Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chanyeol opens the door to his apartment with cold, numb fingers and almost trips on a big pair of boots in the middle of his entryway. He doesn't remember owning this light brown monstrosity. He looks to the right, and there on the hangers meant for visitors is a big gray jacket, not too different from his, hood lined with fur. He scrunches his nose, hurriedly taking his shoes off, pushing them to the side and walking further inside his apartment.

There's a strange man sitting in his living room, socked feet on his coffee table, a mug of something steaming hot in his hands as he stares between two different remote controls in his lap.

"What the hell?" Chanyeol asks. The mug in the man's hands is the one Chanyeol bought Lu Han for Christmas. Chanyeol feels his stomach flop. The last time he saw it was when he pushed it to the very back of his kitchen cabinet. The hands around it now are pretty, fingers long, and Chanyeol winces when the man drops the mug on the coffee table with a loud thud and so much force that it's miraculous the mug stays intact.

"Hi! I'm Byun Baekhyun," the man says, jumping up. "Your new flatmate," he continues, grinning wildly. When he put the mug on the table, its contents spilled over his fingers, and he licks them clean before offering his right hand to Chanyeol for a handshake. Chanyeol scrunches his nose, and shakes his head in disbelief. It doesn't help, his fringe falling into his eyes even more now, and facts in front of him too much to process. That this unsanitary, loud, messy person is his new flatmate. Flatmate, that he never looked for and that he doesn't need.

"Yixing said you don't usually come home before six, but I'm glad you did. Your TV has two remote controls, and I can't figure it out," the man, Baekhyun, says, into the awkward silence.

"I don't need a flatmate. Please leave," Chanyeol says, deciding to try, at least, the most logical way out. Ever since Lu Han left, four months ago, he's been paying for the rent on his own, and he's been fine. Lu Han didn't live with him because he needed a flatmate, after all. He didn't use the second bedroom either. Chanyeol was perfectly content with it being their guest room.

"Yixing said you'd say that," Baekyhun says, shrugging. "He got in contact with your landlord, and I signed off on a part of your lease."

"No one asked me," Chanyeol says, slightly irked now. "I know this isn't your fault, but Yixing has no right looking for my flatmate, so please leave. Now." Chanyeol reaches for the intruder, grabbing his sticky hand after all, and pulling him towards the entryway. Baekyhun braces himself against the floor, but it's polished hardwood and his socked feet slide on it.

"Please, stop. Let go! I'm not leaving. Please. I really needed a new place to stay. I bet we could be friends. You seem like an okay person. Yixing said you're like a lost puppy. I mean, you do look like one with all that hair and ears. Or maybe you look more like a mad scientist. Your eyes are kind of huge and twitchy, but I could work with that." This Baekhyun guy won't shut up, but Chanyeol just keeps pulling him towards the front door.

"Please," Baekhyun says again, pulling the opposite way. Chanyeol's landline starts ringing just as he tries to put a kicking, whining Baekhyun into his jacket. When Baekhyun tries to snap his teeth at Chanyeol's hand―"You might be a puppy, but my teeth are sharp too," he's saying―the call finally goes to the answering machine.

"Hello, this is Lu Han and Chanyeol. We're not home at the moment, so do it old school style and leave a message." Chanyeol hears Lu Han giggling before another beep sounds.

"Chanyeol, this is Yixing." As if Chanyeol can't tell by the voice and the cute way Lu Han's best friend in Korea talks. "I left Baekhyun in your apartment with Lu Han's keys. It was Lu Han's orders. He needs a place to stay, so don't you dare kick him out." The message ends with another beep, and Chanyeol lets go of Baekhyun's arm.

Until now, he's never wondered what happened to Lu Han's keys after he left. Maybe a part of him hoped Lu Han kept them with him, maybe so one day Chanyeol could walk from the metro station to his apartment to find Lu Han sitting on their couch watching pre-recorded Premier League matches, screaming his lungs out at the soccer players running around the field like they could actually hear him.

"Who's Lu Han, and why on earth do you still keep a landline?" Baekhyun asks. He slid down to sit on the floor when Chanyeol stopped wrestling him, and now Chanyeol looks down at him, at his cheeks warm from exertion, light brown hair a mess, mouth in an exaggerated pout, his socks almost completely off his big, clownish feet.

"Don't spill any more things in the living room," Chanyeol says, stepping around Baekhyun and heading straight for his bedroom. He doesn't come out for the rest of the night.

Before Lu Han, Chanyeol's mornings had been quite an efficient and quiet affair. He'd get up, make a cup of tea and some quick breakfast, wash up and get dressed. Often he had been out of the apartment less than forty five minutes after getting out of bed. Lu Han though, he liked turning the radio on and making a lavish breakfast while singing to it. Lu Han sang along no matter what song was on, but he loved the slow ballads the most. It was love songs that Lu Han sang with the most of joy. Chanyeol loved listening to him so much. His lower register was soothing, the tone of his voice a bit like Chanyeol imagined velvet would sound if it could sing. Lu Han also liked taking long showers and pulling Chanyeol in with him, and he liked them chatting while sitting down to eat food. After a while Chanyeol just started to set his alarm forty minutes earlier to accommodate the new routine.

Chanyeol still gets up too early now, wandering listlessly around his apartment, arriving at work too early every day because his breakfast is simpler now and washing up takes too little time. He still turns the radio on. A love song plays immediately, of course it does, and Chanyeol flinches. He hates those the most. Just as the first chorus comes on, the shower turns on just on the other side of the kitchen wall, and his new flatmate starts an off tune, screeching rendition of the latest girl group pop hit. He's determined to sing over the shower and possibly Chanyeol's radio, and it's a bizarre, awful cacophony of noises. Chanyeol turns the radio off, and hopes the headache forming will be just a fluke, gone by the time he gets to work. This is the third morning since Baekhyun moved in, and Chanyeol hasn't seen him since, but he's heard him sing in the shower every single one of those mornings. He now thinks it's time to give up on the hope that the questionable taste in music and no talent in singing were just a one-time thing.

"Here comes trouble," ¹ Baekhyun shrieks in the shower, starting what might be his favorite song to butcher, and Chanyeol figures that it really does come and there's no chance of improvement unless he actually properly meets his flatmate and sets down some rules. His living room table, as he passes it, is littered with empty cups and all kinds of papers, and Baekhyun's shoes are taking up the entire entry way. Chanyeol is clumsy enough without having to navigate wayward clown shoes. The gray jacket and several scarfs and woolen hats are on the hangers instead of in the proper coats closet, and Chanyeol sighs and shuts the door behind himself loudly.

That evening, Chanyeol comes home to Baekhyun's shoes exactly where they were in the morning and Baekhyun snoozing on the couch, another empty instant noodle cup added to the pile of dishes and trash on the coffee table. Chanyeol is tired, needs a shower, peace and quiet, and maybe some food, and this mess of a person in his now messy living room is not helping him find his inner zen again. Baekhyun stirs at the sound, but doesn't wake up. Chanyeol steps closer and brushes his fingers over the back of Baekhyun's neck, thinking a touch might be more effective with this one. Baekhyun jerks away and falls off the couch with a loud shriek. Interesting.

"Fuck, holy shit, what the fuck," he swears, and Chanyeol flinches at the foul language and at the way Baekhyun's wrist seems to be painfully squished between his body and the coffee table. Baekhyun turns around on the floor, wedging himself between the couch and the coffee table even more, and looks up at Chanyeol, pouting and looking hurt.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asks.

"Are you trying to get me evicted for not following basic rules of hygiene?" Chanyeol asks back.

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side. "You look awful, and mad. Did you blow up your illicit secret lab?" he asks, ignoring Chanyeol's remark.

"My lab is not illicit or secret," Chanyeol says, running a hand through his hair. He figures that it's probably more of a mess than usual. "And it wasn't me who caused the explosion. It wasn't even in my lab, if you must know."

"Wait, you really are a mad scientist?" Baekhyun kicks his feet into the air excitedly. Maybe he's trying to get up. "I knew it!"

"I'm not a mad― Not the point, oh god." Chanyeol can't stop watching as Baekhyun wiggles and tries to turn so he can sit up.

"A little help would be appreciated," he says in the end.

"I'm too tired for this." Chanyeol sighs. The worst part is he can't even keep being mad at Baekhyun, when he's acting like he's five years old, but in this ... cutesy way. Chanyeol bets people dig it, forgive him stuff if he pouts like that. Not him though, not tonight. "Just clean after yourself, stop leaving your shoes in the entrance for me to trip on, put your coat away, and don't sing any love songs," he says. Baekhyun finally manages to flip himself around, and he gets on all fours, wiggling his ass like he's checking for any damage. "Are you even listening?" Chanyeol asks, frustrated. "If you want to keep living here, those are my house rules."

Baekhyun finally gets up and turns to face Chanyeol. He's kind of short. Up close like this, Chanyeol feels self-conscious about towering over yet another person. He thinks that's what made the intern in the other lab on his floor cry after he blew the lab station up. Chanyeol knows it happens, but he did have that Baekhyun-induced headache, and half of the glass equipment in the lab he leads shattered from the impact, so he may have raised his voice a little. He didn't want to make him cry, for god's sake.

"Got it," Baekhyun finally says, scrunching his nose at the mess on the coffee table like it's the first time he's seeing it. "Do you want to help me clean up?" he asks.

Chanyeol really can't deal with this. He turns on his heel and walks into his room without another word. He takes a shower and sits in the armchair in his room, his laptop on his knees, staring at the idle icon of Lu Han's Skype. He contemplates calling him, but Lu Han is the managing director of his father's company now. He's probably always busy, just like he predicted. And what would they talk about? Chanyeol thinks even just listening to Lu Han complaining in Chinese might help; Lu Han has always been someone who could soothe Chanyeol. His stomach rumbles, and Chanyeol feels so worn out. It wasn't a good day. Someone knocks on his door then, and it opens even before Chanyeol can react.

"I ordered too much take-out today. I thought maybe you'd like some?" Baekhyun says from Chanyeol's doorway, a steaming box of something Chinese in one hand and chopsticks in the other. "I also need to ask for some clarifications," he adds. Chanyeol sighs, but the food smells good.

"Come in," he says, and he reaches out for it. "I'll take this then if you don't mind."

Baekhyun nods. He eyes Chanyeol a bit, like he wants to say something, but in the end, just watches him eat for a while.

"So what isn't clear to you?" Chanyeol asks.

"How do you define a love song?" Baekhyun asks.

Chanyeol stares at him, rather dumbly. "Uhm."

"Like, do you mean every song that talks about love? Or is it only those about a relationship? What about attraction? Or like luring someone? What about songs about sex? Technically those aren't love songs, but if they are, then that narrows my choices significantly."

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. "I just meant love songs. You know, slow ballads and stuff. What's not to get?"

"Well, I digress. Almost every song, if you look at it, is about some kind of love or other form of affection. Like it's the only purpose of human existence or something," he says, rolling his eyes a little.

"Not that nonsense you sing in the shower every morning, that's not," Chanyeol argues.

"Oh, you can hear that?" Baekhyun acts all surprised, but he's almost smirking. "Well okay, but it is, essentially."

Chanyeol looks at him in disbelief. Baekhyun just laughs, and sings a small part of the same song he sang that morning. Only now, it's not as loud, and much clearer and ... completely in tune. Even if he tries the cutesy girl voice, he sounds good. Wonderful, actually. "Some good stuff," he says, grinning when he finishes. "But see, totally about a girl falling for a handsome boy. A love song."

"You can actually sing?" Chanyeol blurts out. "Also your definition of love song is all wrong."

"Of course I can sing, Yoda," Baekhyun puffs his chest out. "And I think it's you who needs to fix yours, or just define the scope of your dislike better."

"What did you just call me?" Chanyeol blinks. This is unbelievable. "Your ears are just as big as mine." He doesn't know when he managed to notice that. He scrapes the chopsticks on the bottom of the box and realizes he's eaten all the food already. "I think you're being difficult on purpose. But okay, so how would you define a love song then?" he asks, suddenly curious.

Baekhyun pulls at his own ears a little, but grins. "Do you want a long version or the short version?" he asks.

Two hours later, Baekhyun is still making his point of every song being a love song, with live music samples and even accompanying dances at times, and Chanyeol has forgotten all about calling Lu Han and about his day spent cleaning his lab instead of running the next series of tests that needs to be done at the end of this week. He suspects he's only arguing now for the sake of watching Baekhyun as he wiggles around his room and sings and gestures wildly when he argues about how Girls' Generation is the best girl group ever. Chanyeol's more of a 2ne1 fan, but otherwise, he and Baekhyun have surprisingly a lot in common when it comes to music they listen to. Well, Baekhyun seems like he listens to everything, like he does nothing else but listen to songs all day. Chanyeol will have to explore that thought some other day. As Baekhyun sings another upbeat song, Chanyeol feels kind of drowsy, and he curls his legs under himself in his chair.

He wakes up in the middle of the night to a crick in his neck. He's still sitting in his armchair, but he's covered up in his blanket and his head is propped against one of his pillows. He groans and only manages to move over to his bed, not giving much thought to how his bedding migrated to him like that. He sets his alarm and goes back to sleep.

Chanyeol met Yixing and Lu Han for the first time in spring, as they sat on the bench opposite the one where Chanyeol decided to sit to have his first ice cream of the season. He ended up ogling them as they talked in soft Chinese, Lu Han folded into Yixing's side while Yixing strung his guitar and Lu Han hummed to it occasionally. Chanyeol wasn't able to stop, and he didn't even realize he was openly staring until Yixing smiled right at him and asked him if he wanted to join them. Just like that, always polite, always seeing the good intentions before bad, always accommodating. Lu Han waved, scooting up to sit properly and make space next to him for Chanyeol. An hour later, his hand, warm and sure, was on Chanyeol's thigh as he explained how jamming outside like this was really the best. Chanyeol agreed easily.

Yixing has his guitar case over his shoulder when they meet, and he's wearing way too little clothes for end of February. Chanyeol grumbles and attempts to at least close the top of his coat.

"Are you trying to suffocate me?" Yixing asks, smiling at Chanyeol all the while. "It's too hot with my collar all buttoned up."

"I should." Chanyeol nods solemnly as he leads the way to the noodle restaurant where he wants to eat. "I really, really should."

"And why is that?" Yixing asks, still all smiles and ever so indulgent and calm.

"That is because you got me a flatmate without permission. One that is more of a loud child than a man, one that drives me crazy, too," he says, exasperated, as Yixing opens the door to the restaurant for him.

"Well, normally, you're just as loud, no?" Yixing pouts a little. "Anyway, I've been thinking you needed a change from the quiet brooding you had going on recently, and when Baekhyun mentioned he needed to move, I figured he was perfect for it," Yixing nods, and automatically orders for both of them. "I was right then."

"No, you were not right. It's awful, there's his stuff everywhere, and he's so unsanitary. Yesterday he stole half of my egg at breakfast with his fingers and then tried to wipe them on me." Chanyeol's noodles are too hot, and he burns his tongue on them. He makes a face and sticks his tongue out, and Yixing pets his hair. "And you told him I'm a puppy, and he won't quit calling me that now."

"Ah, I'm sure it's not that bad. It sounds fun," Yixing chides.

"It really is not. He's always there. What does he even do besides sit on my couch and blast weird music?" Chanyeol's noodles are still too hot, and he gives up on them when they fog his glasses yet again. He doesn't need to wear them anymore, but sometimes he still does, out of habit. He's slowly forgetting their inconvenience though.

"If you just gave him a chance," Yixing tries again.

"I gave him a chance. He broke one of Lu Han's mugs the same morning I offered to have breakfast with him."

"Ah," Yixing says, and his eyes turn a little sad. "Still, you must try more. You don't even know what he's doing, and he's lived with you for over a week now," he says in the end.

"I don't want another flatmate," Chanyeol just mutters, before stuffing his face with noodles.

"Well, it's done now. So just get to know him. If it really doesn't work, you can ask him to leave."

Chanyeol sighs. Yixing grabs a piece of meat from the top of his bowl and taps it against Chanyeol's lips. Peace offering.

"Fine," Chanyeol mumbles with his mouth full.

"You're a good person, Chanyeol," Yixing just says before patting his hair again.

"A person or a pet?" Chanyeol whisper-asks his noodles, and Yixing just gives him a blank look before smiling again.

It's way too late to be coming home from work on Friday, but Chanyeol's been terribly behind on the research his bosses consider really important, so he's been putting in extra hours. It's probably what makes him so miserable, that he has to put his own priorities aside and focus on a less interesting work, at least less interesting for him. It can't still be the fact that his bed feels half empty at all times and most of his daily routine, even at work, still reminds him of Lu Han, who used to call him at the weirdest times and come have lunches with him and hold him like Chanyeol was the smaller one of them when things were stressful.

Lu Han on Friday nights was just as tired as Chanyeol and absolutely willing to just spend the night curled up on their living room couch, watching documentaries about penguins or something silly like that because baby animals made them both feel a little better. Now Chanyeol is going to come home to a loud baby human with too big feet and ears, watching some indie band concert footage. He sighs. Chanyeol likes indie bands, but Baekhyun takes up too much space on his couch, slaps his hands on Chanyeol's thighs, has too many remarks, and bounces around excitedly, spilling his drinks and making a mess of his snacks of choice.

The apartment is mostly dark when Chanyeol opens the front door, but he can hear Baekhyun, probably in his room, singing some song in a language he probably doesn't know because it's just a jumble of syllables. It sounds good though. Considering Baekhyun's unerring morning shower routines, Chanyeol's still surprised he can sing. He hangs his coat into the entry closet and notices that two of Baekhyun's huge winter jackets are there, neatly stacked away, another hanger full of woolen scarves. Maybe this evening wouldn't be so bad after all, he thinks, as he steps into the living room. Then he's on his knees, his toes throbbing from pain, a pile of CD's all around him.

"Byun Baekhyun!" he shouts, trying to locate the light switch from his position.

Baekhyun appears and hits it for him. "You called, my master Yoda?" he singsongs, and only then he properly takes in Chanyeol's predicament, his eyes widening for a moment. "Oops. I forgot these came in today."

Baekhyun is wearing tight black jeans and a white shirt and make up, his eyes accentuated with eyeliner and mascara. He's trying not to laugh at Chanyeol as he too slides to his knees and starts collecting the CDs around him. He smells like Chanyeol's soap and something else, possibly an aftershave, and Chanyeol has never seen him in anything but sweatpants, so he's a little off kilter. That is until Baekhyun reaches for his big toe, wiggling it.

"Are you okay?" he's asking, peering at Chanyeol, his eyes still full of laughter.

"Is this why your previous roommate threw you out? It is, right?" Chanyeol's frustration is bubbling just under the surface. "Because you're like a disaster zone. If it's not coats and shoes and cups, it's CDs and papers, and just you, everywhere." He slumps down, sitting down on his hardwood floor, and wonders if it's just his imagination or someone cleaned and polished it. It feels more slippery and shiny than this morning.

"What?" Baekhyun laughs and gets up. "No. Oh, my flatmate loved me." He blinks, all purposeful cutesy. "I think he was very fond of my butt too," he adds, winking and wiggling the said butt as he gets up. "But then he found an even better butt. I mean boyfriend. He found a boyfriend, and eventually that boyfriend moved in with us. But you know, there wasn't enough room for so much booty in that flat after that." Baekhyun laughs, gathering his keys and cellphone, and pocketing them.

"So he kicked you out? Because his boyfriend had a better ass than you?" Chanyeol's probably more tired than he thought. Baekhyun's making even less sense than usual. Also he keeps wiggling his ass at Chanyeol.

"Oh no. I mean. He asked nicely. I just kept putting it off. I liked living with Jongin. And Sehun's nice too, so yeah." Baekhyun scratches his neck, and his eyes droop a little. Chanyeol almost, almost feels sorry for him. "And you know there's also the fact Jongin and I, we used to fool around a bit, so it was weird when I heard them having sex. I mean they minded more than I did, really. They didn't like me giving them tips based on my observations either for some reason. But they were just so vanilla." He shakes his head in disapproval. "Such a waste of potential. I even offered to show them ... I mean Sehun actually is a beauty, but I guess it was too soon after all." Baekhyun moves around Chanyeol, opening the closet and pulling one of his coats out.

"You offered to have a threesome with your former, uhm, sex buddy and his new boyfriend?" Chanyeol asks, incredulous.

"Yeah, I mean it was mostly out of the goodness of my heart," Baekhyun says, jumping up and down like that will help his hands to sink deeper into the sleeves of his coat. He pouts, like he's hurt they refused him, but his eyes are dancing with mischief.

Chanyeol bursts into laughter. It's that or cry really, but now Baekhyun seems pretty smug about himself. Chanyeol lies back, spreading his arms and legs out on his cold floor. "You are so full of shit," he says.

"That's what you think," Baekhyun says, leaning over Chanyeol and winking at him. "Well, I'm out for the night. There's curry in the fridge. But it tastes awful," he adds and waves.

Chanyeol stares at the ceiling for another ten minutes, still occasionally chuckling at the image of some poor couple living with Baekhyun, who's trying to talk them into a threesome constantly, before he goes to try the curry. Baekhyun wasn't lying. Chanyeol didn't even know one could butcher curry this much because it's clearly one made from powder, but it's warm and at least the rice is decent, so he counts his blessings and eats.

Lu Han was much more of an early riser than Chanyeol, especially on weekends. He would drag Chanyeol up to shower with him, and he would insist on doing things, even if it was just getting breakfast in a nearby coffee shop. And Chanyeol went and did things, gladly even, because it always was fun in the end and it was time spent with Lu Han.

Secretly, or maybe not so secretly, Chanyeol loves to sleep in, especially on weekends. Often he forces himself to get up to not waste the day away, or because he wants to go buy fresh food at the nearby market that's always so busy on Saturday morning that if he doesn't go early there's nothing too good left. Sometimes things just ... happen on Saturday morning that interest him. But personally, he still thinks spending Saturday morning buried in his blankets, hiding from the morning sun, is the best. When he's finally up, he likes to pad around in his sleep clothes and wander around his apartment, fumbling for morning tea and a bit of rice, and eating it in his living room while watching cartoons on some children channel. He loves not having to be on the clock and waste the morning away, even if the price is a hustle in the afternoon, especially if his fridge is too empty after a whole week, or his place needs a good sweep up.

Baekhyun seems to be the same. Chanyeol doesn't know if to feel relieved or surprised because normally Baekhyun is so loud and taking up space Chanyeol's been slowly getting used to having for himself. But on Saturdays, they kind of click. Even if that's not something Chanyeol would want to admit.

Today too, Chanyeol pads across the living room and into his kitchen. He washes the rice rather halfheartedly and puts it to cook before crawling into the bathroom and washing his teeth. He doesn't bother with his hair, just frowns at the mess of curls on top of his head. Maybe he should get his hair cut. But at work, he just puts it into a few pins and a ponytail at the back. It's convenient that he can do that now and the hair doesn't get in the way at all. So what if he possibly does look like a mad scientist. Especially with his dye job fading into a kind of orange where it isn't grown out.

Chanyeol returns to the kitchen and makes a pot of tea. Two weeks ago, it was just a cup of it, but Baekhyun had whined at him for feeling left out, so now, here he is with a whole pot of it. He contemplates an egg, but the rice cooker beeps at him and he decides against it, only sprinkling some dried topping he's found in the pantry on top of a bowl of rice. He sits on the couch and is about to put a cartoon on when he sees Baekhyun, shuffling to the kitchen. His sleep pants are too long and his sleep shirt too big. Both would probably fit Chanyeol more. Baekhyun's hair sticks out as much as Chanyeol's. Long gone is the put together person that left Chanyeol lying spread eagle on his floor last night. Baekhyun still looks half asleep, but he starts singing. It's a children song, something Chanyeol might hear if he were to turn the TV on now, but instead he listens to Baekhyun's version as he bangs around the kitchen. He comes back with a mug and his own bowl of rice and sits next to Chanyeol, close like they've known each other for a long time, not just three weeks, like he's seeking body heat.

"No cartoons today?" he asks. He sniffs his rice, pulling his legs up on the coffee table again, and Chanyeol doesn't have it in him to scold Baekhyun, not when he's ... almost quiet and peaceful.

"I thought we could talk a bit," he says instead.

"On Saturday morning?" Baekhyun asks, incredulous, like it's something unthinkable, and Chanyeol laughs.

"Well, I can give you a bit more time before you wake up," he says, and Baekhyun leans back into the cushion, stretching his neck as far as it will go.

"I don't want to," he says, then quickly adds. "I mean wake up. I don't want to wake up. But maybe I could sleep talk to you," he says.

"You say so much nonsense," Chanyeol mutters, and Baekhyun just grins at him.

"You believe it all. Give it another month, and you'll start to think you really are a mad scientist. Or a reincarnation of master Yoda. I can't decide which one you remind me more of. Maybe you could be both."

Chanyeol puts his bowl of rice onto the floor, out of Baekhyun's legs reach and uses both of his hands to grab for Baekhyun's ears. He takes them into his hands and pulls. "Stop with the ears jokes. Your ears are bigger than mine; they just don't stick out so much," he says, and Baekhyun yelps and kicks and flails, until Chanyeol stops pulling his now very red ears away from his head. He is about to let go of them, but Baekhyun looks almost pitiful, so instead he runs his thumbs over the ridges of them, up and down, as if saying sorry to those poor ears that honestly have nothing to do with their owner being an ass. When he finally pulls his hands back, Baekhyun is giving him a curious stare. Chanyeol quickly looks away. He didn't mean to touch. Without permission. But Baekhyun, he touches him all the time, nudges him and flicks his chest or pokes his cheek, and Chanyeol is a touchy person even if lately he hasn't ... he hasn't been doing that. Baekhyun wiggles in his place, but instead of flinching away, he moves closer and then digs his elbow painfully right into Chanyeol's side.

"That hurt. And to think I was complimenting you. Star Wars is a nice series of movies. The music is great, anyway."

"Yoda is small, has a weird voice and like ... three hairs on his head," Chanyeol says, glad Baekhyun's moved on from his ears.

"Not true, he has a whole fluff of it, they're even curly," Baekhyun says, his mouth now full with his breakfast again.

"He's like third of my size and about million years old," Chanyeol argues, just because he hates to lose. He picks up his food again.

"Admit it, you're flattered," Baekhyun only says. He puts down his empty bowl and tries to steal spoonfuls of Chanyeol's. Chanyeol raises his right hand out of his reach and uses his left hand to swipe at the back of Baekhyun's neck. Baekhyun shrieks and almost falls off the couch.

"How..." he asks, outraged and breathless.

Chanyeol only snickers. "Be good now," he says, and Baekhyun shakes his head like he can't believe Chanyeol's already found this weak spot of his. Chanyeol watches him with one eye, hoping he won't try anything more. When Baekhyun seems to just settle back and reach for the TV remote, he lets his mind wander back to the most important question.

"So what do you actually do?" He asks. "I mean I thought you're unemployed, but you buy too many CDs for that and half of the rent for this place isn't that little ..."

"Ah, curiosity got the cat," Baekhyun smirks. "I don't buy those CDs really, people send them to me."

"For what?" Chanyeol isn't exactly willing to die for this info, but he is willing to offer Baekhyun the rest of his breakfast. Baekhyun takes the offered bowl, and then takes his sweet time chewing on another mouthful of rice before he replies.

"I do music coordination. Mostly for series and small independent movies. You know, I freelance, get hired for specific projects. So I basically listen to lots of music and propose where to put it in a scene and make the music we chose for it available and stuff."

Chanyeol ... didn't expect that.

"Oh that's kind of cool," he says, because it is. It also explains the CDs and indie bands. Not the girl group obsession, but well maybe that's some kind of professional deformation.

"Nah, not as cool as mad scientist moonlighting as master Yoda," Baekhyun winks at him. Chanyeol tries to go for his neck again, but now Baekhyun understands his intention, and he quickly scurries away and off the couch. Just as Chanyeol is about to launch at him, and ask more questions, someone coughs from the direction of the entry way. Chanyeol looks up and finds Kyungsoo, standing there with his arms crossed on his chest.

"It's noon, and you're eating breakfast in your pajamas," he deadpans. "You're such a lazy couch potato."

"Hi Kyungsoo, glad you know where my doorbell is," Chanyeol says, and watches with dismay as Baekhyun escapes into the kitchen.

"You gave me a key," Kyungsoo deadpans.

"For emergency purposes. I'm not dying," Chanyeol says.

"With the way you look, you could have fooled me. At least the place looks clean," Kyungsoo says.

And it does; even now in the plain daylight it's clear someone dusted the shelves and really did wash the floors. Food for thought right there. But now Chanyeol is distracted. "It's only you who hasn't seen a shower or a comb in probably a month," Kyungsoo adds.

"It's always so good to see you," Chanyeol sighs, and he'd hug Kyungsoo, but he can wait to get punched later, for something else. "So why are you here exactly? I don't think I missed an appointment with my big shot friend."

Kyungsoo looks up at him with disdain, but only moves into the apartment. He's in a good mood then. "I heard you had a new flatmate. And since you never talk to anyone anymore, I figured I had to come down here personally to find out more."

"Hey," Chanyeol pouts. "I talk to lots of people, all the time," he says. He hears water running in the kitchen. Baekhyun's washing dishes, and Chanyeol wonders if Kyungsoo scared him away. It seems improbable, but then it's Kyungsoo. Baekhyun starts to sing something, and Chanyeol turns back to Kyungsoo, already sitting in his favorite armchair. He probably likes it more than he likes Chanyeol. Lu Han brought it over here from his previous apartment. "Also you say that like it wasn't me who texted you about him," he adds.

"Jongdae doesn't count―" Kyungsoo says, and he wants to say more, but Baekhyun comes into the room just then.

"Oh, are you already bragging about your awesome new flatmate to your friends?" he asks, loudly, his wet hands dripping all over the floor as he moves to have a good look at Kyungsoo.

"More like complained about a loud immature invader," Kyungsoo clarifies. Chanyeol almost chokes, and he drops down to the sofa, resigned.

"Oh you're rude," Baekhyun singsongs, undeterred, moving closer. Chanyeol chokes again, this time on laughter. Not afraid then. Kyungsoo can't stand it anymore, and he punches Chanyeol's thigh, hard. Baekhyun drops to sit on the armrest of Kyungsoo's armchair. It's like watching a sheep walking into a wolf's den. "And feisty," he says, eyes flicking with mischief between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. He pokes Kyungsoo's cheek with his still damp finger. Kyungsoo punches him too, right into his arm, the moment he drops his hand. Baekhyun yelps and pouts. "Only a little cute," he adds, his eyes finding Chanyeol's in conspiracy.

Kyungsoo looks stunned for about two seconds, probably about punching a stranger for once.

"It's his way of showing affection," Chanyeol answers Baekhyun's silent question. Baekhyun grins. Kyungsoo has recovered by then, and he moves fast, pinching both of their thighs.

"I see you weren't lying. He's just like you, only in a smaller package," he says to Chanyeol. Chanyeol finally glomps him, now that most of the hitting is out of Kyungsoo's system, at least for maybe the next thirty minutes.

"It's good to see you, not working on a Saturday," he says. "Make us lunch? We have kimchi and pasta too."

Kyungsoo sighs, pained, looking Chanyeol up and down. "Only if you put on real clothes. And do something about your hair. And maybe introduce your flatmate to me," he says.

Baekhyun laughs. "I'll go put my better sweatpants on too so we can get the formalities out of the way," he says, winking at Kyungsoo, and he quickly runs out of the room.

"That's quite a change," Kyungsoo says, watching him leave. He turns to Chanyeol and studies his face, and Chanyeol doesn't know what he sees as his expression turns serious, the real serious one.

"I know you liked Lu Han a lot," Chanyeol says carefully.

"I did," Kyungsoo agrees, frowning a little. "But it was you who liked him the best. I was worried for a while ... I guess maybe Yixing was too."

Chanyeol shrugs, a little resigned. "It's not like because I have a flatmate I don't miss him. I'm ... I'm trying to miss him less?" he says.

"Well, this guy seems like almost too much of a distraction," Kyungsoo says, wrinkling his nose in the direction of Baekhyun's room.

Chanyeol laughs. "And you didn't hear his shower number yet," he says, winking. "Now how about that lunch? I'll help."

"So, how's the flatmate thing going?" Jongdae asks, as he slides to sit on a high stool in Chanyeol's lab. Technically they shouldn't be eating here, but it's past ten at night, so they shouldn't technically be here either. Monthly reports are Chanyeol's doom, and he knows Jongdae's not any better than him. Hence the late night take-out of black noodles, and the fact that neither of them are writing said reports.

"I liked Lu Han better," Chanyeol says, making sure Jongdae hears the irony in his voice.

Jongdae snorts. "Lu Han was your boyfriend, not your flatmate. You asked him to move in with you, and you already liked him when he did. That's a completely different situation," he says, but he sympathetically feeds Chanyeol some of his noodles. Chanyeol must look really pathetic.

"Oh, is it?"

"Yes." Jongdae nods. "You know, this is like college again. Ah never mind, you lived at home," he says it like that's thrown upon. In Chanyeol's opinion, that was wonderful. Food was for free and it was always there. Plus he had his own bathroom. "So how is it having a flatmate?"

Chanyeol thinks about it. Baekhyun is loud, always has sticky fingers, probably from all the time he has them in his mouth, and his things are all over the apartment. He loves to sing off tune, loves to take long showers, and he acts like he's known Chanyeol for years, touching and clinging. Sometimes Chanyeol forgets he doesn't.

"He managed to get Kyungsoo to hit him before I even introduced them," he chooses to say, and Jongdae laughs loudly, his feline eyes scrunching with it.

Before Chanyeol can say more, his phone chimes and vibrates in his pocket. He takes it out, and sees Baekhyunnie ♪ has sent him a message.

Where are you? I'm so booooored. (︶︹︺)

"And somehow, he made me give him my phone number," he adds, showing his phone screen to Jongdae and making a face.

His phone chimes again.

(∨ω∨)Zzz

It has been Baekhyun who saved his own number and kakaotalk to Chanyeol's phone, and the music note next to his name seems to jump with each new notification.

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

Are you on your way home already?

"How do you even type all these things on the phone?" Chanyeol asks. When his phone goes off yet again, he turns the display so it faces the table and turns the phone to silent.

Jongdae just laughs. "He sounds like he's a handful."

Chanyeol scrunches his nose. "You have no idea," he sighs.

"I don't think that's such a bad thing. I mean you're a handful too, and I'm friends with you," Jongdae says, scraping the rest of his noodles from his bowl.

"Hey, I'm a great friend." Chanyeol pushes at him. "And I'm easy to get along with. Everyone likes me," he adds.

"Yes, but your normal self is also loud, too competitive, and obnoxious, and too clumsy to be working in a lab," Jongdae starts counting on his fingers. Before Chanyeol can protest, Jongdae pokes his cheek. "And when you're brooding, you are moody, stubbornly stuck, even clumsier, and you shout at my interns."

"Hey!"

"I mean I love you Chanyeol, but you're probably a disaster to live with right now. And if you compare him to Lu Han constantly, then he doesn't stand a chance."

"I'm not," Chanyeol protests. "I mean, what's so wrong with missing Lu Han, anyway?" he asks.

Jongdae gets up, collecting their empty dishes and patting Chanyeol's back.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong with that, but it's been over five months since he left, and maybe you could try to think of him less so that you can one day move on? You told him to go, remember?"

"I'm not waiting for him to come back," Chanyeol says defensively. Jongdae hums, pushing his thumb into Chanyeol's shoulder where it's stiff. "I'm not," Chanyeol repeats.

Just yesterday, Chanyeol took his second pillow and blanket that he still kept on his bed, and gave it to Baekhyun, who had complained that his pillow was too old and his blanket didn't keep him warm enough in this apartment. Chanyeol no longer needs the second set anyway.

"Finish your report and go home," Jongdae says in the end, patting Chanyeol's head one last time, and he leaves to do the same.

Chanyeol works for another hour. He slowly turns off all the lights and locks up, nodding to the night guard as he exits his building. He only looks at his phone again after he's given his address to the taxi driver. He feels exhausted.

Baekhyunnie ♪ says:
Are you really not going to talk to me?

(☉∀☉)

Ugh, you're no fun!

And I even ordered dinner for you.

Such a waste of good chicken. Jongin would have loved it.

( º言º)

( ಠ ಠ )

Chanyeol?

`(๑ △ ๑)`*

Are you alright?

(~_~;)

No one's kidnapped you on the way home or anything, right?

⊙﹏⊙

(Ｔ▽Ｔ)

Chanyeol notices a missed call too, from Baekhyun. He feels a little bad about not replying, but he's honestly forgotten about his phone being on silent, and he just wanted to get his work done. He considers calling now, but he's almost home and it's close to midnight.

When he steps into the apartment, there's nothing to trip on. Baekhyun's shoes are neatly stacked next to Chanyeol's. TV is on in the living room, but when Chanyeol walks in, he finds Baekhyun sleeping on the couch, his phone in his hand on his stomach, blanket bunched up around his feet. He yips suddenly, his body shaking with the sound and then shuddering. He must be cold. He makes another sound, and it's like there's a puppy sleeping on Chanyeol's couch, making these whiny noises because no one's rubbing its stomach. Chanyeol loved doing that―rubbing his puppy's stomach. He slowly extricates the blanket from beneath Baekhyun and covers him with it. Baekhyun sighs, cheek pressing into the backrest, and Chanyeol forgets himself and chuckles. Baekhyun's eyes flutter open.

"You're back," he mumbles, sounding rough and disoriented.

Chanyeol nods, not wanting to make more noise.

Baekhyun sighs and pulls at the blanket, bringing it up to his ears. "Good. Food's nasty by now though," he mumbles, and then his eyes are closed again and he's sleeping.

Lu Han knew how Chanyeol's work can get when he moved in. They usually ate dinner separately, one or the other staying late at work, or Lu Han often going out for drinks with his colleagues or new business partners. It's different now, and maybe Chanyeol could make an effort for Baekhyun to know if he's working late. If only so that Baekhyun doesn't waste so much food on him.

There's something red spattered all over the kitchen when Chanyeol comes home. Baekhyun is standing in the middle of the mess, singing something along the lines of We're flirtin' with disaster, y'all know what I mean,² and, yes, Chanyeol really knows.

"What the hell?" he asks. At least the red is light enough to not be blood. So chili then, maybe tomato sauce. There's a big pot on the stove and a dozen of bowls, spoons and a pan in the kitchen sink.

Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol, a huge grin on his face, even though his cheek is streaked with red and there's some on his fringe too.

"I don't know about yourself or what you want to be, yeah, when we gamble with our time, we choose our destiny,"² he sings, then stops to blow the fringe out of his eyes. "I had a minor accident," he says.

"Really minor," Chanyeol deadpans. "Do you have a soundtrack to every situation in your life?" he asks, looking around and assessing the damage. None of the food got on the painted walls, just on the tiles, so he supposes that's a good thing.

Baekhyun scrunches his nose probably because his fringe is still plastered to his sweaty forehead rather unappealingly. "Well, it could've been worse. The lid could've made a dent into the wall when it blew off. Or it could've hit me in my pretty face," he adds as an afterthought. Chanyeol can't stand the way he keeps trying to blow the fringe away like he doesn't have hands or something. He steps close and pulls a few pins out of his jeans back pocket, combing his fingers through Baekhyun's hair to get it out his eyes and to clip it on top of his head.

When he's done, he steps back and nods in contentment.

"You carry hairpins around?" Baekhyun asks, incredulously.

Chanyeol shrugs instead of an answer, pulling a hairband out as well, tying his hair the best he can. Baekhyun is looking at him weirdly.

"It comes handy in the lab. Or when you come home to your flatmate destroying the kitchen and you need to help cleaning up," he says.

Baekhyun grins. "I already ordered pizza instead," he says.

Chanyeol only shakes his head as he steps towards the sink.

"Why are you even trying to cook if you're this useless?" he asks.

"It's on the list. I'm not too busy, so I figured I could cut down on take-out and learn something useful to improve my chances of wooing someone with my important life skills," he says.

Chanyeol snickers. "Of course. It's all about getting into someone's pants with you. Or skirts?"

"I don't have preferences," Baekhyun says.

The pizza arrives just as Baekhyun puts the last pot onto the drying rack and Chanyeol swipes at the last smudge of dried tomato from the wall behind the stove.

Baekhyun goes to pick it up, and he comes back with a puzzled expression on his face.

"The pizza guy kept staring at me weirdly," he says.

Chanyeol looks him up and down, humming, and then he reaches out to swipe at Baekhyun's cheek. He has to rub at it, pressing into Baekhyun's soft skin insistently, to get the tomato off. When he pulls his hand away, he thinks Baekhyun's ears are a little red, but before he can comment on it, Baekhyun is flicking him into the chest.

"You could have told me to clean up earlier," he's saying. Chanyeol rubs at the spot where Baekhyun's fingers stung him, pouty.

"And I thought you were getting kind of tame lately," he says. Baekhyun has been, maybe not quieter, but more careful maybe? Chanyeol hasn't tripped on any CDs lately, and Baekhyun hasn't been screaming as much during his morning showers. He kept to his own breakfast if they met in the morning and at least tried to keep to his side of the couch in the evenings. He even asked Chanyeol if he wanted to watch something the other day, and sat through an entire late night news block with him. Admittedly, Chanyeol only asked him to watch that to torture him a little, so once it was done, they reverted to a recording of some live performance. Chanyeol had the last song the band did for encore stuck in his head all the next day in his lab.

"Well, I do realize I might have come on to you a little strongly. I mean, Jongin pointed out to me that I may be a little … too cool for people to handle?" he says, with a wink. He's folded two pieces of the huge pepperoni pizza together, and his fingers are greasy and stained in tomatoes yet again.

"More like too obnoxious," Chanyeol corrects, pulling a piece of pizza for himself. "This Jongin is a diplomat."

"Hey," Baekhyun pouts and swings his hand as if to throw his half eaten pizza sandwich at Chanyeol.

"Don't you dare Byun Baekhyun. Don't you dare. Or I'm changing locks on you," Chanyeol threatens.

Baekhyun only pouts harder. "Fine," he says. "I'll teach you about the charms of food fights another time," he says. "You mad scientists are so boring."

Chanyeol groans. "You are so obnoxious. How many times have I told you? I'm not a mad scientist."

Baekhyun picks up another two pieces of pizza. "Your hair is fried and crazy, you wear those long sweaters that look like lab coats, your eyes are huge, you actually work in a lab, and that lab blew up at least once since I've lived here," Baekhyun counts down. "What else would you be?" he asks.

"I do research for a pharmaceutical company," Chanyeol says, trying to catch up to Baekhyun in number of pizza slices eaten, deciding to sandwich two together as well. Baekhyun doesn't seem to notice Chanyeol's silent competition.

"See, you're totally working on some super potions," Baekhyun wriggles a greasy finger at him. His lips are smudged in red and greasy too, and they make a loud sound as Baekhyun smacks them in annoyance.

Chanyeol's just gotten to the dry part of the crust, and he contemplates throwing it at Baekhyun after all.

"I'm working on allergy meds," he says. He knows Baekhyun is just pulling his leg because his eyes are twinkling again, but it is kind of strange that Chanyeol never told him, so he figures he should.

"Allergy meds?" Baekhyun tilts his head.

"Yeah, pet allergies, dogs and cats mostly I suppose," he says. "I'm working on something that would work preemptively, not just suppress the symptoms, you know. So that kids with allergies could still get a puppy and cuddle with it without their parents worrying about the severe reaction, and stuff." He stops himself from blabbing. He knows that he's a bit too invested in his research.

"Oh, that's kind of … boring," Baekhyun says cheerfully. "Just don't have a pet if it makes you sick," he says.

"Pets are important part of our culture. Plus they can be part of a therapy, or just make it easier to live alone," Chanyeol argues. He had a puppy, for a day, when he was small. After Lu Han left, he would walk around the nearby pet shop, staring into its windows. There had been this tiny beagle puppy in a small cot nearby. It took two weeks before someone brought it home with them. It was like Chanyeol's heart broke all over again.

Baekhyun shrugs. "I guess. But, like I thought it'd be something less lame. Why are you so worked up? It's not a big deal." Baekhyun stuffs another huge piece of pizza into his mouth. "You don't even have a pet."

Chanyeol doesn't want to be mad. It's just, "And why do you think that is?"

Baekhyun stops chewing, and Chanyeol steals the last piece of pizza. He thinks he's won, getting one more than Baekhyun, but he doesn't feel too happy about the victory.

"It's not like I have choice," Chanyeol adds. Who is Baekhyun to call his work lame? He's had to do lot of work he is not so interested in to get the support for this. He's written reports and papers on why it would be a commercially viable project. He still has to fight for this idea, still has to split his time between this and other projects to be able to keep his most wanted one.

Baekhyun's eyes widen a little, and he tries to swallow quickly, probably so he can say something, but Chanyeol's not in the mood. He gets up.

"Just like I wasn't given a choice on this whole lousy flatmate deal," he adds. He starts walking away from Baekhyun, who scrambles to stand up from his chair. "Just like I didn't have a choice with Lu Han," Chanyeol mutters angrily.

Baekhyun doesn't follow Chanyeol in the end. Chanyeol still feels like lately nothing is ever like he would choose it to be.

Lu Han sang to the songs on the radio, call Chanyeol loudly across the apartment or shout at the TV when watching soccer. His presence was far from small, yet it wasn't pushing all of Chanyeol's buttons. It was there, wrapping around him, accommodating. Baekhyun doesn't sing to the radio; when a good song comes on, he turns it up, listens, and maybe dances. When the radio is silent however, Baekhyun is not. He's a constant source of noise and melodies, energy bouncing of the walls. He fills all the corners and nooks of the apartment, pushing against Chanyeol, into Chanyeol's private bubble. It's not always bad, but it's almost always challenging. It makes Chanyeol feel alive, as he pushes back. And sometimes, he's just pulled along for a ride.

Baekhyun's fringe is too long, covering his eyes completely as he leans forward in concentration. He's mouthing letters to himself―chords that Chanyeol realizes―as his fingers move on the fingerboard. His palm is clenched too tight around the neck, and he's leaning too heavily into the guitar so it keeps sliding down his knees.

"That's my guitar," Chanyeol says, instead of a greeting. It's Saturday, and Chanyeol's gone out to meet Kyungsoo for lunch. Baekhyun was still in bed when he was leaving in the morning. He stopped to buy groceries on the way back and ended up buying dinner too. He doesn't remember if Baekhyun likes ddeokbokki that Chanyeol picked up, suddenly having felt hungry for it, but he probably does. "Why do you have my guitar?"

Baekhyun looks up, giving him a small smile. "I found it the other day when I was putting away my winter coats," he says. "Why do you keep your guitar hidden in the coats closet?" he asks back.

Because Chanyeol didn't feel like playing lately, or looking at his guitar. Baekhyun runs his fingers down the strings over the sound hole and scrunches his nose when the chord doesn't sound right.

"You're doing it wrong," Chanyeol says. He drops his bags, and comes around to sit next to Baekhyun so that he's close to his hand on the neck of the guitar.

Baekhyun scrunches his nose and tries again.

"I was trying to remember this song. It's basically just a male voice and acoustic guitar melody, but I couldn't. I figured that maybe if I tried playing parts of it on the guitar, it could help. I thought I could do it, but I'm more a piano person after all."

"You play piano?" Chanyeol asks, reaching out and fixing the way Baekhyun's wrist is twisted and his fingers are pressing down. "Now," he says.

Baekhyun tries and hums in approval. "Are you showing off?" he asks.

"Well, that's not hard to do with how lousy you seem to be," Chanyeol says.

"Oh, you're so full of it," Baekhyun says, hitting Chanyeol's thigh, but then quickly grabbing the guitar again, and strumming a random chord progression. Chanyeol fixes his fingers a few times as Baekhyun tries different things. He keeps scrunching his nose and humming random notes to himself, but he has a clumsy melody building that Chanyeol actually recognizes.

"Give it," he says, grabbing the guitar from Baekhyun. Baekhyun pouts at him but doesn't fight him. He turns on the couch, sitting cross-legged, his toes digging into the side of Chanyeol's thigh and his eyes on Chanyeol's fingers.

When Chanyeol runs through the chorus, Baekhyun wiggles, toes stubbing Chanyeol's thigh harder.

"Hey, that's it!" he shouts excitedly. "Do it again!" He sounds so bossy, but Chanyeol only smirks a little.

"What do I get out of it?" he asks. Baekhyun hums, moving closer and dropping his chin on Chanyeol's shoulder. He's too close again, and Chanyeol's not even surprised when his fingers run over the ridge of Chanyeol's ear before they pull at it.

"I'll take you out to this cool club to listen to some cool bands. I'm going out to look for some new music," he says. Chanyeol shrugs him off his shoulder, giving him an unimpressed stare.

"So that I get to drag you home when you get drunk," he says. Baekhyun sticks his tongue out at him. Chanyeol plays the song again, and this time, Baekhyun sings along, just nonsense lalalalas, but loud and clear and ringing through the apartment.

"You're not so bad as a sidekick," he says, when Chanyeol finishes playing. "I think it's time I bring my electric piano over. Jongin's been complaining about it taking too much space in their guestroom. Now go get dressed, we're going out."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Chanyeol protests. As Baekhyun gets up, Chanyeol remembers the dinner he bought and wonders if he could persuade Baekhyun to change his plans to eating in and maybe jamming some more, now that the guitar is out of the closet.

"You're dressed like a mad scientist in retirement," Baekhyun pulls at the collar of Chanyeol's shirt underneath his pullover. The moment it's out of Baekhyun's mouth, he winces a little. "I mean. There's nothing wrong with boring mad scientists, you know."

Chanyeol blinks.

"I'm glad you're talking to me again," Baekhyun adds.

"Whatever," Chanyeol grumbles. He looks down at his khaki pants. Kyungsoo likes having lunches in these garden restaurants full of posh sixty year old ladies.

"Put your hair up into a ponytail. It looks hot on you," Baekhyun says, already turned away from him and walking to his room.

This is the fifth time Chanyeol's gone out with Baekhyun. It's Wednesday, and yet here he is, in a bar at past midnight, wondering if he can use Amber, his cheerful intern, for all the finer motor actions in his lab tomorrow. Chanyeol used to think he knew the club scene in Seoul pretty well, partly thanks to his college days and partly thanks to Yixing's inclination to anything musical, but he's quickly learning Baekhyun is in another league altogether.

He's right at home in the most obscure places, often first row to every live performance of the night, discreetly recording and searching for self-proclaimed band managers. Chanyeol finds it all a little fascinating, including Baekhyun's ability to talk anyone into giving him anything he wants from them.

"Ah, it's not always that easy," Baekhyun chirps happily, as he pockets another phone number and makes a note in his cell phone about something. He's drunk, completely so, and he purses his lips as he concentrates on sliding his fingers across his screen.

"True. It'd probably help a lot if you weren't such a lightweight," Chanyeol points out, as he orders them what Baekhyun thinks is orange juice with vodka. Only Chanyeol's been making sure it's just orange juice for the past two hours, and Baekhyun's yet to notice.

"Ah, but you are very wrong there." Baekhyun giggles and jabs a finger into the middle of Chanyeol's chest. "There was this one time I only got someone to talk to me because I kept getting drunk at all his performances, and then tried to chase him drunkenly across the city when he ran away from me."

"Wouldn't the chasing be easier if you were sober then?" Chanyeol keeps watching Baekhyun kicking his legs into the air as he sits on his bar stool. He wonders if he pushed at Baekhyun now, whether he'd fall.

"My friend, that's how he talked to me. He picked me up off the ground, rubbed my back in the back alley as I threw up all that awful beer I drunk in that hole he played in that night and then paid for my coffee." Baekhyun looks so smug about it, like it isn't just a little disgusting.

"So why was he running from you anyway? I mean I get if people in general do, but you usually offer musicians money for their music, no?" Chanyeol asks. The beat of the music turns faster around them, and he thinks the DJ isn't half bad, but Baekhyun's silly story is, once again, more interesting.

Baekhyun's pouting at him, attempting to kick at Chanyeol's knee. When he fails and wobbles dangerously, he just sighs. "I'm not that bad," he says. "The guy was one of those free spirits, all for music in its purest live form. He didn't want a recording company, didn't have anything recorded privately either. But I've been chasing him for months. He was perfect for this movie I was working on." Baekhyun stops and frowns at his glass. "This tastes weird," he says, licking his lips.

"It's because it's orange juice only," Chanyeol mutters. "Finish your story."

"Will you dance with me if I do?" Baekhyun challenges, pushing his glass away, nose scrunched again, in disappointment, Chanyeol thinks. Chanyeol also knows by now that Baekhyun won't last more than two songs before he slumps into Chanyeol's chest and demands to be taken home. He'll clutch to Chanyeol excessively, but he'll be pliant enough to get into a taxi and then into his bed, in his surprisingly neat room.

"Yes," he says.

Baekhyun smiles at him winningly. "Well he was just a bit ashamed to admit he had no samples for me, really, so I got him into a studio, my friend and I helped him put together piano and drums accompaniment for his whole set, and we recorded it with him, did back vocals for him too. It's funny; I'm actually singing in one of the movies I worked on," Baekhyun chuckles.

Chanyeol wants to ask something else, but Baekhyun's flailing off his chair and dragging him to dance. Even this drunk, he's three times better than Chanyeol, and he giggles as he tries to guide Chanyeol's hands and hips, grabbing for him constantly.

"Why aren't you an idol, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol asks suddenly, just as Baekhyun's eyes start to droop. It's not the first time Chanyeol's thought about this. Baekhyun would be a good idol, great one even. All dolled up he's definitely beautiful enough, he sings well and plays an instrument, and he wouldn't be half bad at choreo if he wanted. He'd most likely have tons of girls cooing at his cute acts, and his loud sleeping habits, and his disastrous kitchen skills would make for a great entertainment during interviews.

"Why don't you go and get the phone number from that girl that's been staring at you since we got here? She even blew you a kiss," Baekhyun asks instead of an answer. He slides closer to Chanyeol, and Chanyeol knows that soon enough Baekhyun will be mouthing at his shirt instead of speaking clearly, ready to be taken home.

"I'm not interested," Chanyeol says crossly. Baekhyun's always suggesting this, always claiming someone's trying to flirt with Chanyeol.

"Well, I wasn't interested in being an idol. It's not for me. I wouldn't be too good at it, at all the crowds and close inspection," he says, and his forehead thumps against Chanyeol's chest. "Take me home?" he asks, fingers digging into Chanyeol's sides for support. His nails are long, and it kind of hurts.

"What about a band?" Chanyeol asks, ruffling Baekhyun's hair and slowly moving them towards the exit. Who takes care of Baekhyun when he goes out without Chanyeol?

"Why didn't you go talk to the guy who bought you a drink after today's second set then?" Baekhyun asks.

"I didn't want to," Chanyeol says, more vehemently than he intends. "I'm not looking for a hook up. Or a relationship," he clarifies.

"I don't want to be in a band," Baekhyun says, as if content with getting his answers. "I suck at composing. I only survived the mandatory composition classes in college because of Yixing. I'm just a pretty face with a decent voice. Why be in a band when you can't bring any new music to the table?" He sighs. "Chanyeol, it's not some dark, sad story. I chose this job, and I fucking love it. I sing and play for fun." Baekhyun's rambling, but it's about something Chanyeol wants to know about, so Chanyeol leans closer to listen. "I used to do back vocals and record piano for songs in studios for money when I was just starting and work was scarce, but I don't need to now, so I only do it for fun or when Yixing asks."

"I think you'd be great in a band," Chanyeol says, as they finally step out of the bar. It's warm out already, and Baekhyun shakes his head like a puppy, like maybe that will sober him up. His hair flies everywhere.

"I think you should be dating. So what?" Baekhyun says. Chanyeol only scrunches his nose.

"Stop being silly," he says, and pushes Baekhyun into a taxi he's managed to flag down.

Right before Lu Han left, Chanyeol never wanted to sleep at night. Lu Han would drag him to bed anyway, curling around Chanyeol and talking to him in Chinese. Chanyeol knew he was talking about Beijing, about the places he'd see again soon, about people that he hoped to reconnect with. He knew he was talking about his parents and how his father's health worried him, but how he was even more scared for how his mom's health and mind seemed so connected to his dad's. It was why Lu Han talked in Chinese, so that maybe it would hurt less, because Lu Han talking in his melodic voice, in his native tongue, has always made Chanyeol feel better, calmed him down and soothed him.

Chanyeol remembers Minseok as the smiley, short bartender from two nights ago, with whom Baekhyun flirted excessively while Minseok kept stealing conspiratorial glances at Chanyeol and giving him these mischievous smiles. Baekhyun complained that his Minseok-hyung wasn't paying enough attention to him, and Minseok just patted his cheek over the counter and poured them both another drink on the house. What Chanyeol doesn't remember, though, is giving Minseok his number.

So when he gets a call, Minseok being quite straightforward about being interested, and asking him out for dinner, he is surprised and rattled.

"I hope you don't mind me getting your number from Baekhyun. He said you were not seeing anyone," he adds.

Chanyeol tries really, really hard to be polite about the rejection. Minseok seemed nice enough, his voice was melodic and his eyes soft. Maybe they could have been friends, bonding over the misfortunes of being on the receiving end of Baekhyun's unrelenting attention.

The offer still throws him off completely, messing with his concentration, and he leaves work early, still bothered and getting angrier by the minute as he's left to his own thoughts on the drive home.

Baekhyun's sitting on the couch, playing with Chanyeol's guitar again.

"Why did you give Minseok my number?" Chanyeol asks right away, and his voice is already loud.

"Why not?" Baekhyun says cheerfully. "He's clearly charmed, and he's a cool guy. It's just your number anyway. It's not like I proclaimed you engaged or anything?" He barely glances at Chanyeol, focused on getting a chord progression right. His wrist is twisted wrongly, and he'll never get it this way.

"I told you I don't want to date. That I'm not interested."

"Not at that moment, you weren't, but I figured he could try. You never know, you could like him. He really is a nice guy." Baekhyun only now looks at Chanyeol properly.

"I don't care. Why do you keep butting into things that are not yours to butt into? Why are you playing my guitar again? Why are you here, sitting in my living room, lecturing me about my love life? People should stop pushing me into things I don't want. Why can't you all just leave me be?" Chanyeol's shouting, and he hasn't done that in so long. His temples are throbbing, and Baekhyun's looking at him with wide eyes now, pale and dropping the guitar like it burns. Chanyeol bites his lip. Deep down he knows he's not being fair. And it's not just Baekhyun who's upset him. Kyungsoo's been on his case lately, about the last of Lu Han's things still lying around the apartment, and even Jongdae's asked the other day if Chanyeol wanted him to introduce him to this friend of his …

"I just. I figured if someone else did the first step that maybe―" Baekhyun starts to say.

"Shut up. Just stop talking," Chanyeol interrupts him. His voice is still too loud, and he feels the vein in his neck pulse too quickly. His hands are clenched into fists, and his eyes are starting to burn, and Baekhyun is pulling his t-shirt down nervously, but looking like he wants to say more, and Chanyeol needs to just calm down, to stop shouting at his flatmate and to breathe again. He ends up striding towards his landline. He's pressing the buttons furiously until he finally manages to get the combination right to replay his answering machine message

"Hello, this is Lu Han and Chanyeol. We're not home at the moment, so do it old school style and leave a message," it plays. Lu Han still giggles at the end, just like Chanyeol knows he would. He replays the message again. By the time he plays it the third time, his breathing has evened out. He plays it one more time, and as Lu Han's voices fades into nothing, he feels sad and tired, but his temples aren't thumping painfully anymore, and he turns around to deal with Baekhyun.

Baekhyun's gone though, the guitar lying abandoned on Chanyeol's couch. The door to Baekhyun's room is closed and stays so for the rest of the evening.

"So what's the emergency?" Kyungsoo asks, sliding into the booth of the barbeque restaurant. Chanyeol and Yixing have been there for a while now, going steadily through slices of grilled meat and glasses of beer and soju. Kyungsoo loosens his tie and eyes the empty beer glasses and an almost empty soju bottle on the table with disdain. Yixing's sitting next to Chanyeol, his hand rubbing circles into Chanyeol's thigh soothingly. He's the one who's drunk most of the alcohol, even if it was in the effort to get Chanyeol to drink. Chanyeol's too upset for it, and the only reason he hasn't pushed Yixing under the table and away from him is the way Yixing talks so cutely, eyes glassy yet still gentle as he looks up at Chanyeol.

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol mutters, gripping his soju glass a little harder.

Kyungsoo heaves a long sigh. "What did the man child do this time that got your hackles up? And was it really necessary to call me out of work for it?" It's almost ten in the evening, but Chanyeol will tell Kyungsoo he works too much another day.

"Yes, he," Chanyeol's voice cracks. "He..." He takes another deep breath. He's cried right after the shouting match he's had with Baekhyun, and he's not willing to do it again. They were mostly tears of frustration, and he has a feeling Kyungsoo's not going to be as patient about it as Yixing was. "He deleted my answering machine message. Actually, he canceled our landline and threw out the phone, all without telling me. But he made it a point to make sure I know that before that he had deleted that message, and I―"

Kyungsoo whacks the back of his head, just as Chanyeol's eyes start to glaze over again.

"Hey, ouch, what the fuck, Kyungsoo!" he bites out, rubbing the spot. "I told you to watch your strength; that actually hurt!"

"Well then mope about that, but not about Baekhyun doing you a favor. I suddenly like him so much more," Kyungsoo says.

Yixing chuckles. "You like him a lot. You think he's amusing and good for Chanyeol," he says. His fingers dig into Chanyeol's thigh, and Chanyeol's trembling with too much confused emotion. Baekhyun'd been livid, his cheeks red and eyes angry, mouth tight, as he'd shouted right back at Chanyeol about being stupid and self-torturing idiot.

"Whatever. First of all, Chanyeol, what did you do to him?" Kyungsoo turns to Chanyeol.

"What do you mean what did I do to him? Aren't you supposed to be mad at him? He keeps doing these things to me, sticking his cute nose into things that are none of his concern, destroying everything."

Kyungsoo pours himself the last of soju. "As I said, what he did was a favor to you. I've been telling you to delete that message for months now. I'm glad someone did it."

Chanyeol feels so betrayed. Baekhyun had shut the door to their apartment with all his strength. "I need some air," he'd said, and he had left his favorite baseball hat on the shelf by the door.

"He had no right," Chanyeol says to Kyungsoo, and his voice is quiet and shaky.

"Maybe, but someone had to do it, and you were clearly not going to, so I really do approve for once. Now, how much did you upset him, Chanyeol?"

"I'm upset with him," Chanyeol says. "And you are my friend, so you should be too."

Kyungsoo shakes his head, but his eyes soften, as his thigh presses against Chanyeol's for a second.

"I want him to move out," Chanyeol says to Yixing.

"No, you don't," Yixing chides, slumping into Chanyeol.

"Why do people keep telling me what I want and don't want, and what I should and shouldn't do all the time?" Chanyeol rubs at his stomach, where there's a ball of tension in it, making it impossible to eat any of the meat that's sizzling on the grill in front of them.

"Because you're being silly," Yixing says.

"Stupid as fuck," Kyungsoo interrupts, but his hand is massaging the nape of Chanyeol's neck.

"You actually get along with Baekhyun. I know you've been going out together and playing music together. He's being talking about you a lot, asking things too," Yixing says.

"What things?" Chanyeol pipes out. Baekhyun's been buying Chanyeol's favorite orange juice for weeks now.

"I told him about the puppies and about Lu Han," Yixing continues. "I think he was just trying to help."

"No one asked for his help," Chanyeol says, but he's just sulking now. "It's so stupid."

"Look," Kyungsoo says, grabbing the tweezers and putting meat on both Chanyeol's and Yixing's plates. "I know he's annoying, and his solution was rather … drastic, I guess." Kyungsoo tilts his head. "At least in your eyes. But keeping Lu Han's voice message on your phone to listen to for months is not healthy. And I think you've been doing well lately. You're definitely more fun to hang out with again, and you talk too much as well, about other things than just Lu Han. You think about other things too, finally, but you need to really stop that thing you do when you pull back and dwell on things and seek comfort in what you had with Lu Han. Because it's gone." Kyungsoo winces.

Chanyeol does too, looking down into his plate, and playing with his chopsticks. If Baekhyun was here, he'd be rolling the meat into the salad leaves with his fingers, licking at them cheerfully and possibly trying to feed Chanyeol and Yixing too. He might have even attempted to stick his fingers into Kyungsoo's mouth, and that would be fun, watching Kyungsoo's mortification.

"I guess if you want, Yixing could hug you now," Kyungsoo adds. Chanyeol straightens his shoulders.

"I'm fine. I don't need your traitors' hugs," he says.

Yixing hugs him anyway, lips ghosting over Chanyeol's neck, his hot breath laced with alcohol.

"We had an argument," Chanyeol mumbles, when Yixing lets go.

"That's alright," Yixing says, going back to patting Chanyeol's thigh. "Baekhyun flares up easily, but he forgets fast too. It's you who dwells, sometimes. So don't, Chanyeol. Don't dwell on the past too much either."

The first time Baekhyun sings a love song, it takes Chanyeol half of it to realize it's him. He's standing in the kitchen, theoretically too early for Baekhyun to be up because just a day after their argument Chanyeol's still avoiding him. The song is full of longing, and it pulls on Chanyeol's heart. He doesn't remember turning the radio on, but he must have. His hands are too full with a bowl of milk and a box of cereal to turn it off, so he just stands there and listens, heart thumping a little louder. Mid-song, the shower turns on, and Chanyeol jerks in surprise. It's only then he realizes there was no accompanying music, just the words, that the sound was dulled, unmistakably by the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen. Baekhyun should be asleep; instead, he's making noise again, noise that tugs on Chanyeol's heartstrings as he stands in the kitchen, breath bated, listening. Even over the sound of the water, Baekhyun's voice is raw with emotion, strangely enthralling. Chanyeol should hate the song, but he loves the rendition.

Chanyeol gets out of work feeling worn out. It's not late at all, but after his early morning flight from his own apartment, his mind kept wandering to what he wanted to do about Baekhyun. They should talk it out, but Chanyeol still feels a little wary as to how to approach the whole thing. It took much more concentration to get work done and his eyes are dry from the way he tried to stare his result charts into submission unblinkingly. His phone chimes in his pocket, and he pulls it out, thinking it's probably Kyungsoo, with more things to say about Chanyeol being stupid. Instead a preview of a message from Baekhyunnie ♪ blinks at him.

Chanyeol, can you meet me in that park two streets from our apartment? By the entrance across from the bakery.

Chanyeol scratches the back of his head, feeling wound up and uncertain.

Please? (ノ_。) A message appears, and Chanyeol belatedly realizes Baekhyun knows he's read the first one.

Please? Could you be there in an hour, maybe? (*-_-)

ﾍ(･_|

Promise it'll be worth it ∪･ｪ･∪

An hour later, Chanyeol finds himself walking towards the entrance of the park, having picked up a meat bun from the bakery. He spots Baekhyun easily because he's wearing the red hoodie that swallows him up and a black baseball hat. It's too warm to be wearing a hoodie, Chanyeol thinks, humid summer slowly crawling into the city, but Baekhyun seems to enjoy being warm and wearing oversized clothes often enough. Chanyeol is bracing himself for the awkward conversation when he notices something stirring in one of Baekhyun's arms. He's holding a plastic bag in his other hand and he leans down, mouthing something at the fluff wiggling between his stomach and his forearm.

"A dog?" Chanyeol blurts out, startling Baekhyun a little.

"Hi," Baekhyun says, using both hands to nestle the puppy on his arm a little better. "Don't run away?" he adds.

Chanyeol meets dogs on the street all the time so he wasn't planning to.

"Uhm," he says, watching the puppy try to claw his way up Baekhyun's chest.

"It's a terrier, and they say those induce allergies less," Baekhyun says quickly.

"That's a myth," Chanyeol starts to explain.

"Well, I know it's more about the dander, but better be safe than sorry. And I have all kinds of meds here, and water, so you could even take some right now, just in case. I also had Tao bath him before we got here, so I think it's safe to pet him for a little? I think he's too small to play fetch with, but I figured we could sit in the park and watch him totter around for a bit. I got some toys too, and I'm sorry?" Baekhyun finally takes a breath, and he tilts his head back enough to look into Chanyeol's eyes from under his hat's bill. His eyes are soft and a little uncertain. The puppy tries to lick at his chin.

Chanyeol watches him squirm then takes the puppy from him, keeping him at a safe distance from his face, but cradling him safely in his hands. The puppy is warm, and Chanyeol can feel him wrigle and whine.

"I have disinfectant wipes too for after you are done petting him. He doesn't have a name yet," Baekhyun says, pulling at Chanyeol's elbow to drag him inside the park and towards a nearby bench.

They sit in silence for a moment. It's weird because Baekhyun definitely isn't a quiet person and Chanyeol isn't either, not really. Baekhyun keeps shifting on the bench next to Chanyeol, watching him as Chanyeol pets the puppy behind his pointy ears. When the puppy clumsily rolls onto his stomach in Chanyeol's lap, Chanyeol rubs his tummy gently too. The puppy starts whining more loudly, and Baekhyun lets out this cooing breathy sound next to Chanyeol and reaches out too, sliding the pad of his finger over the slope of the puppy's snitch.

"About yesterday," Baekhyun says, eyes determinedly on the puppy as Chanyeol slides to sit down in the grass under the bench, spreading his legs wide and playing with the puppy in the space framed by them.

"Yeah, that wasn't my finest moment," Chanyeol murmurs. The puppy between his legs isn't distracting enough for him to not feel the tension in the air, but it helps when he keeps scratching behind his ears.

"I shouldn't have done that without telling you first," Baekhyun says. "I know ... I know Lu Han was important to you, and I guess I just … snapped. But I should have known better," he says.

"I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. About Minseok and then yesterday too," Chanyeol starts. It's not like him to get mad. It's not worth it to get mad. It used to be his motto to just let things go. It's better to smile.

Baekhyun chuckles, sliding down to sit next to Chanyeol, so they can both play with the puppy again. He pulls a toy out of his plastic bag, a bone shaped rag that he uses to lead the puppy around, making him yip and paw at it.

"Actually, I don't mind the shouting. Just let it out. I snapped because instead of talking to me, you turned around and went to listen to machine, to a voice of someone who isn't there anymore. Chanyeol, that's not … it's not good for you. I still think that." Baekhyun's hand falters, and the puppy jumps forward and bites into his finger on accident. Baekhyun hisses.

Chanyeol's been hearing the same thing again and again, but listening to Baekhyun say it now, while they play with a puppy that Baekhyun got from somewhere just to make Chanyeol feel better, coming here armed with everything to make it as easy and safe for Chanyeol as possible … It's a bit of a punch in the stomach. All of his friends take care of Chanyeol, or at least they try to. But Chanyeol flashes back to Baekhyun now, to all the time Baekhyun's been good to him, took care of him in his weird, rude, invasive way, yet Chanyeol managed to ignore the thought behind it one too many times.

"I … recently, I might have been a bit difficult to live with," Chanyeol mutters. "I'm working on it?" he says, glancing at Baekhyun at last. Baekhyun's biting his thin bottom lip like he wants to say more. "Say what you want, Byun Baekhyun," Chanyeol says, and he manages to chuckle.

"It's about what you said. Yesterday. I'm not trying to replace Lu Han. I'm not trying to force him out either. It's not that. I get you liked him a lot. It's okay to cherish that. I'm not him, and I don't want to be him for you either. I'm …" Chanyeol notices Baekhyun's cheeks reddening. He's really not proud about the things he's shouted at Baekhyun yesterday. "Just. I'm not his replacement. I'm something else. Someone else. Your friend, maybe?" He sighs, scooping the dog into his arms and lifting it up for an eskimo kiss. Chanyeol's heart clenches a little, even if he doesn't know why.

"I know," he says at last. "I really know, and I'll try to remember. I mean. Friends sounds good," he adds, knocking Baekhyun's hat off his head and looking right into his eyes, making sure to smile as wide as he can. "This puppy makes the exact same sounds you do when you fall asleep," he adds.

Baekhyun blinks, and his cheeks reddening even more. "So I'm forgiven?" he asks, putting the puppy back down between Chanyeol's legs and quickly putting his baseball hat back on top of his head, tipping the bill into his eyes.

"Ah, I'm too easy. I should've at least made you buy me dinner." Chanyeol grins harder and attempts a wink.

Baekhyun bursts into laughter. "I buy us meals all the time," he points out, and he really does, and Chanyeol's been strangely pampered for a few months now, and he's only realizing it now. He sneezes then, before he can say more, and Baekhyun's eyes widen.

"The meds," he says, and Chanyeol nods.

"Yeah, I think it's time for the fun to be over." He lifts the puppy up and holds it to his chest for a brief moment, murmuring goodbyes to him. "I should also go change my clothes soon." He drops the puppy and takes the bag from Baekhyun. There really is every nonprescription allergy medication in it, and he picks up the sanitary wipes first, cleaning his hands and forearms, and even his neck a little. He picks up the pills that work the most for him and gulps down two at once.

"Baekhyun!" he hears someone shout just as he starts to get up. Baekhyun jumps up too, waving.

"Tao," he says, smiling. "Perfect timing. Meet my flatmate, Chanyeol," he says.

Tao is tall, feline eyes, dark eye bags and pierced ears. He looks sharp and stands out in the park in his flashy clothes. But then he smiles widely, nodding at Chanyeol quickly, and his eyes soften as he reaches for the puppy.

"Was he good?" he asks Chanyeol directly, and Chanyeol nods.

"The best," he agrees.

"I chose the cutest we have right now," Tao says excitedly. "Though there is this other one that has one droopy ear, and it's the cutest thing ever, but he's more naughty, likes to lick things, and Baekhyun said you're allergic, so I figured this one is good to start with," he says. His Korean is thick as he speaks, but he's enthusiastic and bouncy and completely in contrast with his striking facade.

"Tao works in a dog shelter. They get abandoned litters of puppies all the time," Baekhyun explains.

Tao glances at Baekhyun for a moment, then turns to Chanyeol, smiling and stepping closer. "I can take the dogs out any time, so if you want, I could bring a puppy to play with again. This one, or we have five tiny beagles now too, so when they're bigger and I can move them ..."

Chanyeol is startled, and Tao looks him up and down, slowly, deliberately. Chanyeol tries to say something, but he stutters, and Baekhyun groans from behind Tao and rolls his eyes.

"We should exchange numbers, and I'll call you," Tao suggest.

"I," Chanyeol sneezes, and for the first time in his life he's almost glad he's so allergic to one of the cutest animal species on the planet. "I'd love to, but I think it'll be a while before I feel like being around another dog," he says.

"Oh," Tao says, but he's still smiling. "Well, give me your number anyway," he says, and Chanyeol can't see a way out.

They swap their contacts, and Chanyeol sneezes again. He can feel the nausea coming on too, slowly.

"Ugh, your allergy is super severe; that sucks," Tao says, stepping back a little.

"Yeah, I had to move out of my first flat because my roommate worked part time in a pet shop and I was always swollen and snotty," Chanyeol says. And he's not lying. Even if he didn't have to say that right away. He hears Baekhyun sigh. Tao says his goodbye after that, a little disappointed, and Chanyeol starts walking towards their flat too.

"That was harsh," Baekhyun says.

"I can't believe you tried to set me up, again," Chanyeol replies, but he isn't as upset as he thought he'd be. He still remembers the cute puppy squirming against him.

"Hey. Tao demanded to know if my flatmate was hot when I asked him for a favor, and I told him he could be. Everything else is him. He's a man full of love and affection. Plus, don't lie, you thought he had a great ass too." Baekhyun's skipping next to Chanyeol, trying to keep up with his quick steps. Chanyeol needs to wash his clothes and take a shower very soon.

"You're unbelievable. I'm surprised you even remember people's faces instead of just their butts."

"Well, I try. I mean if I didn't, how would I tell you apart in the crowd? You're flat as a board."

Chanyeol pushes at Baekhyun for that, and Baekhyun pushes back, protesting loudly. "I only speak the truth."

Chanyeol and Lu Han have been emailing sporadically since Lu Han left. Lu Han would complain about ManU's rocky season, privy co-workers, and missing his jamming sessions with Yixing, write about his new apartment and food in Beijing and then he’d ask Chanyeol about his research and lazy Saturdays. They only talk once, when Lu Han's email all about too hot Beijing weather in June arrives just as Chanyeol sits behind his computer. He Skype calls Lu Han in a sudden fit of spontaneity. Lu Han's Korean is clumsier now, and Chanyeol feels nostalgia wash over him. Lu Han's mouth is still pretty as he pouts and articulates and his eyes still sparkle, yet Chanyeol is content to just watch without touching. It almost doesn't hurt when Lu Han forgets himself and mentions the matchmaking dates his mother sends him on. Chanyeol jokingly mentions he has a matchmaker of his own in turn, even if he hopes Baekhyun will run out of single friends soon. Lu Han has to leave soon afterwards, and the entire Skype call isn't longer than fifteen minutes. Afterwards, Chanyeol wanders outside into his living room, nudging Baekhyun's feet on the couch, and Baekhyun whines but eventually makes space for Chanyeol, curling into Chanyeol's side within minutes, grumbling about him taking up too much space to be left alone. Chanyeol listens to Baekhyun hum along the concert he's watching and doesn't think of comparing the rumble of it to Lu Han's voice once.

Chanyeol has three fresh interns for the summer, and it's more punishment than help. He easily makes quick friends with them and they like him instantly. They also have no respect for his instructions, if they even listen to him. Chanyeol's great at being friends with his interns, but he's awful at leading them and trusting them, and he ends up redoing half of their work in the evenings.

Baekhyun falls into a pattern of stopping by Chanyeol's lab late at night, bringing him dinners, watching him work and making sure he eats the said dinners. He claims it's on his way from the production studio for which he's working right now and that he'd be bored at home by himself anyway. Chanyeol decides not to question it.

On most nights Baekhyun drags Chanyeol home, checking if the lab computers are all off and if the lab is locked, while Chanyeol talks about Joy, the youngest of his new trio, bossing him into running another set of tests because she didn't have the chance to observe the first time around or about Johnny and his two left hands. Baekhyun laughs at him, and these days, Chanyeol ends up laughing along, guilty of blowing a story or two out of proportions for Baekhyun's benefit.

When they drive home, Baekhyun plays with the radio, more often than not deeming all stations unsuitable for his mood. He pulls down the windows despite Chanyeol's protests about the draft making his eyes too dry and sings into the wind. On some nights, his mood turns somber and his songs gentler, but Chanyeol doesn't comment, fingers tapping on his steering wheel to the cadence of Baekhyun's voice. In the end, Baekhyun's cheeks are always pink from the wind by the time they get home and his hair is a mess of a fringe too long, bright red strands sticking in all directions, vibrant. Chanyeol takes it upon himself to comb it into some semblance of order.

"So I've met an old college friend the other day. She's back in Seoul from States and she's gotten an apartment like three blocks from our place," Baekhyun starts, as he unpacks the boxes of fried chicken onto the cleanest lab table. Their diet has been exemplary lately. "No Jongdae tonight?" he interrupts his own story, and Chanyeol shakes his head.

"His interns are actually helpful, so he got off early," he says. Jongdae and Baekhyun hit it off quickly and get along a bit too well for Chanyeol's comfort. Jongdae has told Baekhyun one too many embarrassing stories from their university years, and if Chanyeol doesn't do something drastic, soon everyone on this floor will call him Yoda. He's glad it's just Baekhyun for the night.

Baekhyun chuckles. "You mean he's actually capable of exuding the air of authority so his interns don't bully him," he says. He pats Chanyeol's arm consolingly and leads him to sit down and eat.

Chanyeol grumbles but picks up a drumstick, and doesn't argue.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Sunyoung's back in town and needs someone to―" Chanyeol covers Baekhyun's mouth with his palm.

"Please stop talking," he says. Baekhyun jerks back then tries to bite at Chanyeol's hand. Chanyeol dodges but almost falls off his lab stool, saved only by Baekhyun's fingers gripping his lab coat. Baekhyun's giggling as Chanyeol wiggles to sit up better, and his hand ends up on Chanyeol's thigh, fingers walking up and down the length of it, while he stuff his mouth full with his other hand.

"Why?" he asks, teeth pulling the meat away from the stick.

"You were trying to set me up again," Chanyeol says. He raises an eyebrow when Baekhyun just shrugs and doesn't even deny it. "I don't need to go on blind dates. If I want to date again, I'll find someone, okay?" he adds.

"Nah, of course you need to go on blind dates. All you do is work in this lab and hang out with me. You never even look at anyone when we're out. Someone could try to blow you on the dance floor, and you'd probably not notice. So of course you need me to set you up on dates. You need to get back into the swing of things." Baekhyun's fingers squeeze around the apple of Chanyeol's knee. Chanyeol doesn't bother to swat his hand away. He just rolls his eyes.

"What about you then? I don't see you dating either, and I'm not going around offering you to all my friends on a silver platter, like some pimp," Chanyeol counters.

"Ah, don't you worry your pretty curly head about me." Baekhyun laughs and winks. Chanyeol feels himself blush.

"True, I don't need to know about every butt you tap, I suppose," he mumbles. He doesn't let himself linger on it, on Baekhyun going out and flirting people into kissing him the same way he flirts them into signing license contracts with him.

Baekhyun's phone chimes then, and his whole face lights up.

"Hey, do you want to at least meet Jongin then?" he asks.

"I just told you I don't want you to hook me up with―" Chanyeol starts, then the name registers. "Wait, isn't Jongin the guy you lived with before he kicked you out?" he asks.

Baekhyun nods. "See, not everyone I want you to meet I also want you to have wonderful sex romps with. Jongin says he and Sehunnie are out drinking and that I should come meet them. So eat up, and let's go. You know you want to."

"Sure I do; I want to get all the tips on how to survive living with Byun Baekhyun I can get," Chanyeol says. Baekhyun licks his fingers clean then sticks his tongue out at Chanyeol.

"Just don't forget this is the man that kicked me out despite knowing my sexual prowess. Don't take his advice too seriously."

Baekhyun makes them pick up a six pack of beer and two bottles of soju on the way. Apparently, Jongin meant drinking out literally, because they meet up in the park over Han River, two lanky men sprawling on a blanket on the grass, empty ramen cups and food containers spread around them.

"You brought more drinks?" one of them says cheerfully, when they approach. "What happened to the stingy Baekhyun? I was sure you'd turn up empty handed then complain we didn't save you any," he adds. He stands up and wobbles a little, then falls into a hug with Baekhyun.

"I really shouldn't have, you've clearly had enough if you're this clingy," Baekhyun says, straightening the man up. "How many times have I told you? You'll never be able to keep up with Sehunnie."

"You're the one to talk," the man says, smiling goofily. "Who's this?" He points at Chanyeol.

"This is Chanyeol," Baekhyun says, and Jongin waves. "Chanyeol, this is Jongin, and the mute guy on the blanket is his boyfriend Sehun."

"Hey, I just didn't want to interrupt the heartfelt reunion," Sehun says. He doesn't bother getting up though, so instead they all sit down, sharing the blanket. "We hardly see you these days. There's no one to eat out our fridge anymore. I bet you made Chanyeol here pay for the booze too."

Baekhyun ruffles Sehun's hair. "It's Chanyeol-hyung for you two," he says. "Don't be rude."

"Actually, Baekhyun paid," Chanyeol adds, pulling the beers apart and picking up one. He figures they'll stay long enough for him to drive them back if he just has one can of it.

Sehun fakes shock, and Jongin giggles. "Miracles do happen. What did you do to him, Chanyeol?" he asks.

Chanyeol rubs at the back of his neck. "Actually, Baekhyun's been feeding me a lot lately. I mean both of us, I guess. He's just been picking up our dinners. I wouldn't really call him frugal."

Jongin stares at him for a moment, then looks at Baekhyun and at Sehun. "I see," he laughs. "Do you always talk that diplomatic? Is that why Baekhyun likes you so much? Does he also clean after himself? Maybe wash the dishes?"

"Hey!" Baekhyun pinches Jongin's stomach. "I'm a clean person."

"You can be." Jongin nods. "I had you house trained, after all."

Sehun chuckles, pulling Jongin into him and rubbing the spot Baekhyun pinched on his stomach with an open palm. Baekhyun scoots away to give them space and ends up next to Chanyeol.

"Sometimes we should talk without Baekhyun present," Jongin says.

"No you shouldn't," Baekhyun sounds a little defensive, leaning more into Chanyeol. His hand is on Chanyeol's thigh again, and if Chanyeol didn't know better, about the way Baekhyun always touches, he'd think it was possessive. "I like living with Chanyeol. I don't want him talking to people who kicked me out."

Jongin swings a long leg at Baekhyun, barely catching him into the shin. "I asked you politely. You just pretended not to hear it," he says, voice accusing. "Just don't let Chanyeol date anyone else but you, and you'll be fine," he adds.

Baekhyun jerks a little, and this time it's Sehun who pinches Jongin's side.

"We weren't dating, Jongin. You just liked my butt. And I liked yours. Strangely enough, you liked Sehunnie's face better than my butt, and I can't possibly do anything about your misguided taste," Baekhyun says.

"We're not dating either," Chanyeol feels the need to clarify. "Plus Baekhyun likes to insult my ass too much to ever consider it." It's certainly not a sore spot for Chanyeol or anything.

Sehun chuckles into Jongin's hair.

"Of course you're not," Jongin nods. "Baekhyun's very particular about his butt preferences after all. Now, drink up and tell me how many dishes Baekhyun managed to break since he moved in."

Chanyeol can only laugh at that, shaking his head because Jongin's cute and Sehun is too, and Baekhyun sags against his side.

It's fun talking to Jongin and Sehun. Baekhyun clearly adores them. He keeps smiling at them, softly, eyes lingering on their clasped hands. He coos when they kiss, and Jongin attempts bodily harm for it, but Sehun just pulls him back and murmurs something into his ear, making him smirk.

Jongin keeps glancing at Chanyeol, and he attempts a small interrogation about how he and Baekhyun get along, living together. Baekhyun always interrupts them, and then Jongin just smirks at him. Sehun's mouth hangs open, the first expression that is not entirely attractive on him, when Chanyeol recounts how all night guards in his building know Baekhyun by now and just wave him in because of all the time he brought over food for Chanyeol lately, together with the bribes for the said guards so that they let him creep on Chanyeol without announcing him.

"Well, I see Baekhyun's behaving. He must be completely house broken now," Jongin only says in the end, moving on to more exciting subjects, like his audition with the local musical theatre and gossip about their mutual friends. Chanyeol drinks all the information in, realizing how much he still doesn't know about Baekhyun. He sits still so as to not jostle Baekhyun who looks so comfortable slumped into him with his head on Chanyeol's shoulder even as Chanyeol's legs start to cramp. Baekhyun's scarcely this calm and content to stay unmoving.

Chanyeol is the first to ask Jongin and Sehun for their contacts, and they quickly agree on meeting like this again. As they drive back home, Baekhyun fast asleep on the passenger seat, Chanyeol wonders if he took his guitar next time, whether Baekhyun would sing too.

Chanyeol wakes up to the feeling of fingers carding through his hair. It feels good, the nails scratching his scalp lightly, and he leans in closer to the touch, groaning a little. He hears a chuckle then, and that's when he truly awakens, jerking back a little and blinking rapidly.

"You sleep with your eyes open. It's kind of creepy," Baekhyun says. He's sitting on the edge of Chanyeol's bed, and he's pulled his hand back into his lap. It's Saturday, so Chanyeol doesn't know why he's been woken up just to have that pleasant feeling of Baekhyun's fingers in his hair taken away.

"You yip like a dog in your sleep. That's really creepy too," he mumbles, pulling his pillow over his head.

Baekhyun laughs again. "Says the person who just acted literally like a puppy when scratched behind its ear."

Chanyeol kicks out a leg in the general direction of Baekhyun. "What are you doing in my room? Why am I awake?" he asks.

"I need you to entertain me," Baekhyun says cheerfully. "Get up, breakfast's ready, and then we're going out."

Chanyeol peaks from under his pillow. "You cooked?" Suddenly he's full of dread. "And out where? Why?"

"Excuse me," Baekhyun puckers his lips. "I've mastered the art of making rice in a rice cooker long time ago. And the side dishes are from the market."

"You went out?" Chanyeol asks, surprised. Sadly, his body's now completely awake, and he doesn't think he can go back to sleep.

"I have my moments," Baekhyun chirps, pulling at the toe of the leg that Chanyeol tried to kick him with. "Now get up, it's not actually that early. We have an appointment."

As they eat, Chanyeol wonders if it's someone's birthday. It's not; Baekhyun's passed over a month ago. He had eaten all of the cake Chanyeol got him on the way from work with a big spoon, occasionally trying to feed Chanyeol too, and then went out with people who were not Chanyeol because Chanyeol accidentally fell asleep on the couch watching Baekhyun devour the cake and Baekhyun didn't wake him up. Chanyeol's own birthday is still far away. So there's no reason for Baekhyun to be dressed nicely this soon in the morning, serving royal breakfast.

"Where are we going?" Chanyeol asks again.

"To places," Baekhyun says. "Starting with a hair dresser. You've gotten so into your Yoda character you seem to have forgotten you actually have more hair than him, and it looks dead right now. Your transformation hasn't been completed yet," Baekhyun says, dropping a piece of rolled egg omelet on top of Chanyeol's rice. "And I need to have my fringe trimmed." It's so long Chanyeol often wonders how Baekhyun could possibly see through it. He's taken to brushing it away for him, and Baekhyun always holds still, almost obediently, looking up at him, biting his lip probably to keep himself from moving, while Chanyeol does it.

It's not like Chanyeol doesn't know that his hair is a mop, roots so prominent he doesn't know if he can even call it roots anymore, but cutting his hair just wasn't his priority lately. He keeps it up and off his face in his lab, and he has no one to impress. He still protests, just to make Baekhyun pout and scrunch his nose as they get out of the apartment.

"I'm leaving you in the best hands," Baekhyun says, when they get into the hair studio. Baekhyun has an appointment, and so does Chanyeol apparently. "So behave," he continues, pointing a finger. "Gunhee-hyung, I'm counting on you," he says to the hairdresser guiding Chanyeol to a chair, and then he disappears with another staff member, a girl that keeps grumbling about Baekhyun being a brat.

"Hyung here, noona there," Chanyeol mumbles. "Does he just act cute with everyone to get his way?" Chanyeol asks.

The hairdresser chuckles. "Pretty much. Now sit and tell me what you want me to do about this disaster."

Chanyeol makes a face in the mirror. "It's convenient; it doesn't get into my face like this if I pin it up," he says.

Gunhee tilts his head. "Well, we could cut it all off. I haven't used a razor properly in a long time, I guess," he says.

"My ears," Chanyeol says then, a little panicked. He doesn’t mind his ears really; he does know he’s plenty good looking to compensate for them, but he fears the recent nickname would really stick forever. "We can't do that."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about that. They're cute. Your charm point, right?" Gunhee asks, pulling Chanyeol's hair to the back and looking at him through the mirror thoughtfully. "I know Baekhyun thinks they're cute."

"Baekhyun should stop talking about my ears and worry about his," Chanyeol mumbles.

"Oh, he manages to do plenty of both." Gunhee says, offhandedly. Chanyeol sees his own brows furrowing in the mirror. "So a really short cut then? Your hair could probably use a break from bad color jobs too, and we wouldn't have to color then," Gunhee suggests.

"Sure." Chanyeol waves him away.

Baekhyun stares really, really hard when they meet in the lobby of the hair studio about an hour later. It's possibly the first time he's kind of speechless.

"What did you do?" he asks in the end, voice high. Chanyeol can't tell if he hates the cut that much, or … or something else. Baekhyun glances at Gunhee and back at Chanyeol. "Oh my god, you look like a kid. Where's your school uniform?" He comes closer then and pulls at one of Chanyeol's ears. "Your ears," he says, his voice still pitched higher, and when he doesn't stop playing with the one he's holding onto, Chanyeol reaches for the back of his neck. Baekhyun, for once, is too slow to escape. He's red as a tomato when Chanyeol lets go, and he looks at Gunhee a little betrayed.

"Why?" he asks. "There was so much hair to work with."

"He likes it," Gunhees says, turning to Chanyeol. "So don't listen to him saying otherwise." He looks at back Baekhyun then and snickers. "The red looks good on you, Baekhyun," he adds. Chanyeol's not sure if he's talking about Baekhyun's hair or his face.

Baekhyun seems to have a whole day planned. After they leave the hair saloon, they stop by a cake shop and a few street stalls to get food and in a convenience store to get beer and soda. Eventually, they take a bus to a bigger park out of their usual way. They settle on a blanket, and Baekhyun chatters constantly and sings at times, when he's momentarily at loss of topics, as they eat and just lounge around. Yixing shows up in the afternoon, with his guitar, and he and Baekhyun team up to make Chanyeol play and even sing. Later Jongin and Sehun turn up too, and even Jongdae stops by for a little while, and their afternoon's loud and rowdy to the point they draw attention.

By the time sun starts to set, the top of Chanyeol's nose is itching, skin probably burnt from staying in the sun too long, he's a bit drunk and a bit happy. Jongin tries to get them go and eat chicken for dinner, but Chanyeol scratches at the back of his neck, fingers coming back covered in his cut hair, and suddenly he feels too tired to sit in a restaurant.

"I suggest pizza. At home," he murmurs. Baekhyun hears him, and seems to have mercy on him for once.

"Let's just split up," he says.

As they sit on the bus home, Baekhyun runs his palm over Chanyeol's super short hair and laughs. "I think Junmyeon-hyung is going to get the shock of his life on Monday," he says.

Chanyeol blanches. "What?" How?"

They've met Junmyeon in one of the clubs Baekhyun and Chanyeol went to last Friday. Chanyeol thinks it wasn't really a coincidence. But Junmyeon was nice, calm eyes and slow smiles, small man but clearly confident, and there was something that made him … interesting; strong charisma not letting Chanyeol dismiss him easily. His arms were strong too, as they danced late at night, and when he texted Chanyeol later in the week, Chanyeol said yes to a cup of coffee.

"You didn't think I wouldn't know, or did you?" Baekhyun chuckles. "I did hope the hairdresser appointment will help with the scrawny appearance, but. You look …" Baekhyun trails off.

"I look what?" Chanyeol wonders.

"Different," Baekhyun settles on, "good different though," he clarifies, running his palm over the top of Chanyeol's hair one more time then looking away.

Once home, they both shower, and by the time Chanyeol comes out, the pizza's already smelling really good from the living room. He roots around the kitchen for some plates and napkins when his eyes fall on the fridge door. There used to be a calendar hanging there, last year's edition. Lu Han has bought it, and Chanyeol just kept forgetting to replace it. It was pretty useful having it there, with important dates marked, appointments and meetings and their friends' birthdays. It's mostly the birthdays Chanyeol kept it for, even after the year has ended, never getting around to buying a new one and copying the dates over. He hasn't noticed it gone until now.

Baekhyun is humming the opening song to the fifth season of One Piece in the living room, rummaging through their DVDs. It's clear what they're watching this evening. Chanyeol finally locates the napkins and leaves the kitchen. He flops on the couch and grabs a piece of pizza right away.

"Hey, did you throw the calendar in the kitchen out?" he asks.

Baekhyun freezes a little, his butt stops wriggling, and the DVD is left only half pushed into the DVD player. He turns to look at Chanyeol slowly. "Yeah, I did," he says slowly, a bit uncertain. "It was last year's," he adds.

"Hmmm," Chanyeol nods.

"You're not mad?" Baekhyun asks, turning back to push the DVD all the way in and moving towards the couch. He doesn't sit just yet.

"No. I mean I kept it because it had all the important birthdays copied in it, but I'll live," Chanyeol shrugs and pats the seat next to him. Baekhyun sags down so fast that it tips Chanyeol to the side and into him. He giggles, and Baekhyun scrambles to sit up better, eventually sighing and pulling Chanyeol's long legs into his lap as Chanyeol lounges back, half sitting, half lying against the side rest. It's comfortable.

It's almost midnight when Chanyeol crawls into his room, very ready for bed. His phone was dead when he checked that morning, so he'd left it at home. It’s charged now, and Chanyeol checks for any missed messages or phone calls. He swipes over to his calendar to check the time for his coffee with Junmyeon on Monday.

He startles when he notices a note in it for today.

Han's & Yeol's anniversary ♡

Baekhyun's still moving around the apartment, and Chanyeol hasn't closed the door yet. Baekhyun is singing, softly, a love song.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun have fallen into being flatmates really easily, if Chanyeol stops to think about it. There are no set rules about laundry or cleaning or who buys food. Baekhyun, despite Chanyeol's reluctance to admit so at first, is easy to live with, finding a rhythm with Chanyeol. Baekhyun knows too well by now what Chanyeol likes to eat or drink, what kind of chaos he tolerates and what makes him annoyed. Chanyeol, surprisingly isn't that far behind. The only rule Chanyeol has really set was silly and kind of selfish. He knows now that Baekhyun likes love songs just as much as he loves silly, upbeat songs, or girl group cute songs, or children songs or anime soundtracks with uplifting messages about life. Baekhyun's voice suits love songs maybe too well, the raw edge of it fitting the longing, the desperation or deep love alike. It took Baekhyun months to break Chanyeol's rule, and maybe he's broken the walls Chanyeol has been building around himself since Lu Han left too along with it. Maybe if Chanyeol wasn't so stubborn and hadn't pushed Baekhyun's music away at the beginning, he wouldn't miss it now that Baekhyun slowly quiets, leaving Chanyeol strangely unsettled.

Midsummer, Baekhyun gets busier. His new project really kicks in, and more often than not, he's up before Chanyeol, already showered and gathering things around the apartment. They eat breakfast together, and Baekhyun dresses more and more in slacks and smart shirts and even full out suits, looking so much more put together than the messy loud boyish person Chanyeol found on his couch at the end of the winter. Often, they leave at the same time, taking the elevator down together before splitting ways.

Most of Chanyeol's summer interns leave in August, only Taehyun staying, and he's by now accustomed enough to the lab, and Chanyeol's quirks, that Chanyeol's happy about him sticking around, increasing the staff number in his lab to three and making his life easier rather than harder. Chanyeol's glad he listened to Jongdae and tried harder to work with the most promising one of this batch of interns too. His nights become shorter, and his drives home lonelier. In the morning, Chanyeol doesn't hear Baekhyun sing in the shower. In the evening, Chanyeol comes home to his apartment empty and looking eerie in the evening light.

Even when Baekhyun is at home, often he retreats into his room. He rarely closes his door, but Chanyeol doesn't want to disturb him. He sees Baekhyun sitting behind his small desk, with headphones on, scribbling something. He hums lowly at times, stopping in the middle, pursing his lips, or pulling at them with his fingers, and Chanyeol can feel the concentration radiating from him. Sometimes, Chanyeol notices him sitting behind the keyboard that he's finally dragged over from his previous place, pressing the keys, or just staring at them in frustration, but the headphones stay on, plugged into a headphone jack, and the air around Chanyeol stays still, not vibrating with sound anymore.

It's just that Baekhyun's work picked up, Chanyeol knows. They haven't really had a falling out, and on Saturday mornings, they still watch cartoons together, folded into the couch and each other, and Baekhyun still sings to every song then and comments on everything that's happening. This too shall pass. In the meantime, Chanyeol can manage to entertain himself. Tonight he has a movie date with Junmyeon. Junmyeon, who is somehow still around, is another convert to the cult of Baekhyun's pouty face. When he talks about him, it's with slight exasperation and a lot of fondness. There's the same fondness in his eyes when Junmyeon looks at Chanyeol, and Chanyeol likes the ease of it.

So he just needs to fix himself a quick dinner to fill his stomach before he heads out. He reaches into the fridge wanting a glass of orange juice, but its usual place is empty. There's always a bottle of his favorite brand, no pulp, in there, but as Chanyeol comes up empty, he realizes he hasn't personally bought one in ages. It's another reminder of Baekhyun not being around, and Chanyeol scrunches his nose and instead pulls kimchi out of the fridge.

His kimchi spaghetti isn't as good as Kyungsoo's, probably because Kyungsoo doesn't want to reveal his secret ingredient and Chanyeol hasn't tried hard enough to spy on him to find out, but he can manage. He sets it on the counter and starts boiling water for the spaghetti. He peels the onion and garlic, slowly chopping that and kimchi too. He's ready to put the pasta into water when he hears a loud gasp from the kitchen doorway.

"You can cook," Baekhyun says, holding his hand to his heart in exaggeration.

Chanyeol turns around, looking Baekhyun, in a suit and a tie that he's loosening up with his long fingers, up and down. "I keep forgetting you have to buy rights to the songs you want to use and that it means you are required to go to actual business meetings. How do you survive that?" he asks.

Baekhyun laughs. "I'm a great negotiator," he says, winking.

"I can't imagine you sitting still in a business meeting," Chanyeol muses, but he feels his face splitting into a wide smile at the thought of Baekhyun wriggling in his seat and annoying his business partners with it to the point they just give in to what he wants, quickly.

Baekhyun looks a bit startled. "You have so much teeth when you grin like that," he says. He takes his jacket and his tie off, rolls his sleeves up and goes to wash his hands in the sink. "You're also trying to distract me from the important topic. You are cooking. An actual meal," he says.

"I thought we established I'm the one who can actually navigate the kitchen. Why do you sound so surprised?" Chanyeol asks. Okay, so maybe he's been content eating all the take-out with Baekhyun this spring, since it was always just there, but Chanyeol can totally cook and can do it regularly if he has time. He turns back to the stove, finally putting the spaghetti into boiling water and pouring oil into a pan.

"How was your day?" he asks, feeling Baekhyun move around him.

Baekhyun shakes out his arms and legs like in some kindergarten exercise before answering. "Pretty great; I got to meet Taeyeon-noona again. I'm such a fan, and she's so stunning. I can't believe they're letting me actually talk to her."

"Taeyeon? Noona? As in Girls' Generation Taeyeon?" Chanyeol hisses when a tiny drop of hot oil hits his hand as he puts the onions in.

"Yes." Baekhyun wiggles again in excitement, and moves around Chanyeol to grab a glass to pour himself some water. "I think I can already talk about it. I have actual, decent budget for this movie. They really wanted someone big to sing the main theme, so the film producer got in touch with SM. Well, that ate most of said budget, but it's so great. And I wouldn’t actually need to see her or talk to her or anything, but I talked them down," Baekhyun continues to chatter. Chanyeol can hear the happiness in his voice. "And the song they chose is really nice and fits so well. I mean it's a love song, obviously, so I won't bother arguing it's qualities with you, but it's really great, and her voice is perfect for it."

Baekhyun's practically swooning as he moves around kitchen. The kimchi's already in the pan, and Chanyeol leaves it to simmer while he drains the pasta of the hot water. Baekhyun slips around him, to reach out for the plates to set on the table, and he holds onto Chanyeol's back to let him know he's there and maybe a little for balance as he goes on his tippy toes. He's still saying something, but Chanyeol freezes. A shiver runs up his spine from where Baekhyun's touched, and he feels a little breathless. He's not sure what is more alarming, that something like that is happening, or that it's not the first time Baekhyun's touch has made his whole body tingle weirdly.

"How's Junmyeon-hyung, by the way?" Baekhyun is asking, pulling Chanyeol out of the weird stupor by placing the plates loudly on the table. Chanyeol swallows and moves to stir the kimchi for the last time. "We should all go out sometimes, together. I haven't seen him in a long time. I haven't been out much lately either, so it'd be great," Baekhyun says.

Chanyeol would rather go with Baekhyun alone. There's no need for Junmyeon to tag along. He misses their bar tourism, scouting for good music and decent drinks, and talking about both until they're a little buzzed, a lot of tired and completely loose-limbed, falling into each other during the taxi ride home. He bites his tongue.

Some kimchi falls onto the stove, and Chanyeol stirs it a little harder, only humming to Baekhyun's suggestion. He's about to add the pasta at last when Baekhyun stands close to him, pressing their sides together, and sniffs at the pan, licking his lips.

"I can't believe you can cook," he starts. "But you know why Kyungsoo's kimchi pasta is so good?" he asks. "He adds extra tomato sauce and chops the garlic into big pieces," he says easily, and Chanyeol looks at him sharply.

"What?" he asks.

"I saw him doing it the last time he waltzed in here like he owned the place," Baekhyun shrugs. Chanyeol can't do anything about the garlic, but Baekhyun's already slipping away and handing him the tomato sauce.

As they eat, Chanyeol realizes that this, indeed, is better. "I can't believe you knew this. He wouldn't tell me," he complains.

Baekhyun laughs, his mouth red from the sauce, his chin too, from where he's been clumsy slurping the spaghetti. His foot nudges Chanyeol's under the table, and Chanyeol can't look away for a moment.

"I'm clearly a better spy than you, Yoda," Baekhyun mutters, using his finger to swipe the last of the sauce off his plate then sucking it into his mouth, groaning.

"So messy," Chanyeol chokes out.

"The better the food is, the messier eater I am," Baekhyun says happily, pouting a little at their empty plates.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol suddenly wants ... "Will you sing it for me? Taeyeon's soundtrack. You said it was good …" he trails off. He wants to hear Baekhyun make more sounds before he retreats into his room and Chanyeol leaves to meet Junmyeon.

"But it's top secret," Baekhyun says, face serious.

Chanyeol doesn't know what kind of face he's making, but it makes Baekhyun grin deviously.

"Don't be so disappointed," he says. He stands up, and for no apparent reason, sits on Chanyeol's knees. "I'd be happy to share. It's awesome, and I think my secret is safe with you. I'm happy you're curious."

Before Chanyeol can even take a breath so he can say something, Baekhyun places one hand on Chanyeol's shoulder and inhales. He doesn't sing with his voice in full force, but his words are clear and the melody is slower but playful as it unwinds, catchy and powerful, beautiful. Baekhyun singing never soothed Chanyeol. Instead it has always, one way or another, made his heart beat faster, made it leap and want more. Right now, Chanyeol's heart is so loud and beats entirely to the rhythm of Baekhyun's melody.

That night, Chanyeol talks and laughs with Junmyeon, and they discuss the movie they've just seen, politely. Junmyeon smiles and pushes a hand into Chanyeol's waist to lead him out of the dark movie theatre, and Chanyeol feels just fine, completely calm. On the way to Junmyeon's car, Chanyeol tells him they should be friends, that he doesn't think he is going to like Junmyeon as more than that.

Junmyeon takes it in stride. "I think I realized that already," he says. "But you are, despite being so loud, very good company. And you're attractive, so it was definitely worth trying."

He still drives Chanyeol home. "Say hi to Baekhyun for me," he says, while Chanyeol is trying to unfold his legs from Junmyeon's compact car. There's that twinkle in Junmyeon's eyes, a little mysterious, when Chanyeol turns sharply to look. He finally tumbles out of the car after that and hums in agreement. His heart beats faster again, probably because it's such an exercise to get out of Junmyeon's car. Or. Probably not.

So Chanyeol is kind of distracted. He is distracted a lot. It has been like this for a week, ever since Junmyeon had dropped him off in front of his and Baekhyun's apartment. He'd gotten inside quickly to find Baekhyun sleeping in the living room, papers full of notes and post-its strewn all around him, laptop placed on the edge of the coffee table. Chanyeol had tried to get Baekhyun to wake up and move into his bed, but Baekhyun had been deep asleep, mumbling something when Chanyeol ran his fingers through his hair. His attempt to maybe grab him and manhandle him to bed had ended up with Baekhyun trying to make a body pillow out of Chanyeol, fingers grabbing at his shirt and pulling down, his calf already hooking around Chanyeol's as he had twisted on the couch. Baekhyun had whimpered as Chanyeol pulled away, pitifully so, but Chanyeol's temples had been throbbing and his stomach had been knotted too tight. Chanyeol could have grabbed for Baekhyun's neck and woke him up like that, but he hadn't had the heart, knowing how abrupt and drastic of an effect that could have. He had left Baekhyun asleep on the couch, and when he woke up the next day, Baekhyun and all his notes were gone.

Now, Baekhyun, asleep and cute, or awake and loud and still cute, padding across their living room in pajamas, hair ruffled and eyes puffy, Baekhyun laughing at the mess in their kitchen or tucked into Chanyeol's side on their couch, Baekhyun, beautiful, breathtaking, and warm, shouldn't be something Chanyeol thinks about in his lab. Amber and Taehyun are milling around, and he's just handed Taehyun a set of input data for him to start measuring the ingredients before they mix another test set. Taehyun gave him a weird look, but Chanyeol just looked at him sternly. He has to be strict; he wants this set to be done today.

Chanyeol looks down at the notes on his table, swiping through them to locate the latest result chart. His eyes falls to a sheet of input data, the ones he was so sure he gave to Taehyun. He's confused for a moment, then realizes he never threw the messed up attempt from last night away, the one where he completely switched two breakers. He hisses, turning around, and sees Taehyun turning on the mixer.

It's not really a big explosion. No one's injured and Chanyeol, in his attempt to turn the damn thing off, pushed Taehyun and Amber far enough for both of them to come out of it unharmed, only a little shocked. Chanyeol himself is more rattled by the fact he's made a mistake like that than by the fact his lab is a mess of broken glass, powder from the fire extinguisher and papers scattered everywhere. He's glad his unfairly expensive professional insurance covers this as he watches people milling in and out of his lab, while he sits on the table just outside of it that they hadn't gotten around to move inside that day. Jongdae's peeking into the lab curiously, reporting on the damage, and Chanyeol closes his eyes and takes deep breaths, again and again, wondering if he's backed up all his recent results or if he's lost work results on top of his insurance bonus.

"I thought you already fulfilled your quota on blowing up labs this year. You know Chanyeol, there are mad scientists and there are mad scientists," Chanyeol hears Baekhyun say then, and he blinks his eyes open rapidly. Baekhyun's really there, staring at him intently, and his tone was almost light and teasing when he talked, but he's not smiling.

"I have never blew up a lab before," Chanyeol says, a little defensively. "I told you it wasn't mine that exploded earlier this year." Baekhyun's wearing slacks and a shirt. His tie is askew and his temples are sweaty. It's the end of summer, and the weather has cooled down considerably, but he looks too warm and a bit winded. "What are you doing here?"

"Jongdae called me," Baekhyun says. His eyes are running up and down Chanyeol's face.

"I only wanted you to have a good laugh, not to for you to run over here," Jongdae says from behind Baekhyun, sounding a bit guilty. "I told you it wasn't that bad."

"Can you stand?" Baekhyun asks then, not really paying Jongdae much mind. Jongdae sighs, patting Baekhyun's shoulder.

"He's fine. I'm sure I mentioned that too," he says, looking between them quickly, and then he walks away.

"Well, at least with this haircut, you had no hair to fry," Baekhyun says, attempting another smile, as he runs both of his hands over Chanyeol's head. He's slow, fingers straying behind and over Chanyeol's ears. Chanyeol holds his breath and closes his eyes again.

"I'm fine," he says. Baekhyun's finger runs over his cheekbone, where there's a small plaster over the cut Chanyeol acquired.

"Of course you are," Baekhyun says, and he heaves a deep breath. His fingers skim Chanyeol's hands covered in more plasters. Most of Chanyeol's body was protected by his lab coat and he had protection glasses on, so really, other than few cuts on the little skin that was exposed, there isn't anything wrong with him. "How bad is it?" Baekhyun whispers.

Chanyeol feels him sliding to sit next to him. He doesn't leave any space between them, pressing their sides and legs together. Chanyeol opens his eyes again and catches Baekhyun's hand hovering over his thigh, shaking a little. He lets his own head fall to Baekhyun's shoulder. He has to slump down considerably to do it, and Baekhyun's hand finally falls to his thigh, gripping it to keep Chanyeol from sliding further down the table.

"Probably much better than it looks like." Strangely, Chanyeol feels almost optimistic.

"Were you ... were you alone?" Baekhyun asks.

Chanyeol shakes his head a little. "Amber and Taehyun both went home already. Medics checked them, and they're both fine."

"And you are too," Baekhyun says again, his breath hot in Chanyeol's hair. For a moment Baekhyun's nose bumps against the top of Chanyeol's head, the grip on Chanyeol's thigh growing painful.

"Yes. You didn't have to worry," Chanyeol mutters. Slowly, the adrenaline seeps out of him, the shock receding too, and he breathes in the scent of Baekhyun's aftershave. Baekhyun's warm and here, when he didn't have to be. He looks like he ran out of work, and Chanyeol feels a bit guilty for causing that, but Baekhyun's here and Chanyeol's feeling so much better like that. It's then that he starts thinking about it, about Baekhyun caring about him enough to come here because Chanyeol might be hurt. About Baekhyun checking him for any damages, even if medics did that already, and letting Chanyeol lean on him to calm down. He thinks if maybe there's something there, something he's been slowly discovering within himself.

But Baekhyun is confusing―affectionate with everyone, loud and always smiling and flirting. Chanyeol has seen enough of his interactions with his friends, has talked enough with Baekhyun to know that Baekhyun cares a lot about all of them, secretly does his best to help where he can. So chances are Baekhyun considers Chanyeol as his friend, a very good one even, good enough to buy him dinners and keep him company even when Chanyeol is grumpy and annoying. But then Baekhyun's been trying to set Chanyeol up with anyone who was only a bit interested for months, so that's probably it. Chanyeol wants to know how many other friends Baekhyun ran to comfort when they were as tired and freaked out as Chanyeol felt just half an hour ago.

"What about your research?" Baekhyun asks then. He is leaning his head on top of Chanyeol's, and Chanyeol doesn't want to move.

"It's probably all backed up," he assures.

"Do mad scientists have insurance?" Baekhyun asks next.

Chanyeol chuckles.

"Oh good, it's not too soon for mad scientists jokes after all," Baekhyun says, and for the first time he sounds cheerful. "So do they?"

"I wouldn't know." Chanyeol pokes his elbow into Baekhyun's side, but Baekhyun stays in place. "But normal, respectable ones like me do."

"Ah, that's good too. Maybe I could come help clean up tomorrow―" Baekhyun starts to ramble, and that makes Chanyeol laugh.

"I'm probably off tomorrow. The insurance company is going to come look at the place, and then the basic clean up will be done by our special damage unit, to make sure nothing dangerous is leaking and may cause another accident and stuff."

"Oh," Baekhyun says. "Then what now?"

"Now we go home." Chanyeol sighs, sitting up straighter and opening his eyes to look at Baekhyun. The other is looking at him pensively. "Buy me dinner?" Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun smiles. It makes Chanyeol's heart flutter again. He doesn't understand how he's gotten here, and why he's feeling like this, again, towards Baekhyun, of all people, but he does, and for a moment he lets it spread through him, drowning the small disaster in his lab from his mind.

"So what song is appropriate for this situation?" Chanyeol asks as they sit in his car. Baekhyun insisted on driving, and Chanyeol hasn't bothered turning the radio on.

Baekhyun grins. "Oh, you're the first lab-blowing, mad scientist I know, so I'm not sure, but I'm certain I can think of something," he says. Chanyeol doesn't even have time to snicker, before Baekhyun's voice rings through the car, high pitched and too cheerful all of a sudden.

"Explosions," he sings, and this time Chanyeol snorts. "Explosions … on the day you wake up." ³

Chanyeol finds one of Lu Han's old cups in the back of the kitchen cabinet. It's the one Baekhyun was drinking from the first time they met. Chanyeol hasn't seen it since, and now he realizes it's chipped. He places it aside and looks further for the biggest cup he can find because he woke up feeling he'll need all the boost to survive his first day in the lab since the accident. He's already found the herb mixture his mom always packs him for cases like these and the kettle's starting to sizzle. Baekhyun's gone already for the day, and Chanyeol turned the radio on to drown out the sudden morning silence. He chuckles when Girls' Generation's Kissing You comes on. It's a cheerful song, but he can hear Baekhyun in his mind, saying it's definitely a love song too, petulantly, pouting hard. Chanyeol finds himself singing along to it, even if his deep voice makes it sound droll. As his tea steams in his cup, he moves around the kitchen, cleaning up a bit. Lu Han's cup makes it into a trash can without much hesitation. There's plenty of other cups, random gifts and souvenirs, in Chanyeol's kitchen cabinet. As Chanyeol dresses for work, he runs his hand over Lu Han's sleep t-shirt and sweats neatly folded on one of the shelves of his closet. It's the set Lu Han's left behind, freshly worn, after the last night he spent in Korea. He grabs it and sticks it into a box he keeps in his closet, the one where he collects clothes he's stopped wearing even if they're not worn out yet, to take to a local charity. He puts the lid back, and still humming that cheerful pop song, he leaves the apartment, wondering if maybe for once he could grab the dinner and deliver it to wherever Baekhyun's holed up in the editing studio for the night.

This café is right across from the office building where Kyungsoo works, but it's only Yixing and Chanyeol sitting there. Kyungsoo has texted to say that the meeting was running late. Neither Yixing nor Chanyeol even like coffee, so they're sharing a plate of pastries.

"I heard you blew up your lab," Yixing says, conversationally. Chanyeol doesn't even try to argue that it wasn't technically him that did the blowing up.

"It's not my proudest moment," he says instead, grinning.

Yixing's face breaks into a smile of his own. "Oh, I missed this face of yours," he says.

"What face?" Chanyeol asks, stealing another forkful of a crêpe cake.

"The manic grin, even if things are going horribly, face," Yixing says, cheerful. "But I guess old, slightly crazy Chanyeol's back now. I thought you'd be much more down about this."

"I was," Chanyeol agrees, sighing a little. "I was really kind of freaked out right after it happened. But it didn't last too long I guess since …" he trails off, remembering the warmth of Baekhyun's side pressed against his, the comforting weight of his hand on Chanyeol's thigh. His stomach twists with the confusion that always comes with thinking about Baekhyun basically running to Chanyeol's rescue, so easily and without being asked.

"Hey, don't stop in the middle of saying something. That's my thing," Yixing clangs his fork against Chanyeol's.

"Well." Chanyeol scratches the back of his neck. "Then Baekhyun showed up, and he kind of talked to me and sang songs about things blowing up on the way home, so that helped, I guess."

Yixing blinks at him. "Really? So you texted him, and he came? Just like that? That's kind of nice. I hear he's busy these days."

"Actually, it was Jongdae who called him. Probably just to make fun of me too. And then he just came." Chanyeol feels his neck getting warm as Yixing blinks more. His eyes eventually focus and bore right into Chanyeol's souls, like they do when Yixing forgets to hide how perceptive he is.

"I see," he says slowly.

"I guess he's just a nice person like that. I mean," Chanyeol sounds a little silly. "Why else come?" he asks; it comes out pleading. It's so confusing, and Chanyeol wants to believe it's more than just a friend's good deed, maybe, because ... because he'd like it to be more than that, even if that too is still a bit scary. His palms start to sweat a little, and his stomach knots tighter, yet again.

"Baekhyun can be really sweet," Yixing agrees, "in his strange way. He's always taken good care of people that are important to him."

If Chanyeol was hoping Yixing would decipher this for him, he was being delusional. Yixing just pats his head.

"I guess," Chanyeol murmurs. "He's been feeding me during late nights in the lab all summer too, and he is busy now. So I went to his studio the other day with some food too. It was silly though. He's apparently all hot shot and has assistants running errands and buying food for him." Chanyeol pouts. He had felt a little silly, standing there with two plastic bowls of black noodles and energy drinks, while there had been a whole feast of Chinese take-out spread around the editing studio, half-drunk cups of coffee and even some beers. Chanyeol, for some reason, hadn't been expecting other staff to be there.

Baekhyun had stood there, looking at him a little funny, not unkind, but maybe surprised Chanyeol hadn't been joking about coming to see him. He had been wearing jeans and a white button up, sleeves rolled up high and top button undone, an electric pencil tucked behind his ears and huge glasses Chanyeol's never seen on him on the tip of his nose. He had looked so good, and so at home, giving out instructions to the sound technician and only occasionally reaching out to fiddle with the equipment himself, as he had showed Chanyeol how they edit the music in, choose the exact section of a song, the exact moment it starts playing and gets louder. It had been a whole another world that Chanyeol should've known existed, but had never really considered. Baekhyun, all professional and clearly the one in charge, had just made Chanyeol's rib cage constrict more, with all these emotions that Chanyeol was slowly coming to recognize. Still, Baekhyun had smiled and squeezed Chanyeol's elbow in thanks as he had walked Chanyeol out of the building, a smudge of the black sauce in the corner of his mouth that Chanyeol had ended up wiping off for him. Chanyeol had figured it had been worth coming.

Yixing finally looks away from him, smile widening. "I see you are taking good care of him too," he says. "I'm sure he was glad to see you."

"Was he?" Chanyeol asks, wanting to know more because Yixing looks like he knows more, but then Kyungsoo finally drops into the armchair next to Chanyeol and spends his twenty minute break drilling Chanyeol on being careful and thorough when dealing with the insurance company and sending the report over to him before he signs anything so they don't rip him off when he renews the insurance next year.

"Also why was it Baekhyun, who called me about this?" he asks, as they all stand up to leave. "You should have come to me right away."

Chanyeol blanches. "He did?" he asks. "Why?" It's out of his mouth before he can check the wonder and the slight tremble in his voice.

"Oh god, please Chanyeol, don't be an idiot about this too," Kyungsoo says, exasperated. Yixing chuckles next to him, and Kyungsoo gives him this unimpressed look. Yixing just pats Kyungsoo's butt.

"Don't worry too much, Kyungsoo-ah," he says. Kyungsoo only sighs and waves as he goes back to work.

Baekhyun doesn't notice Chanyeol coming home. He's sitting on the couch, Chanyeol's guitar in his lap, sheets of music paper on the coffee table. His electric keyboard is set in the corner by the window. He's strumming random chords, and from the way he's biting his lip, Chanyeol can tell he's frustrated. Chanyeol still feels warmth wash over him anyway, seeing him sit there, and his heart speeds up a little. It's been so long since Chanyeol came home to Baekhyun already being there, too. He almost expects to see take-out boxes on the coffee table too, but there are none, and Chanyeol wonders how long Baekhyun's been sitting there.

"What's with the long face?" Chanyeol asks, when Baekhyun makes this frustrated noise, using toes of his feet to kick the sheet paper off the coffee table. Baekhyun startles, jumping up on the couch and looking up at Chanyeol with the expression of a deer caught in a spotlight.

"You're home," he mutters.

"Yeah, it's about time," Chanyeol agrees. Even after over a week of cleaning, tallying the damages and organizing, the lab is still not functioning properly. Maybe tomorrow.

Baekhyun looks around, a little confused. "I must have lost track of time," he says. He looks unsettled, and Chanyeol slides to sit on the coffee table in front of him, careful not to crumple any of the sheet music.

"What's wrong? Is work not going well?" he asks, daring to scratch at where Baekhyun's knee is sticking from under the guitar. It's different, trying to touch Baekhyun these days.

Baekhyun shakes his head. "I was off today. All the music's bought unless we make last minute changes, and today wasn't editing day, really."

"So what's this?" Chanyeol looks around at the music sheets. He realizes the music is penciled in and looks unfinished. There are notes for piano and there are guitar chords.

Baekhyun looks down at where Chanyeol's fingers are still massaging his knee a little and sighs.

"It's nothing. I just …" he trails off.

"Come on," Chanyeol coaxes. He's not used to Baekhyun being down, even less so about music. "Why are you not strumming some happy song about your day off? You always seem to have a soundtrack to every situation. It's like you're that main character strutting around in the movies as the music soars." Chanyeol stops before he says something weird. Or well, weirder. "So why are you sitting here now, acting like there's no song left?" It's an unimaginable thing, Baekhyun, quiet, with no song to sing.

"Well, I guess I felt like there was no song that matched." Baekhyun tilts his head. "Or maybe I thought my own song, this time, would be better. Like maybe I could finally make one. But it was just glimpses of something." He purses his lips. "It's nothing, though," he says. He thumps the guitar, runs his fingers down the fretboard. "When piano wasn't working, I thought maybe switching to guitar might help. That's all."

"You've been working on this for a while," Chanyeol says, realizing it now, remembering Baekhyun sitting behind the keyboard, the same frustrated expression on his face.

Baekhyun shrugs. "I guess." He shakes his head, hair flying around, and it's like he's shaking something off him, like a dog would with water, only whatever it is clings to the corners of Baekhyun's mouth even as he tries to smile. Chanyeol reaches out to swipe the mess of his hair to the side to see his eyes better.

"Could I help?" he asks. "You know, I had a band in high school," he adds. "I'm sure we could make something out of this."

Baekhyun tries to reach for one of the sheet papers, the one that looks the fullest, but Chanyeol gets to it first, studying it while Baekhyun tries to take it back.

When Chanyeol raises his hand up in the air to keep Baekhyun from snatching it for real, Baekhyun slumps into the couch in surrender and attempts a snicker. "Did you also want to be an idol?" he asks.

"I did," Chanyeol says. Baekhyun can't stop the small laugh that bubbles out of him. Chanyeol's heart jumps because that's better. That's what he wants to hear.

"So what happened?" Baekhyun can't keep himself from asking.

"Well I also wanted a puppy, and I was coincidentally much better at science than at playing bass when Heavy Noize was created, so my mom explained to me the benefits of having mad science skills and saving all the kids from puppy-less childhoods. She said I'd be a hero. I got an idea that saving the world was better than burdening it with my awful dancing," Chanyeol says cheerfully.

"So how come you're so good at guitar?" Baekhyun asks, chuckling and letting Chanyeol take it from him. His grip on its neck has been so tight his knuckles were white, just minutes ago. He seems more relaxed now.

"I kept going to a hagwon for it. I also just liked to play, really. So I never stopped, not even in college," Chanyeol says. "Hold this," he instructs, and makes Baekhyun hold the sheet up for him. Baekhyun's ears go a little red, but he does so. Chanyeol starts playing.

The song is a bit clumsy, but it's there, lurking in the first strophe and wanting to soar at the bridge. It's like it needs a little nudge.

"Who are you composing love songs for?" Chanyeol blurts out, before he can stop himself. It is a love song, unmistakably so, more longing than joy maybe, but it's there, and his heart squeezes, his stomach flipping uncomfortably. Baekhyun's not really looking at him, the paper in his hand scrunched where he holds it too tight. Chanyeol runs through the song one more time, trying to smooth out the transitions. It's pretty. If Baekhyun sang it, it could be great.

"You know," Baekhyun says, dropping his hands down and looking into Chanyeol's eyes. "I think this soundtrack is not coming out because I haven't been the main lead of my own movie for a while now."

Chanyeol doesn't know what Baekhyun means by that; he only knows he's panicking a bit. "You're saying things even weirder than you usually do, today," he says. He smiles through it, wanting to sound cheerful. He's been trying to go back to his motto of smiling no matter what is happening for a while now, and it's been working. His boss almost wasn't mad about the lab accident; apparently they happen.

Baekhyun taps Chanyeol's chin. "I'd never guess you could have so much teeth in your mouth when I moved in," he says. "We started out all weird, didn't we?"

Yes, they did. "I was an ass. I'm getting better though?" Chanyeol nods. He wants to be so much better.

"I was thinking maybe I should move out. Stop being lazy and actually look for my own place," Baekhyun's jumping from topic to topic. His eyes are jumping too, from Chanyeol's face to his fingers on the guitar, to his ears and away from him completely, to stare at the TV behind him. Baekhyun's shoulders are stiff, and the last thing Chanyeol wants is for Baekhyun to move out.

"What? No? I mean you said you needed a place to stay. And, and I thought that …" Chanyeol bites his tongue. Sometimes, in the past week, when he felt really optimistic, he thought maybe Baekhyun could like him, that maybe he wouldn't move out of Chanyeol's life. Definitely not this soon. "I know I said I didn't want a flatmate …" he starts again.

"Yeah, and I told Yixing it was a bad idea. That he was being an interfering idiot. I was going to just stay until I find a place for myself. I mean, I could afford it. It's just that I prefer not living alone. I like having a flatmate."

"You did that?" Chanyeol is surprised. Baekhyun seemed so set on staying, so determined to be right at home back then. "But you were so …"

"Loud?" Baekhyun laughs a little again. "Annoying?" he winks. "Yeah, I do that when things get awkward."

Chanyeol knows that now, too. Baekhyun's always the loudest, the flirtiest, the most irritating when they meet new people. Eventually it always works for him, breaks the ice. It's not like he's not loud normally, but he can mellow down, read the mood if he really needs to. He'd still talk to himself, and sing and joke around until you join in, but it's different. Baekhyun has just been Baekhyun, trying hard to make Chanyeol like him while Chanyeol moped and grumbled.

"So why did you stay?" It makes no sense to Chanyeol that Baekhyun's thinking of moving out now. Unless he doesn't actually like it when Chanyeol is loud and annoying right back.

"Well, I met you," Baekhyun says simply. "And you were a grumpy hot mess. Long legs and big ears and twitching eyes and so cute. A puppy, just like Yixing said. Big, overgrown, sad puppy."

"Hey," Chanyeol protests. His heart though squeezes again, confused.

"And then you were more cute and still grumpy, but less so, and you actually didn't mind me breaking things or watching concerts all night. At least not too much, anyway. Later you were still cute and smiling more, and watching anime with me on Saturday mornings. I guess I got comfortable. You do realize some people would probably throw away my DVDs collection if I made them watch concert footage every night of the week, right?" he asks.

"I don't understand," Chanyeol says. Baekhyun's pulling the sleeves of his hoodie over his fingers nervously. Chanyeol scratches at the back of his neck and tries to concentrate on something else than Baekhyun calling him cute, multiple times. "You just said you wanted to move out."

"Well yeah, because you're still cute, and now even buying me dinners or cooking, and I can't get used to your ears and your legs are still so long, and you're so tall and cute and handsome. I just figured if I moved out, it would be better. Because we started all wrong. You're supposed to meet, fall in love, date, then move in together. I might not be too much of a lead of my own movie right now, but it'd be great if I could costar again, if I had a chance of a happy end?"

Chanyeol's heart thumps so hard his temples might burst. He thinks Baekhyun just said something, something important, and all those feelings he's been dealing with are kind of bursting inside him, and he hasn't felt like this since, since maybe ever, because it's all different and new, all Baekhyun, and he might just like Baekhyun, a lot, and …

"I don't want you to move out," is all he says.

Baekhyun finally looks up at him, when Chanyeol pulls at Baekhyun's sleeve too, fishing for his fingers in it. It's not much; he doesn't squeeze them, only brushes over Baekhyun's palm.

"Junmyeon told me you broke up with him," Baekhyun says slowly, looking right at Chanyeol, as if waiting for something.

"Yeah, it didn't feel right," Chanyeol agrees.

In the next second, Baekhyun's shooting up to his feet and bending a bit to kiss Chanyeol right on the lips, one hand on his cheek, the other pulling at his shirt right under the collar. The guitar strings resonate as Chanyeol grips it tighter, his other hand sliding down the front of it. Baekhyun's hand is firm, and his lips are soft, the kiss insistent. Baekhyun lingers a bit before pulling away.

"Does this feel right then?" he asks. Chanyeol doesn't know how he's missed the longing he sees in his eyes now, along with fear and just a bit of hope.

"You've been trying to set me up with people for months now," he blurts out. "With people that were not you." He probably sounds petulant.

"Chanyeol," Baekhyun says, sounding strained.

"Kiss me again?" Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun does, and Chanyeol groans when Baekhyun sucks at his bottom lip a little. Baekhyun's fingers close around Chanyeol's on the neck of his guitar and Chanyeol lets go. Baekhyun moves it, somehow, not pulling away for more than a second. Chanyeol licks his lips, and Baekhyun's back, pressing their lips together, hand at the nape of Chanyeol's neck. He's sliding down to sit on Chanyeol's lap, and with the guitar out of the way, Chanyeol's hands wrap around his sides. Baekhyun whines when Chanyeol pulls him closer, his body twisting, and his fingers run over the ridges of Chanyeol's ears. Chanyeol tilts his head better, sighing because Baekhyun's mouth is so warm and nice against his own, and he opens up, licking over Baekhyun's thin upper lip. Baekhyun's making these small sounds, whines and mewls, and Chanyeol wants to hear more, slipping his tongue inside Baekhyun's mouth. Baekhyun sucks at it enthusiastically, right away, and the kiss turns deeper, leaving Chanyeol dizzy and breathless because he's kissing Baekhyun, and Baekhyun's kissing him, and it feels amazing, right, like maybe Chanyeol has wanted it for a while now, and now he can't get enough.

It's Baekhyun who pulls away, but only to kiss across Chanyeol's cheek and behind his ear, and Chanyeol chuckles.

"My ears? Really?" he asks.

"They're so distracting," Baekhyun murmurs against the slope of Chanyeol's neck. He scrapes his teeth over the soft skin under Chanyeol's chin, and Chanyeol shivers. Baekhyun's nipping at him, like a puppy, only it's hot and perfect, and it makes Chanyeol's whole body thrum. "Want to always kiss you. You need to grow your hair back," Baekhyun complains, tongue hot against Chanyeol's neck.

"What if I don't?" Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun moans, mouthing over Chanyeol's jaw and licking back into his mouth. "Just keep kissing," he mumbles. "Don't stop," he says, and it's pleading, like he maybe thinks if they do stop, it won't happen again.

Chanyeol pulls at Baekhyun's bottom lip, doing a bit of biting of his own then sucking the bitten skin into his mouth. Baekhyun's body burns hot against his, Baekhyun's thighs now on either side of him, and Chanyeol's butt hurts a little from sitting on the edge of his wooden coffee table for so long, but he doesn't want to stop now. He swipes his tongue over the roof of Baekhyun's mouth and feels Baekhyun shiver this time, both hands gripping Chanyeol's collar. It's then that Chanyeol's stomach growls.

Baekhyun laughs, right into the kiss, and it tastes wonderful. Still, he pulls away, even if only so he can lean his forehead against Chanyeol's. His hands go back to playing with Chanyeol's ears. Chanyeol groans a little, shuddering, his hand digging more into Baekhyun's sides. It's been like this for a long time, every time Baekhyun playfully grabbed for his ears, but this time he doesn't stop it.

"You like when I play with your ears," Baekhyun says, a little incredulous, a lot gleeful.

Chanyeol blushes. "You like touching them," he says.

Baekhyun's grinning. "Make me dinner?" he asks, giving Chanyeol a quick kiss right below his ear. "Make us dinner."

While Chanyeol puts a quick meal together, Baekhyun moves around him, comfortably, getting the bowls and spoons, washing the dishes Chanyeol uses. He touches at times, leans close to Chanyeol and steals kisses, chattering about his work and how he's spent half of his day in bed, even if maybe that might be wasting his free time. It's nothing substantial, but it's like Baekhyun knows Chanyeol still needs to wind down, to collect his thoughts and grasp what's happening. It's really, mostly, very comfortable.

They eat on the couch, watching some historical drama that neither of them follows, making fun of the formal speech and long beards, and Baekhyun kisses Chanyeol even between mouthfuls of fried rice. Baekhyun's eyes are shining, and his fingers are still playing with Chanyeol´s ears, dropping the spoon just to reach over. When Chanyeol turns to watch him instead of the TV, Baekhyun looks mischievous, unrepentant and kind of happy. His mouth is slick, his lips still swollen and red from kissing, as they stretch into a smile. It's kind of rectangular. Chanyeol's kind of in love, he realizes. Or at least, well on the way.

On Saturday, Chanyeol wakes up feeling too hot and a little crushed. Literally. There's a weight over most of his torso and something pointy digs into his chest. He wants to turn around to shake the weight off, but he's barely awake and his body is morose. When he opens his eyes and looks down, he finds Baekhyun sprawling half on top of him, his chin pressed in between Chanyeol's ribs.

"Uhm," he mutters. He hasn't seen Baekhyun since Thursday night when Baekhyun raised on his tiptoes and gave him a short good night kiss in front of Chanyeol's bedroom door, after dinner was eaten and the second episode of that historical drama was over. Chanyeol felt like a teenager when his heart leapt into his throat. But Baekhyun's Friday was long and busy, with him gone before Chanyeol woke up and having gone out to drink with the production team late at night. They texted, but that was it. Now Baekhyun's moving to kiss Chanyeol where his chin has been digging.

"I decided we're staying in bed all day today," he murmurs into the fabric of Chanyeol's sleep shirt, and Chanyeol's hands move to settle on Baekhyun's waist to move him so he's not pressing into Chanyeol's right hip so much. He's panicking a little on the inside about Baekhyun. In his bed. Sleepy eyes and pouty mouth and bed hair and so, so warm and soft. In Chanyeol's bed. With him. Baekhyun must be able to tell, because he chuckles, kissing Chanyeol's chest again, like that's normal. "Relax," he says. "I won't take advantage of you. Just yet," he says. "Not that I don't want to. Because I do. I have wanted to for some time. Even if you have no ass. But first, I need to kiss you a lot."

Chanyeol's ears burn red. "I haven't even brushed my teeth yet."

"You're not moving out of bed," Baekhyun says petulantly. He slides up Chanyeol's body, legs tangling with Chanyeol's and his lips kissing across Chanyeol's jaw. He groans, and Chanyeol thinks the stubble might be too scratchy, but Baekhyun only continues behind his ear. Chanyeol tilts his head to the side, letting Baekhyun do what he wants because it feels too good to stop, and Baekhyun chuckles, kissing along his hairline.

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol squirms after a while. He wants to kiss too, and maybe talk to Baekhyun a little, but he doesn't want their kisses to go stale because of his breath. Baekhyun hums into his neck. "Let me up."

"Don't want to," Baekhyun says, but he slides off Chanyeol, only keeping one thigh over Chanyeol's own, and a hand wrapped around his middle. He hides his head into Chanyeol's neck and his lips keep brushing over the skin there with feathery kisses. He's humming a melody. It tickles, yet Chanyeol doesn't want him to stop. Not really. He wonders why he's even fighting this.

"Let's make a deal," Chanyeol says in the end, turning to his side to stare at Baekhyun. His whole body is thrumming again at how close Baekhyun is, at how much attention he's paying to Chanyeol, at how much attention he wants from Chanyeol too, if Chanyeol's reading this right.

"We get up, grab some breakfast and you can try beating me in Mario Kart. If you win, I'll take you on a date." Chanyeol pauses a little. "Make it a fancy date. You know, I'll do it properly, like in a movie. You will co-star," he adds. Incentives, for both of them, to get out of bed, so Chanyeol's head clears. Right now it's just fuzzy, full of Baekhyun, kissing him, cuddling up to him as if they've done it million of times, clothes smelling of Chanyeol's clothes softener and hair of Chanyeol's shampoo.

"Hmm," Baekhyun mumbles, kissing over Chanyeol's collarbone. "What if I lose?" he asks.

Chanyeol thinks for a moment. "If you lose, I get to make out with you on the couch, after I brush my teeth."

Baekhyun chuckles. "Neither of those sounds like much of a punishment to me. You just want to take me out. I think I should just forfeit this battle and make out with you right here and right now since you've been holding out on me for far too long. And maybe you can take me out for dinner tonight." Baekhyun's mouth latches to the soft skin in the hollow of Chanyeol's throat and he sucks, until Chanyeol moans at the sting. "There, a little something for the date later," Baekhyun says, pulling back.

Chanyeol shakes his head, overwhelmed, yet again, by the affection and what Baekhyun's implying, and finally he sits up, looking down at Baekhyun sprawled on his bed. Baekhyun's eyes are shining, and he starts humming again.

"You're so," Chanyeol starts. "You act like, like this has been a thing for you for a while now. I mean since when did you …" he trails off, scratching at his stomach and willing himself to get the words out. "I had no idea."

"Yeah, clearly," Baekhyun says. "I wasn't really planning on making it known I was falling in love with my flatmate who was hung up on his ex," he says. It doesn't sound bitter, but there's hesitation and anxiety behind the quirk of Baekhyun's lip.

"Why did you keep trying to hook me up with all those people though?" Chanyeol finally asks.

"I'm never doing that again," Baekhyun blurts out, grabbing for the pillow and curling around it. He hides his face into it for a moment.

Chanyeol reaches out to stroke through his hair. "I still don't understand," he says.

Baekhyun turns his head to him again. "At first I just really thought you needed to meet new people. You know, to move on. And then I guess, later, when things changed for me, I kept doing it because I wanted to see you at least trying. I wanted you to be over Lu Han so bad. I figured I needed to see you look at someone else and at least consider the possibility of dating again."

"That's …" So Baekhyun, direct and radical.

"But then you actually started to date Junmyeon, and that was horrible." Baekhyun grabs for Chanyeol's sleep pants, pulling. "Junmyeon-hyung is great. So when you went out together, the second time and the third time. I mean, everyone likes Junmyeon-hyung."

"Everyone likes you too," Chanyeol says, coaxing Baekhyun's fingers to play with his own instead of with his clothes.

"That's not the same, I annoy everyone and barrel forward until they have no choice but to tolerate me. Junmyeon-hyung; he's good with people, always polite, good at listening and so smart. People work for his attention, not the other way around."

Baekhyun barreling into Chanyeol's life, in retrospect, was what Chanyeol needed the most. But Baekhyun's pouting, discontent, and now he's gripping Chanyeol's fingers as hard as he was gripping his sleep pants. Chanyeol forgets himself, leaning down and kissing him to wipe the pout and worry away.

He realizes what he's done, and his eyes widen. Baekhyun's face is really close, and he scrunches his nose a little, but then he slides his fingers to the back of Chanyeol's neck and pulls him in into another kiss, deep and slow.

"You're over him now, right?" Baekhyun asks against Chanyeol's mouth, holding both of Chanyeol's cheeks and looking right into his eyes. "Lu Han. I'm not just some replacement, a rebound or something?" He's whispering, words tripping out of his mouth hurriedly, lips brushing against Chanyeol's own. Chanyeol just wants to kiss him more.

"You're not. I … I liked Lu Han a lot. But now I just like you. A lot too. It's not the same either," he says. He kisses Baekhyun again, short and sweet. "It's different," he tries again. "Something else." He borrows Baekhyun's words from that late spring day in the park. "But better?" He doesn't know what else to say. But whatever Baekhyun wanted to hear, or see in his eyes, he's found it, because he's licking back into Chanyeol's mouth with fervor.

So they make out in Chanyeol's bed after all, Baekhyun clutching to Chanyeol, and Chanyeol learning what makes Baekhyun make the most interesting noises. Baekhyun doesn't complain once about Chanyeol's breath, and Chanyeol actually likes the feel of Baekhyun's stubble over his swollen lips. It's way past noon when they stumble out, Baekhyun finally getting lured out of the bed with promises of food and more kissing.

Later in the afternoon, Baekhyun sits between Chanyeol's spread legs on the couch, the coffee table pushed away and his electric keyboard in front of him. Chanyeol's chin rests on Baekhyun's shoulder as he watches Baekhyun's pretty fingers move over the keys. Baekhyun keeps making notes into the music sheet propped on the stand, working on the song he was struggling with two days ago. Chanyeol catches himself humming along, and Baekhyun's hands get more confident in where they move next.

It's a love song, and it's coming along nicely. Chanyeol thinks that when Baekhyun will finally sing it, it will be the best he's ever heard. Chanyeol's new favorite. A soundtrack, for the movie about the story of the two.

end

Song lyrics cited:
¹ Girls' Generation – I got a boy
² Molly Hatchet – Flirting with disaster
³ Ellie Goulding – Explosions