Song: Pop 101 by Marianas Trench

Pairing: Baekyeol

Word Count: ~3100

Suggested By: hopelessly_hopeful

---

“Sehun, why does my schedule say that I am meeting with Byun Baekhyun at one o’clock?”

Sehun glanced up from his mid-morning bubble tea to see Chanyeol towering above his desk, face threatening.  He mentally sighed.  He had expected this reaction, but the pay had been far too good to pass up.

“Because you are going to write him a song.”  He responded in a monotone.

“I don’t write pop songs.”  Chanyeol responded instantly, and he didn’t.  Classical, ballads, some consultation for rock and alternative, sure?  But not pop, never pop.  It was so… annoying and simplistic. 

“You do now.” Sehun responded, refusing to be ruffled.

“No I don’t.”  Chanyeol responded, stepping closer to Sehun’s desk and casting a slight shadow over him as he held out the piece of paper telling Chanyeol where he was supposed to be at one.

Sehun mentally rolled his eyes before standing from his desk and pushing Chanyeol’s outstretched hand away.  “Yes, you do.”

“Sehun—“

“Look, Byun Baekhyun and his company were willing to pay an arm and a leg to bring you onto this album despite your lack of experience for god knows what reason so you are going to go down there, meet with them, and come up with something brilliant, otherwise you will be fired.”

“You can’t fire me.  I earn like, everything this company makes.”

Sehun nodded.  “True, let me correct my previous statement.  If you don’t meet with them and come up with something brilliant, you’ll be unemployed.”

Chanyeol gasped, “You didn’t—“

“The contract cancellation fee we’d have to pay is pretty hefty.”  Sehun offered with a smirk.

Chanyeol groaned.  “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

Sehun shrugged.  “Just have fun with it.  Consider it an opportunity to write something a bit happier than usual.”

Chanyeol just rolled his eyes before turning and walking out of the office.  There was no way this was going to be fun, not when he, a master of all things slow and classical, had to now go compose a pop song, and not just any pop song.  No, it was a pop song for Byun Baekhyun, the current pop superstar about whom Chanyeol knew three things one, he didn’t write his own music, two, he was bi, he had admitted it in an interview last year that had caused quite the stir, and three, he was a pain to work with, at least according to the tabloids.  Oh joy.  Chanyeol could hardly wait.

Still, it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter.  Sehun had already signed the contract, and Chanyeol really would like to not be unemployed so he went out to the address listed on the paper, resigned to his fate.

He was surprised when the address brought him to a rather upscale apartment complex, but after double checking the address at least five times, Chanyeol went ahead and knocked on the door.   What happened next wasn’t exactly what he had anticipated.

The door burst open to reveal a slightly short guy with dark hair in an oversized sweater and a pair of jeans who, after taking a second to take in Chanyeol’s face, was smiling, grabbing Chanyeol’s hand and pulling him through the doorway while saying, “Chanyeol.  It’s so nice to finally meet you.  Come in and we can get to work.”

Chanyeol blinked twice as he stared at the figure before him.  “Who are you?”

The guy blinked twice before letting out a laugh and pointing to a poster on the wall of the hallway into which he had dragged Chanyeol.  The poster was of Byun Baekhyun, probably from one of his numerous advertising campaigns Chanyeol assumed, but still, as he looked between the person made up on the poster and the guy standing in front of him, it was somewhat hard to see the resemblance.  However, Chanyeol figured it’d be kind of rude to say that, so he tried to say something slightly more tactful.

“You look different in person.”

Baekhyun let out another laugh as he turned to head down the hallway, motioning for Chanyeol to follow after him.  “Well, at least you put it more kindly than most.”

“What?”  Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun stopped in front of a doorway.

Baekhyun shook his head smile still in place.  “Most people say I look terrible like this.”

Chanyeol blinked, surprised.  He may not have looked like the ridiculously made up, and Chanyeol would begrudgingly admit, attractive, person he constantly saw in advertisements, but he didn’t look terrible.  He just looked… normal.  “That’s kind of harsh.”

Baekhyun shrugged.  “That’s life.  Anyways, come in, we should get to work.”

“About that, I don’t think this--” Chanyeol stopped talking as he stepped through the door, eyes widening as he took in the sight of fully functioning recording booth complete with sound proofed walls and a number of instruments.

Baekhyun smiled at his shock.  “I wasn’t sure what you needed to work with so I brought in options.”

Chanyeol reached out to touch a keyboard, trying to process the sight before him.  “I can see that.  How’d you even get this all in here?”

Baekhyun shrugged.  “It was really expensive.  I can tell you that.  Anyways, shall we get to work?”

Chanyeol nodded dumbly, completely forgetting about his half started attempt to try to get out of this one final time.  If Baekhyun was going to supply him with the recording studio from heaven, he could at least try to make use of it, for better or worse.

It wouldn’t be long before he regretted that decision.

“Don’t you think it’d sound better with a fade in of the base?”  Baekhyun asked after listening to what Chanyeol had down. 

Chanyeol sighed.  “The whole point is that it comes in abruptly.”

“But doesn’t that make it unpleasant?”

“No, it grabs people’s attention.”

“Or makes them crash their car while they’re listening to it on the radio.”

“No one’s going to crash their car because the base doesn’t fade in.”

“But I like it better when it fades in.  Change it.”  Baekhyun responded, tone leaving no more room for argument. 

“Fine.”  Chanyeol groaned.

It wouldn’t be the last time they had that kind of conversation.

“What do you mean this part doesn’t work?”  Chanyeol asked as he stared down Baekhyun, who had just figuratively crossed through a whole segment of the chorus Chanyeol had been trying to construct for the past two days.

“It has to have a hook.  Something that keeps people replaying it over and over until they’re sick of it, but that still makes them come back again later anyways.  That’s too complicated.  No one can remember that many chords.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes.  “So what, you’re saying is I have to make it boring.”

“No, what I’m saying is you have to make it exciting with less.”

“Same difference.”

“No it’s not.  Look, I’m not looking for you to give me a melody to sing baby to fifty times, but I do need a melody that anyone can repeat fifty times, okay?”

Chanyeol shook his head.  “Same difference.”

“It really isn’t.  Now see here, what if we take this part and just take out this…”  Baekhyun began to move things around on Chanyeol’s computer, surprising Chanyeol with his ability to manipulate the music program he was using.   “There, start from that.”  Baekhyun said with a satisfied nod.

“Where’d you learn to do that?”  Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun withdrew his hand.

Baekhyun just shrugged.  “Watch enough and you learn.  Anyways, see if that sounds alright.”

Chanyeol shook his head. It wasn’t that easy to learn, but he let it go.  He had other things to worry about, like whether or not Baekhyun had just ruined hours of work.  After a quick listen, Chanyeol had to begrudgingly admit he hadn’t.  The new melody was undoubtedly simpler than what he’d been doing before, but it was catchy, and it retained the main melodic line.  In a word, it was better, for a pop song.

---

When they weren’t arguing about the finer points of musicality or lyrics, another, equally headache inducing task, Chanyeol was surprised to find that, contrary to those reports he had read, Baekhyun actually was a rather agreeable person. 

He was always ready to work when Chanyeol arrived, never dozed off while they were working (unfortunately), and even laughed at all of Chanyeol’s jokes. Even his best friends didn’t always do that.

He also always ordered good food when they worked late, and even let Chanyeol stay over one evening when they had worked too late, letting him sleep in a guest bedroom that made Chanyeol really not want to know how much Baekhyun’s apartment cost.

So all in all, the experience of writing a pop song wasn’t going too horribly.  Sure arguing with Baekhyun every day could be annoying, but he’d dealt with worse honestly.  Therefore, Chanyeol just figured things would go on like that until they finished the song.  He’d write something, Baekhyun would make him change half of it, and then they’d go onto the next part.  It wasn’t ideal, but it’d work.

Then, they reached the bridge and well, after that things changed.

“No, we are not putting in a rap section.”  It was the one request Chanyeol refused to bend to. He didn’t want a rapped bridge, no matter how common they were.

“But Chanyeol, I already—“

“I don’t care if you already brought on a rapper.  Call him and say you went in a different direction.” 

“Then what are you going to do to get to the final chorus?”

“You’re going to sing of course.”

Baekhyun groaned.  “Chanyeol, nobody sings bridges anymore.”

“Well, you’re going to, and we’re not going to pitch shift your voice down five octaves when we do it either, alright?”   That was even more annoying, as far as Chanyeol was concerned.

Baekhyun shook his head.  “No, not alright.  I need this song to be perfect Chanyeol, and I’m telling you that means we need to have a rap section.”

The tone of voice he used was the same final one he had used so many times before, but unlike all those other times, Chanyeol was not going to give in.  He was confident that what he had decided to do was good, and Baekhyun was going to see it that way if it killed him.  “And I’m telling you it doesn’t.  Look, why did you even bother hiring me at all if all you’re going to do is ignore everything I say?” 

It was the first time he hadn’t backed down, and perhaps for that reason, after a few seconds of stunned silence Baekhyun just exclaimed, “Because, after hearing your stupid songs I couldn’t write anything!”

That made Chanyeol blink.  “What?”

“I don’t know.  I just went to Kyungsoo’s concert and there he was singing this new ballad that wouldn’t get out of my head no matter how hard I tried and then whatever I tried to write just didn’t seem good enough.  So I—“

“Wait, you write your own music?” 

Baekhyun snorted.  “I’d think that’d be fairly obvious by now.”

“Um, how about no.  I’m pretty sure you’re name hasn’t been in a single song credit.”  (Although it sure did explain a lot.)

“I’ve worked on all my albums since the second one.  I just use an alias so as to not draw attention to it.”  Baekhyun answered, the ‘duh’ obvious in his tone.

“What?”

Baekhyun sighed before leaning down underneath the table and pulling out a composition notebook to throw on Chanyeol’s lap.  Chanyeol flipped it open to find it filled with words and notes and ideas, some of which he recognized, some of which he’d never heard before.

“I had no idea.”  He said staring at the book in awe.

 “Not many people do.”  Baekhyun admitted softly.

“Then why are you telling me?”

“It slipped out.”  He said honestly.

“You could have covered it up.”  Chanyeol said, eyes continuing to widen as he continued to flip through page after page of material.

Baekhyun shrugged.  “It didn’t seem worth the effort.  You can keep a secret, right?”

Chanyeol nodded as he continued to flip through pages.  “Yeah, but why keep this a secret?  You’ve written so many of your songs… people would—“

“Ridicule me to no end if I failed.”

“What?”

Baekhyun sighed and took the book back from Chanyeol’s grasp, flipping through it slowly as he continued.  “Think about it, a pop star singing all his own compositions and lyrics?  Sure, if it goes well, he’s a genius, but if it goes wrong?  Yeah, let’s not talk about it.” 

Chanyeol shook his head.  “Still—“

“I like it this way, alright?  Anyways, it has nothing to do with what we were talking about before.”

“Before?”  Chanyeol asked, suddenly confused.

“You asked me why I hired you, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that.”  Chanyeol responded lamely.

“Yeah, that.”  Baekhyun responded in kind.

“Well?”

“Like I was saying, after hearing your stuff, I started suffering from the hugest case of writer's block.  Nothing I could come up with was good enough, and so I finally caved and called Kyungsoo, who told me to call you, and your boss said you hated pop music and wouldn’t do it, but I didn’t care and offered to pay him triple if he’d just give you to me.”

“But then why not let me do things the way I want?”

Baekhyun groaned.  “I don’t know.  It’s like, every time I hear what you’re working on I get just a little more inspired to change it or add something and I can’t just leave it alone because if your name’s going to be on this thing then I can’t let it .”

Chanyeol snorted.  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“You know what I mean.” 

Chanyeol nodded.  “I do, and I appreciate it.”

It was Baekhyun’s turn to let out a derisive laugh.  “Yeah right.  I’m pretty sure you’ve wanted to kill me at least a few times like when I insisted on rhyming desire with fire.”

Chanyeol nodded.  “Yeah, that was pretty bad, but to be honest, you’ve been right some of the other times, and if it was all part of some misguided attempt to make sure I don’t make something absolutely terrible, well I suppose I should thank you for that.  Although, we are changing those lyrics back.”

“What?”  Baekhyun asked, eyes wide.

“Like I said, you’ve been right SOME of the time.  So we’ll keep those changes, but the other ones are going back to the way they were, and once it’s done, you are going to record and release a song with my name and yours on it.”

“What?”  Baekhyun asked, tone disbelieving.

“Let’s get real, you’ve helped me write over half of it, and if it fails, you can blame it all on me.  Not that it’s going to fail mind you, but just in case.”

Baekhyun shook his head.  “That’s a terrible idea.”

“No, it’s excellent.  Now, help me find words that work better than desire and fire.”

---

Baekhyun tried many, many times after that to convince Chanyeol that putting his name on the credits to the song was a bad idea, but Chanyeol ignored him, refusing to let him release the song unless Baekhyun’s name was on it because Chanyeol knew the song was great, and everyone needed to know that Baekhyun had helped make it that way. 

Baekhyun had shook his head many times when Chanyeol had said that, telling him that wasn’t the problem, but as previously stated, Chanyeol just ignored him, not really understanding what he meant, until the song was released, and it blew up, just like Chanyeol said it would. 

Then Chanyeol understood exactly what Baekhyun had meant because, everywhere he went, he saw the headline “Baekhyun’s self-composed track breaks records” etc. etc. with his name nowhere in sight.

Baekhyun called him soon after the headlines were everywhere, trying to apologize for everything, but Chanyeol cut him off with a laugh.

“Where are you right now?”  He asked.

“At home, why?”  Baekhyun asked, confused.

“Just stay there.”  Chanyeol responded before he hung up.

Baekhyun answered his door before Chanyeol had barely managed his first knock.  “Why are you here right now?  It’s late.”

Chanyeol just laughed.  “Because I needed to show you something.”

“What?”  Baekhyun asked.

“Can you let me in first?  It’s freezing out here.”

Baekhyun laughed as he let Chanyeol into his apartment.  “That’s why I said it was late.”

“I know,” Chanyeol answered, “But like I said, I needed to show you something.”

“What?”  Baekhyun repeated as the both sat down on the couch in the living room.

“This,” Chanyeol answered, pulling out a copy of Baekhyun’s newly released album from his pocket.

“Chanyeol I—“

“Just wait.”  Chanyeol said, snapping open the album and flipping through the booklet to the song credits page.  When he got there, he held it out to Baekhyun.  “What names are written here?”  He asked.

Baekhyun sighed.  “Yours and mine, but that’s not the point Chanyeol.  The media hasn’t even—“

Chanyeol raised a finger to Baekhyun’s lips.  “Screw the media.  They always give credit to the singer of the song anyways.  At least this time the singer actually did write part of it, and anyone who matters knows I wrote the other half, okay?”

Baekhyun nodded slowly, dragging Chanyeol’s finger up and down.

“Good.”  Chanyeol said, withdrawing his hand with a satisfied smile that made Baekhyun blush, reminding Chanyeol of the other important thing he had read in Baekhyun’s album, well assuming he had read it right.  He was just about to ask when Baekhyun opened his mouth first.

“Did you look at the rest?”  He asked, tone somewhat hesitant.

“Yeah, they’re still managing to make you like another person.”  Chanyeol responded, tone playful.

“Chanyeol, that’s not what I--”

Baekhyun never got to finish.  He was cut off by a pair of lips on his.

“Tell me,” Chanyeol asked as he pulled back, smile still in place, “did I read it right?”

It was all Baekhyun could do to nod, and that was all Chanyeol needed to know he could lean in again, dropping the album to the floor as it fell open to the thanks to page.

…and finally I’d like to thank one final person who, throughout the course of this album has forced me to become someone braver than I thought I could be.  Thank you for making me take risks, whether I liked it or not, and for putting up with me, no matter how annoying I could be.  I can honestly say that without you this album wouldn’t exist, and I’m going to miss you more than you probably realize. Love,

Baekhyun  

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This song was surprisingly hard for me to wrap my head around… let me know what you guys think ^^

(also, not everything will be this long, but yeah.. we already know I have a tendency to get carried away with things)