the on. I don't love him anymore.”

“C-Chanyeol?”

The two men standing at the door direct their attention to Baekhyun who is standing in the archway, petite body visibly trembling terribly, lips quivering and eyes glistening with tears.

The agony etched into his features was one neither Kris nor Chanyeol wished they had seen.