Chapter Text
The first semester was coming to a close and Baekhyun was busy spending all of his free hours with his head buried in stacks of books, cramming to pull his grades up by the last second.
His lets his mind drift off to the air conditioner blowing cold air directly to his face, to his grey hoodie draped on his broad frame, to the librarian aggressively hitting the desk bell in the attempts of silencing the students who have gotten a little rowdier than acceptable in library terms. There’s a few more students in the library, no doubt studying last-minute for exams and there’s a few walking in and out, for the sole purpose of accomplishing their end-of-the-semester clearances. He steals a glance at the bright yellow and blue (the hideous school colors, Baekhyun thinks) wall clock above the entrance desk where you scan your ID before you enter the library and sees that it’s a little over an hour past his supposed break slash lunch time and as if on cue, his stomach growls- probably angry that he neglected to ingest something.
Baekhyun didn’t mean to but he found himself thinking of Chanyeol because the younger always reminds him to eat since he always forgets to and he’d probably nag the smaller’s ears off, “this is why you’re hyperacidic!”, if he was here now and Baekhyun swears he doesn’t mean it but he finds himself checking Chanyeol’s account one last time.
They tried to stay friends- or at least Baekhyun did- and he did everything he could on his part without sacrificing his pride or losing face but there’s only so many playlists he could send and film recommendations he could give. He gave up after a month.
The first thing the tired student sees is a birthday greeting Chanyeol posted for his boyfriend, calling him the cheesiest terms of endearment and those three words Baekhyun always felt for the giant but never had the courage to tell him before. He waits for the sadness to settle in, the cold feeling creeping in his heart slowly freezing him numb, like it always did before.
But it doesn’t come.
He doesn’t notice it at first but he finds himself smiling at the tweet, feeling his heart swell just a little bit and it's a little bittersweet but his chest is finally free of the shackles it bound itself in for the past 3 months. He’s happy Chanyeol is with someone who takes care of him and makes sure he knows he’s loved because God knows Baekhyun always neglected to tell him, always choosing to express his feelings in song recommendations and hoping the lyrics and title will somehow translate and Chanyeol would get it.
He scrolls through his timeline for a few minutes more, retweeting a couple dog videos and tasty recipes before the sound of his stomach interrupts his thoughts again and Baekhyun finds himself texting Jongdae and Kyungsoo, asking them to have lunch with him after deciding he’s studied long enough and he put his books and handouts and highlighters aside.
Baekhyun stretches his back and cracks his knuckles, the satisfying pop reminding him of his horrible posture he’s been stuck in for the past 4 hours but all thoughts of correcting his posture like Junmyeon always nag at him to is thrown out the window when he looks up and meets the eyes of that cute, tall guy he always sees around the school pavilion. He’s dressed in a maroon hoodie, the contrast making his fair skin stand out and his skin is almost glowing. Baekhyun manages to catch his eye and they stare at each other for a while until the latter shoots him a small smile and Baekhyun feels his heart flutter just the tiniest bit.
Somewhere in the back of Baekhyun’s mind, there’s a metaphor about his dead withering heart slowly brought back to life by the cute, tall guy in the maroon hoodie wearing glasses who had long black hair and a simple smile but he knows he’s not the writer type so he settles on a song to capture this moment instead.