“Hi, everyone. I’m Luhan. Nice to meet you all.”

“Hello. I’m Byun Baekhyun. You can call me Baekhyun. Please take care of me.”

Chanyeol witnessed the scene in front of him almost like in a slow motion. He saw Baekhyun and his friend bow together, and Baekhyun seemed like saying something again, but Chanyeol couldn’t really hear it because his hearing slowly tuned out everything as rage was taking over him.

Before he knew it, Chanyeol unconsciously shoved Siwon, his team captain who was standing in front of him, aside. With his palms curled into firm fists, Chanyeol stomped his feet toward the subject of his one and only concern in his life, Byun Baekhyun.

He could see that Baekhyun was now looking at him. His eyes widened as he locked his eyes with Chanyeol’s, realizing that Chanyeol was really actually there and he had come to the right fireman station. He smiled widely when he realized that Chanyeol was walking toward him, but the delightful expression of his soon was turned into a worried one when he recognized that Chanyeol didn’t look like he was happy at all.

“Chan—“

Chanyeol didn’t let Baekhyun to utter a single word as he grabbed on his bestfriend’s wrist and dragged him forcefully, leaving all people there, including his head quarter and Baekhyun’s friend stunned, and only watched them go in silent.

Chanyeol didn’t loosen his grip one bit, if not at all. He brought Baekhyun into a room at the back of the station, walking pass by some of the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms.

The back of the station was a rather secluded place where people rarely went there. It was almost like a storeroom where they dumped broken waterpipes along with some unknown boxes.

Chanyeol slammed the door hardly until the sound of loud bang was heard throughout the small room, and through his red vision, he saw Baekhyun flinched by the loud sound.

Somehow it made Chanyeol’s heart soften for a mere second, but his anger was currently leading him until he couldn’t see the frightened expression of Baekhyun’s.

He harshly yanked Baekhyun’s wrist so that now the latter was standing in front of him. As Baekhyun was now in front of him, it meant that this was the first time Chanyeol took a close—really close—look on his best friend.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Chanyeol snapped.

He himself was surprised by his own voice because he sounded very angry. His voice was completely layered by anger that he almost felt bad at Baekhyun immediately because he looked really dejected after Chanyeol had yelled at him.

But Chanyeol was just too angry. He spent more than half of his life already to protect him, to protect Baekhyun out of anything dangerous. For thirteen years, Chanyeol woke up every morning and lived his life with one thing in his mind; keep Baekhyun safe. He cared for him more than he cared for himself. It was alway like that.

And the thing he did so hard and with so much difficulty for years was about to crash in any time now was driving him mad. How could Baekhyun, of all places, come here?

“Wh—what do you mean, Chanyeol-ah?” Baekhyun asked.

Chanyeol looked straight into his eyes, “are you seriously going to work here?”

“Y-yes, as a paramedic—“

“Resign,” Chanyeol cut him off. His voice was as solid as stone.

Baekhyun’s eyes widened, “What? God, no way.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Chanyeol shouted, hand was still gripping on Baekhyun’s wrist. “Resign, Baekhyun. I won’t let you work here.”

Baekhyun only blinked, looking at the furious Chanyeol confusedly. “Yeollie, I don’t understand.”

Chanyeol groaned frustratedly. He let go of Baekhyun’s hand and ran his hand through his hair, “Of course you don’t understand. If you did, you wouldn’t come here.”

Now Chanyeol was turning around from him, walking away as he tried to catch his breath and calm his anger, oblivious to his best friend behind him who was starting to grow self-conscious.

“Are you...” Baekhyun began with a quiet voice, almost like a whisper. “Do you hate me that much until you don’t want me to work here?”

Chanyeol stopped his step immediately when he heard a crack in Baekhyun’s voice. He whipped his head around to see the smaller male looked so much smaller than he had ever seen for so long. The last time he saw Baekhyun like this was when he was cornered up by a troublesome boy back then at high school. Baekhyun was scarred and sad at that time. Was it mean that Baekhyun was scarred and sad again now? Because of Chanyeol?

“Baek—“

“You’re right,” Baekhyun bit his quivering lips. “I must be out of my mind for signing up at this place. What was I thinking, you’ve been avoiding me for years. This place is probably the only place you could off without me. But I came here. You must be very pissed off. I get it.”

“Baekhyun, that’s not what I meant.”

“I will...uhh,” Baekhyun avoided Chanyeol’s gaze as the latter began to approach the shorter male again. He looked disoriented, like he lost the ground to keep his balance, and Chanyeol felt so bad about it that he almost scooped his best friend to make him feel better. “I will resign if you didn’t want me here.”

“Baekkie, listen to me,” Chanyeol grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at him.

Baekhyun looked surprised by his best friend’s loud and demanding voice, let alone by the nickname Chanyeol had called him. Because after all this year, Baekhyun thought Chanyeol had forgotten their nicknames for each other.

Chanyeol sighed, a loud and heavy sigh, as if he was burdened by all the problems in the world. Well, Baekhyun was his world, so it was most likely the same.

“Baekhyun, this place—this job is dangerous. Very dangerous. You can’t work here,” Chanyeol explained with a calmer voice this time, not wanting his best friend to feel afraid again.

Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows, “I’m a paramedic, Yeol. What could have happened to me anyway?”

Chanyeol groaned, “See? You’re always like this. Doing something you’re not familiar with, and making me worried sick about you.”

Baekhyun’s breath hitched, “You’re worr—“

“The paramedic in this field is not like you think it is,” Chanyeol clenched his fists and closed his eyes to push his anger aside. “You’re not only treating and helping injured people. But you also need to come inside the burning building or house, following the firefighters, in case there is an injured people inside the building and needs an immediate treatement. And you also have to—“

“I’ve read all the instruction as the fireman doctor, Yeol,” Baekhyun cut him off.

“You what?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, “I know about all of it, the thing what I should do as a doctor here. You don’t have to lecture me about my jobdesk or anything of that matter.”

Chanyeol looked bewildered. He began to lose his mind, to be exact.

“Chanyeollie, did you think I’m that stupid? Of course I’ve read all the information before I filled in the application for my internship here.”

Chanyeol shook his head. He can’t believe this was really happening. “Baekhyun, you—you’re driving me crazy.”

They were silent for a while. Chanyeol was no longer facing Baekhyun, and Baekhyun was left puzzled because all of this was happening too fast that he can’t keep up. And looking at his best friend who was standing so close to him, and hearing his voice saying something more than three words directed to him, were starting to make his heart burst out from the intense feeling that had been building up for so long.

And without him realizing, tears was starting to pool in his eyes, and he just can’t stop spilling his feelings through his words. “Please don’t send me away,” Baekhyun choked, and Chanyeol turned around. “It’s okay if you ignored me when I work here, but don’t make me go, Yeol.”

Chanyeol can’t say anything. He just stood there like a piece of insignificant furniture because Baekhyun was crying, and Chanyeol never knew what to do every time his best friend cry. When they were still kids, if Baekhyun cried, Chanyeol cried, and vice versa. And now, the feeling was the same. He wanted to cry along with Baekhyun, too.

“I’m sorry for signing up for this job, but I just wanted to be with you so bad, Yeollie,” Baekhyun said, almost sobbing as he tried to push his tears from falling. “And...” he choked again, his throat hurt so bad. “I’m sorry I cry. I don’t know if I’m crying because you hate me or because I’m too happy you finally talked to me.”

Now Baekhyun was really crying, hard even. Chanyeol was left speechless and mindlessly pulled Baekhyun closer then hugged him.

Chanyeol’s black t-shirt was immediately wet by Baekhyun’s overflowing tears. He didn’t know that Baekhyun was this small. He always payed attention to him from a far, and he knew Baekhyun was short but he didn’t know that he wouldn’t even reach his ears. Baekhyun’s forehead was right in front of his lips.

He heard Baekhyun sniffed a lot, and Chanyeol expected his t-shirt was probably ruined by Baekhyun’s snot, but he strangely found it cute. It made him remember the old days. The good old days.

“I don’t hate you, Baek,” Chanyeol whispered while his hand ran through Baekhyun’s hair. “I never hate you.”

“You want me to leave” Baekhyun replied in between his sniffs. He sounded a lot like a puppy.

Chanyeol shook his head, “that’s for your own good.”

“I don’t want to leave,” Baekhyun whined. He pulled out  a bit from the hug so he could looked up at Chanyeol. Damn, Chanyeol was so tall. “You can’t make me leave anyway because I’ve signed the contract for my intership here. I can’t backing out,” he said with a winning smile, despite his swollen eyes.

Chanyeol almost wanted to snap at him again, but he knew it was useless. He can’t do anything about it. Chanyeol could only sigh.

His life mission was completely destroyed. This was the worst day ever because not only Baekhyun came here, but his wall that he had been building up all these years was crumpling down.

“This is the best day in my life,” Baekhyun said again, grinning up at him. But Chanyeol can see that he began to cry again. “For the first time in forever, you talk to me. Not only that, you also hug me.”

~

Baekhyun ended up crying for another hour. His feeling was just all over the place and he can’t handle the flooding emotion.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol also can’t do anything about it. This was new for him. Usually, he would only listen to Baekhyun’s cry through the thin door and window, trying to be there for him by not exactly being there.

But now, Chanyeol was hugging him tight, rubbing his back once in a while if he sobbed or hiccuped. They had moved on from standing to sitting position on one of the box.

For an hour, it was only Baekhyun’s voice. Chanyeol was pretty much still in shock with everything had just happened today, so he just kept quiet, thinking.

So, he would be in the same workplace as Baekhyun. He was a fireman, and Baekhyun as a paramedic. On a second thought, after his panic state had died down, Chanyeol thought that maybe it can’t be that bad. He still could protect Baekhyun even though it would be hard. The only difference now was that Chanyeol needed to be more cautious and never let his guard down. It would be tough, of course, but there was no other way out.

Chanyeol wanted to get mad again. Why Baekhyun had to be so stupid for applying for this job?

But when Baekhyun snuggling out from the hug, and Chanyeol looked at the delicate and fragile figure of his best friend with his red eyes and nose, his anger once again was washed away.

Chanyeol just couldn’t get mad at Baekhyun.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun said, rubbing his nose, and Chanyeol remembered one of those days when little Baekhyun had flu.

“For what?” Chanyeol asked, eyes fixed at the person in his hold.

“For keeping you in this room for hours,” Baekhyun looked concrite. “We’re at work. What if there’s a building in fire and we don’t know because I’m keeping us here? I’m such a girl, I’m really sorry.”

“No surprise,” Chanyeol said, and he can’t help to pull his lips upward. “You’ve always been a crybaby since we were kids.”

Baekhyun laughed, and Chanyeol tried to resist the urge to pull him closer again because he wanted to hear that laugh right beside his ear. He wondered how it must feel like. It might be like the sound of endearing and warm music, like when you heard it, you immediately knew that you were home.

“Yeah, I always have been a spoiled kids though I’m older than you,” Baekhyun agreed, and he smiled again to Chanyeol. “Maybe that’s why you decided to ignore and avoid me years ago. Because you got sick of me.”

That’s not true. That’s what Chanyeol wanted to say, but Baekhyun already pulled away completely and stood up from the seat.

“Let’s go back to the guys,” Baekhyun suggested. “They probably wonder where we are. You pulled me before I even introduce myself completely. I didn’t know all your friends’ name, too. Ugh, I’m so rude,” Baekhyun began to pat his clothes to get rid of the dirt and wrinkle. And Chanyeol just realized right there to take a look at Baekhyun’s appearance.

Baekhyun was wearing formal clothes. Almost like a business man because he was wearing a blue shirt tucked neatly into his black pants. Baekhyun looked professional and succesful, and Chanyeol suddenly felt the wave of proudness in his chest.

But soon that outfit needed to get rid off because there was no way, even a paramedic, worked with clothes like that. Baekhyun’s outfit later wouldn’t be far too different from Chanyeol’s.

“Yeah, we should get back,” Chanyeol said as he also stood up. Now he was not sure how he would explain to his colleagues for his sudden abduction to the new doctor.

Chanyeol let Baekhyun to clean up his face which still kind of bloated due to the crying. He hoped the guys wouldn’t notice it, especially Jongin. Or else, he would be accused by something inappropriate coming from his friend’s head.

Baekhyun finally looked settled, and Chanyeol put his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun smiled. And Chanyeol thought that, seriously, Baekhyun needed to stop smiling so blindingly like that to him.

“Okay,” Chanyeol said as he opened the door, and they were leaving the frowzy room a second later.

Chanyeol led the way back to the center of the quarter. They were walking in silent, but Chanyeol could felt that Baekhyun was only one feet away behind him. He thought that maybe if people was looking at him right now, they would not know that there was someone behind him, because Baekhyun was just so small that Chanyeol was blocking him from any view.

The crowd was already dismissed, Chanyeol supposed. Because there were only a few people in the place they were gathered earlier.

“Hey,” Jongin called, and Chanyeol waved at him non-chalantly. “Where have you been?”

Baekhyun came out from behind him, and now he stood beside him, looking somehow nervous. “Sorry,” he said, “we’re...there’s something we needed to discuss,” Baekhyun reasoned.

Chanyeol wanted to laugh, because Baekhyun really can’t lie.

“You know him, Baekhyun?” Baekhyun’s doctor friend, Luhan, also spoke up from behind Jongin.

Baekhyun nodded. He wasn’t sure what to answer. Did Chanyeol want everyone to know that they were best friend? Baekhyun didn’t want to give an opposite answer from what Chanyeol wanted.

“Oooh,” Jongin grinned. “You’re so fast, Chanyeol hyung. You immediately claimed him as yours the seconds he came.”

“What? N—no, wait—“ Baekhyun tried to argue.

“Okay,” Jongin put his arms around Luhan. “If you claimed him, then I want this pretty lads over here. You hear it, guys? No body touch Baekhyun and Luhan, okay? Because they’re Chanyeol hyung’s and mine.”

Luhan looked surprised, Baekhyun looked frantic, the other guys giggled by Jongin’s antics, and Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

“Jongin, Baekhyun is my best friend,” Chanyeol clarified. And Baekhyun weirdly felt like he wanted to cry again because Chanyeol just said it out loud that he was his best friend.

“Oh? Is best friend the new term of boyfriend now?” Jongin replied, hand still wrapped securedly around Luhan, and the latter didn’t seem to mind.

“We’re best friend since we were babies,” Chanyeol said. “Stop it, okay? You’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Whatever,” Jongin hadn’t stopped grinning. He turned to the pretty male beside him and flicked his eyebrows, “You’re still mine, okay?”

“How old are you? I don’t date younger boy,” Luhan challenged him.

As the others focused on Jongin and Luhan, Chanyeol turned to Baekhyun, “Don’t mind him.”

Baekhyun nodded and smiled, “he’s funny. Is he your closest friend here?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol answered. “Don’t ask me why, I also don’t know why I befriended someone like him.”

Baekhyun giggled. His eyes were dissapearing, and they were turning into a crescent shape. And it was such an endearing sight. It was the type of the sight that Chanyeol wouldn’t regret as his last sight before he died.

Chanyeol was almost drown by the beautiful view before him when suddenly he heard the sound of loud blaring from every corner, making everyone jolted in surprise, especially the person in front of him.

“Is that...” Baekhyun turned around to see what happened.

“,” Chanyeol groaned. Seriously, such a perfect timing. People just had to burn something in the exact first day Baekhyun came here. Chanyeol hadn’t even prepared himself.

The loud sound of alarm kept roaring until everyone in the quarter gathered at the center again. Kangta came out from his room with a serious face, and Chanyeol knew that this was real this time, not like before.

“Baekhyun, come on. We need to change our clothes,” Luhan shouted.

Chanyeol saw everything in a blur. He saw Baekhyun ran following Luhan to the changing room. And Chanyeol was pulled into the Team A line by Jongin. Now he was standing behind Siwon again.

“Where have you been, big guy?” Siwon asked.

Chanyeol was unable to answer. He kept looking at the changing room.

“Listen up, phoenix,” Kangta shouted loudly. The alarm had turned off now and all people had gathered around. “Yeojin Tower has been caught up by fire. It was a big fire so all teams go to the rescue, understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Everyone shouted in unison.

“Alright. Move, move, move!”

Chanyeol moved in auto-pilot mode, running to his team’s big red truck. His orange uniform was in the truck so he could change there.

Just as Chanyeol hopped into the truck, he heard Kangta yelled again. “The paramedics. Baekhyun, Luhan, you guys come with us!”

Chanyeol’s blood drained out from his face. This was really happening.

A/N:

haven't proofread this. later, maybe, if I'm not lazy (I've graduated college so I'm such a lazy now)

this took me so long to write. because I haven't written in forever, so it was kinda awkward for me to write again. I need to get my feels on writing again

I'm sorry for the super late update (as always. I'm always late)

p.s.: Rinda, I'm sorry your unnie is so lazy because holiday has caught up on me *sigh* this story is still for you, okay? Do you like it? hit me on Line bbcakes, and tell me what you want for this <3