Dinner ends as the night grows deeper, the group ready to pay the bill only to find out that Sehun had covered it on his way out, asking the waiter to pass on his congratulations on a job well done.

The four leave the restaurant, pleasantly warm despite the night air feeling rather chilly. Jongin’s arm was slung over Kyungsoo’s waist, pulling him close as the four of them stood by the street.

“Thanks again for coming, guys. I really do appreciate it.” Jongin said with a smile.

“Thanks for getting us tickets,” Baekhyun said with a laugh. “It really was amazing seeing you perform.”

Kyungsoo smiled in pride, tilting his head up to press a kiss onto his boyfriend’s cheek.

“I keep telling him, but he never listens to me,” Kyungsoo said. “Says I’m ‘biased’ or something.”

“Obviously you’re biased, you compliment me because you love me.”

“I can love you and give you compliments separately!”

Jongin shook his head, but the smile stayed on his face. “It’s getting late, so we should get going. You guys make it back home safely, alright?”

“Hey, Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo called. “I’m heading back to Jongin’s tonight, so Chanyeol here is on his own. Would you mind making sure he gets back safely?” he asks, voice lowering a bit. “He’s normally not bad with alcohol, but he’s had a bit more than he usually does so I’m worried he’ll end up passed out on the streets or something.”

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. “I’m not that drunk.” He muttered.

“Anyways,” Kyungsoo continued, ignoring the giant. “My bed’ll be empty, you can just stay over at our dorm for the night if you’d like.”

“I’ll see to it that he gets back safely,” Baekhyun said with a smile. “I’ll see you guys around then?”

“Of course. Text us when you make it back, alright?”

~~~~~

Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much longer for the two to make it to the dorms as they would have expected, though this was probably more of a testament to how often Chanyeol had gone to and from the restaurant over the semester than it was his navigational ability.

Baekhyun stops in front of the door to his room, waiting for Chanyeol to produce a key, but the giant just steps forward, haphazardly slamming against the door and staggering in once the door flew open.

“Do you always keep your door unlocked?” Baekhyun asked in concern, following Chanyeol in.

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t even get in when I wanna get in and there’s nothing to steal in here anyways,” Chanyeol slurred as he walked towards his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes.

Baekhyun sighed as Chanyeol threw his upper body onto the mattress to lie face down, the small boy taking the chance to remove the giant’s shoes for him.

“You’re such a big baby,” he murmured, placing the shoes at the foot of his bed before taking a seat on the floor, back leaned against Kyungsoo’s bed. He let out a soft breath, head lolling back until he was staring up at the ceiling.

“Are you staying for the night?” Chanyeol asked into his mattress, muffled but loud enough in the silent room for Baekhyun to hear.

“Probably. It’s well past midnight and I really don’t want to walk across campus to get to my dorm. I’d rather not be alone tonight, anyways.”

Chanyeol pulls his upper body away from the mattress, the sudden movement sending his head spinning for a moment until he shook the spots out of his vision. He glanced over at Baekhyun before murmuring a soft, “We haven’t had a sleepover together since we were sixteen. Back before…”

‘You started dating Sehun’ hung in the air between them, but remained unspoken. Chanyeol felt a strange amount of tension and he wondered for a moment if Baekhyun felt it too.

“Things got weird back then, didn’t they?” Baekhyun murmured. “It feels like so long ago.”

“Sometimes I wish that things would be like they used to.”

“Back when I used to get you to stay up all night with me playing video games?”

“Back when it was us against the world.”

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, brows furrowed. “I don’t… What are you trying to say, Chanyeol?”

The tall boy let out a sigh, letting himself fall back against the bed. “I don’t know. I was dumb back then. I’m dumb now. I just want to change things.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s selfish. I’ve been selfish. I don’t want to be anymore, but it’s hard. I’m sorry I couldn’t realize it earlier.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Chanyeol.”

He looked over at Baekhyun, almond eyes staring him down as the moonlight poured in from the window between the beds, making him look ethereal in the light. Chanyeol lets out a breath before climbing down from his bed, sitting across from the small boy, their knees knocking as the giant tried to seat himself comfortably in the small space.

Baekhyun tucked his legs to his chest to make it easier for the giant to settle down, sitting cross-legged with his arms settled against his ankles. Chanyeol leans forward, rosy red cheeks on display, his mind still spinning.

“I do need to apologize to you, Baekhyun. Because every time I see you, my heart skips a beat and when you talk to me, all that’s on my mind is how much I love you. Even when you’re yelling at me, it’s all I can think about.”

Baekhyun blinks a few times and his expression soured but Chanyeol leans forward, feeling lighter than he had before.

“You’re beautiful. You’re smart. You’re talented,” Chanyeol tries again, almost as if he was worried that he hadn’t made his point, as if he was worried Baekhyun was unaware of the fact.

The smaller boy looks away, lips pressed into a tight line.

“You’re—“ Chanyeol begins, ready to speak his praises as many times as he needed to for the smaller boy to believe it, but Baekhyun is faster this time.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Chanyeol.”

The giant’s brows furrow in confusion for a moment. He’d never been surer of anything in his life.

Baekhyun shakes his head with a humourless laugh as he stood to his feet. “Maybe I should go. I’ll tell Kyungsoo you made it back safely.”

Without thinking, Chanyeol leans forward, wrapping his hand around Baekhyun’s wrist as the boy turned to face the door.

“Don’t go,” he said, pulling his hand away when he realized how harsh his movements had been. “Please.”

“You’re drunk, Yoda. Go to sleep,” Baekhyun said softly, still staring at the door.

“I don’t want to sleep. I want you.”

There was a pregnant pause in the room before Baekhyun let out a shaky breath. “This isn’t fair, Chanyeol,” he said, barely above a whisper.

The giant frowns. “I don’t…”

“You can’t keep doing this to me,” Baekhyun says, tone sounding so painfully resigned. “You’ve been doing this since we were kids, and I’m so tired of it.”

“Baek…” Chanyeol murmurs, and he swears for a moment he’s hearing things when his ears catch the sound of Baekhyun inhaling sharply. His hand goes back to the boy’s hand giving it a soft tug. “Baekhyun, please come back.”

It takes a few moments for the boy to move, though it felt more like hours to the giant. Baekhyun turns slowly, his eyes trained on the ground, unable to look at Chanyeol.

 “Talk to me, Baek. Is there something wrong?” Chanyeol asked softly.

Baekhyun scrunched his eyes closed, shaking his head. “It’s—I’m being stupid. It doesn’t matter. Just go to sleep Chanyeol. Pretend this didn’t happen.”

Chanyeol’s frown deepens. “I can’t pretend it didn’t happen Baekhyun, you’re not happy.”

“Who said I wasn’t happy?” Baekhyun murmured, too tired to even bother forcing a smile. Even with Chanyeol a few drinks past tipsy, they both knew he wouldn’t believe a lie like that.

“Why aren’t you happy?” he asks, giving Baekhyun’s arm a few gentle tugs until he’s coerced him to sit back across from him. The small boy immediately tucks his knees to his chest, fiddling with his fingers.

“I don’t know…” he says. “I should be happy, but I’m not. I love my classes, I love my friends… I have Sehun, I have Jongdae…”

“You have me.”

Baekhyun bites his lip.

“You’ll always have me, Baek. Even if we grow apart, even if you don’t want me anymore… You’ll always have me.”

“Stop it, Chanyeol.”

“I’m telling you the truth. My thoughts, my heart, my everything. They’re all yours. They always have been.”

Tears well up in Baekhyun’s eyes and the sight prompts Chanyeol to cup the small boy’s cheeks to wipe them away, but Baekhyun pulls the taller’s hand away before he can get the chance.

“Every single time I think I’m past this, you come back and start raising my hopes again, and it’s just not fair, Chanyeol.”  

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asked, feeling his heart rate pick up a bit.

“Please don’t do this to me right now.”

“What do you mean by raising your hopes, Baekhyun?” he asked again, feeling bad for pressuring the small boy but still chasing after his answer.

“Are you really gonna make me say it? This is just plain mean, Chanyeol.”

“Please, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said, desperation leaking into his voice. “If it’s the last thing I ever ask of you, please, tell me what you mean.”

“Are you just dense, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked with a humourless laugh. “Because you can’t possibly tell me that you haven’t picked up on almost an entire life’s worth of this stupid crush I’ve had on you.”

The taller blinked, unsure if he had heard the small boy correctly.

“And I know it’s terrible for me to even say that when I have Sehun, and I love him so much and I know I love him, but why am I still feeling like this?” he lets out a soft breath. “Why do you keep doing this to me?”

Baekhyun sounds frustrated, carding a hand through his hair, almost looking like he was ready to tug a handful out with the roughness of the action.

Thoughts race through Chanyeol’s foggy brain, moving a mile a minute as he tries to figure out what to do. He shifts in his seat, feeling the rock he had kept on his person since they graduated high school. He reaches into his pocket, pulling it out and presenting it to Baekhyun on his palm.

The small boy looked up to see what the giant was doing, the frustration in his eyes melting away in an instant, replaced with a moment of calm, almost as if by magic.

“You still have it?” Baekhyun asked, shocked by the sight of his grandmother’s rock, sparkling in the moonlight.  

“I have a wish. And if I wish on this, it’ll come true, right? Promise me you’ll make it come true.”

“I can’t do that Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said weakly.

The giant ignored him, closing his eyes and closing his hand around the stone, holding it close to his heart. “I wish for you to be happy.”

“Chanyeol…”

“I love you, Baek, and I just want you to be happy,” the giant took in a breath before speaking again. “Even if it’s not with me.”

“I…”

“I don’t care who you date at the end of the day Baek, even if it’s stupid Sehun with his stupid pretty laugh and stupid nice body,” Chanyeol says, inducing a breathy laugh from Baekhyun— a sound that was sorely missed since their conversation had started. The sound only made Chanyeol smile as he continued through the lump in his throat. “I just want you to be happy.”

The tears are forming in Baekhyun’s eyes again, and though Chanyeol wants to wipe them away, he holds himself back.

“But I’m happiest when I’m with you, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun said, voice shaky and barely audible, but with the silence of the room, he might as well have shouted it.

The giant feels his heart ache, shaking his head softly. “You don’t need to say that, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun shakes his head back, absentmindedly wiping his eyes. “I’m not just saying it, Chanyeol. You make me the happiest.”

Even from childhood, it was rare that Baekhyun ever initiated physical contact with Chanyeol. He was always a touchy person, but most times, it was Chanyeol who reached for his hand first, it was Chanyeol who wanted to get closer.

But now, Baekhyun is holding out his scarred hand for Chanyeol’s, waiting patiently as the giant produces his hand. Instead of holding it, Baekhyun’s fingers ghost over the scar’s length, from the centre of his palm to the wrist, feeling the way it made Chanyeol shiver. Baekhyun intertwined their scarred hands, giving the giant a gentle squeeze before pulling away with a sigh.

“You should go to sleep,” Baekhyun said softly. “I’ll head out.”

“You don’t need to leave. You can stay here. You can stay with me.“

The smaller hesitates for a moment, but shakes his head. “I shouldn’t. It’s been a long night, Yeol. I need some time to be alone.”

Chanyeol wants to say something, anything, but before he can fully react, Baekhyun is walking out the door, giving him one last look before the door closes behind him, leaving Chanyeol alone in the room with his head spinning and his heart beating out of his chest.