Baekhyun sat back with a happy sigh and clapped his hands in excitement. He pulled his pink flip phone from his back pocket and a shot a quick text to Jongdae to tell his friend "Up and running!"

Jongdae's response came in the bounce of an orange number above the Skype icon that Baekhyun had labored for hours to get installed onto his new computer. Texting was expensive, after all, and Baekhyun paid his own phone bill, but his parents paid for the internet. Thank god. It was August and they'd just moved, again, and Baekhyun didn't know what he'd do if he didn't have Jongdae sitting in front of a computer somewhere connected over Skype and always available for the slightly younger boy to vent to.

Except the notification of a new message wasn't from Jongdae at all, it was from Kris. Like he always did, the elder had found Baekhyun exactly when Baekhyun didn't want to be found.

Dragon-fan: Baek-ah!

Dragon-fan: ?

Dragon-fan: You didn't go to the scho-comp this year!

Baekhyun was well aware of the fact that he hadn't made it to the scholastic competition where he and Kris usually saw one another. He'd been too busy helping his parents move that summer, thankfully, but even if he hadn't been, Baekhyun wouldn't have wanted to see Kris. Not after what happened to Kris' mom, and for real this time.

Dragon-fan: Baek?

Dragon-fan: Hello?

Byunsbuns: Let's not do this, Kris.

Dragon-fan: ...but Baek...

Baekhyun closed the chat window, cursing himself for even answering in the first place. His hand went back to the phone lying forgotten next to the laptop, and he dialed a familiar number almost subconsciously. When Jongdae answered, his voice was soothing in it's own familiarity, and it was exactly what Baekhyun needed to hear to be able to push down the fear and banish any thoughts of Kris far away.