It took two hours to find him, but Chanyeol finally spotted a familiar head in a quiet, lonely park. His heart was beating hard despite his relief, and he didn’t know why. Baekhyun, the five foot six short mathlete who was the stupid cause for the heart attack Chanyeol immediately got as he watched the latter storm out of the dance, was right there. And for what reason? He didn’t know. But even then, he left behind his date for no reason at all.

Chanyeol’s tie was loosened hours ago. He pulled at it when he couldn’t find Baekhyun at his house. His hair, it was tousled, messed with when he got frustrated at a red light because the brunette wasn’t answering his cell phone. What he couldn’t get out of his head was the way Baekhyun looked at him before running out.

He was standing just a mere few feet away, but Chanyeol’s legs wouldn’t function. His head was too busy bullying him. Why did he care so much? Baekhyun didn’t even say a word to him. There was no reason to leave his date behind or to run several stop signs…But one thing was for sure, and that was that he cared. For whatever reason, Chanyeol gave a hell of a lot of s for the brunette and it might’ve been because of their long-term friendship. He didn’t know, but he kept the fact that he had a feeling that it was much more than what he thought it was in the back of his mind as he approached Baekhyun who was lying quietly on the grass.

When he spoke, Chanyeol couldn’t help his tone of voice. He was angry, but the type of angry that only surfaced out of fear and hurt. “Do you have any ing idea how much a goddamn scare you gave me!?”

His voice startled Baekhyun, causing him to sit up and turn his head around. But he made no answer.

Chanyeol stopped in front of him. He was towering over Baekhyun with an intimidating air. “Why’d you leave!?”

“I didn’t feel like being there anymore,” Baekhyun said in a neutral voice. “Anyways, what’re you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Chanyeol’s voice kept rising. “I spent the last few hours trying to find you!”

“What about Ara? Did you just take her home then?”

“No, I…” His lips were dry. Chanyeol bit them. “I didn’t. I just left, because you just ran out of there like something was wrong and—”

“So?”

“So I left, too. God, Baek, what was I supposed to do!?”

“Stay!” Baekhyun snapped, surprising the giant. When he realized he had lost his immediate temper, he lowered his head. “You should’ve just stayed.”

“I couldn’t!”

“Chanyeol, no one even saw me leave. Me being there didn’t make a difference. No one noticed so who cares!”

“I care!”

“You shouldn’t!” Baekhyun’s jaws tensed. He let out a sigh, falling back on the grass. “Can you leave? You’re annoying me.”

Chanyeol was taken aback. “I’m annoying you?” he repeated incredulously. “All I want is to know that you’re fine and you call me annoying? Is it too much to ing care nowadays!?”

“Yes! Yes, it is, and you need to stop it,” Baekhyun said. “Stop caring so much.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why should I stop caring so much?”

“Because it’s a bother for me.”

“Give me a better reason than that, Byun Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun was staring up at him, brows drawn together. “Chanyeol, stop.”

"Stop what? Caring? Because then no. They might not have noticed you leaving but I did! Why? Because I’m your friend! I’m supposed to notice these things and I’m supposed to ing care!"

"That’s exactly it!" Pushing himself off the ground, Baekhyun stumbled to his feet. "You’re my friend! So you need to stop doing things that make me feel like it’s more than just a stupid friendship!"

Chanyeol’s breath became caught. Baekhyun looked like he was on the verge of crying.

"I don’t even know why I got so upset—she’s your girlfriend, I mean, of course you’re going to kiss her and stuff, especially at the dance. I was just… I was just being stupid, so I’m sorry." He looked away. "I don’t want anything to get in the way of our friendship, but I need you to stop putting ideas in my head, because it doesn’t do anything but…"

Glancing up, Baekhyun’s eyes met Chanyeol’s. “I’m going go back home… Thanks for your concern, Yeol. I’m fine, really. I just… I just needed some time to think about all this.”

As Baekhyun started walking away, Chanyeol’s own anger subsided as he walked fervently behind him. “Wait, hold on! Baekhyun, stop for just a second and wait!”

"I’ve been waiting for years, Chanyeol. I think it’s time that I just forget about waiting for you."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means I’ve been in love with for two years, starting from the day you jokingly kissed me at what’s his face’s birthday party first year! It means I’ve been waiting for you to notice. It means I thought you felt the same way or that maybe you were sending me signals indicating you did, but I was wrong. Obviously to you, I’m just a friend and I will always be just a friend, Yeol, so I’m sorry if I worried you so much that you left your girlfriend at the last dance of the year. I’ll apologize to her tomorrow if I have to…Good-night…"

"Baekhyun…"

However, the latter kept walking across the grass, starting his journey back home, leaving Chanyeol alone in his thoughts.

Why did it excite him so much that Baekhyun was in love with him? But then why did it feel like a heavy rock was on his chest the second Baekhyun announced and he was moving on? The brunette also put out a good point. Why did he care so much about him, enough to practically ditch his girlfriend at the dance? Their LAST dance of year.

It was all so confusing, but he knew the basic facts. One, his girlfriend was practically nonexistent to him whenever Baekhyun was around. Two, he just DITCHED that said girlfriend for Baekhyun. Three, he was both happy and sad at Baekhyun’s confession. Four, that one time Baekhyun dated Jongin did make him unreasonably angry and Chanyeol never really understood why until…

He cursed. Chanyeol wanted to rip every tree from its root for being so goddamn stupid!

Of course he was mad. And yeah, he left what’s her face. Sure he kissed Baekhyun all those years ago, but he didn’t remember being grossed out. It was fine! All of it was fine and the only reason for that was because of him, Byun Baekhyun, the mathlete who borrowed his crayons in third grade and never gave them back.

It was always him. It would always BE him, and of all the reasons there could be, there was only one: Byun Baekhyun.

It was love.

Park Chanyeol was in love…