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"You are so fucking beautiful, you know that?"
Under the usual circumstances, Baekhyun probably would have replied something witty and charming but it was nearly 2 am when he received a drunken phone call from none other than his idiot neighbor asking Baekhyun to pick him up because naturally all his friends have bailed on him for a booty call or something with much more importance.
This clearly wasn’t the usual circumstance.
Dark blue bloodshot eyes paired with a crooked grin meets Baekhyun’s grey ones and a pair of upturned lips. Silence follows longer than Chanyeol probably expected and he begins stuttering, trying to come up with something else to say.
"You reek of alcohol and is that-“ Baekhyun takes a whiff of his jacket, the slightest bit concerned but exasperated more than anything. “What the fuck have you been smoking?" He was too exhausted to be dealing with this sort of shit, all Baekhyun wants is to wrap himself like a burrito in his bed and have a week's worth of sleep.
"They told me it was the usual but it was probably oregano" Chanyeol hiccups, his ears turning red and he's scratching the back of his neck when Baekhyun raises an eyebrow.
"Oregano?" He asks, letting out a bark of laughter. "You idiot."
"Droonk, I was." Chanyeol tries to explain, gesturing wildly with his hands. He's swaying slightly and he puts a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder to steady himself.
"I see." was his only response.
"I woke you up, didn't I?" His drunk companion shakes his head repeatedly before stopping with a nauseated look painted on his handsome face. "Very sorry, I am."
Baekhyun glances at him – looks up to be exact, his giant of a neighbor was 6'2- and sighs, (tip toeing slightly to) pat his head, ruffling his dark hair the tiniest bit. "It's alright. At least Sehun was there to look after your drunk ass until I arrived."
Slightly under his breath, Baekhyun adds. “I can’t believe you made the youngest one babysityou. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”.
"No! No no no no!" Chanyeol exclaims, throwing his arms around Baekhyun’s body and hugging him with so much force the poor guy was lifted off the floor. "I disturbed your sleep and now I owe you. I will do whatever you want for a week. I promise.” Chanyeol raises his right arm at ninety degrees to confirm it, making cross marks on his chest with his left hand.
“You’ve said that the last time too and completely forgot about it the morning after,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Right, okay buddy. That'll be enough hugs." He tries to pry his arms away in an attempt to get back on the ground but Chanyeol snuggles his face in Baekhyun’s neck and purrs contentedly, a small smile painted on his face. "You know you’re my favorite person, right? Cookies?"
"Yes, I know. And yeah, there are cookies. I just finished up a batch earlier today."
Chanyeol gasps excitedly, his eyes growing twice in size and hugs Baekhyun tighter which sends him into another spinning nightmare. Baekhyun receive a wet kiss on each cheek.
His neighbor may have the tendency to give out uninhibited kisses when intoxicated.
The elevator doors open just as Chanyeol’s opening his mouth to speak again, his words no doubt something with little to no sense of sobriety, much to Baekhyun’s relief and he hurriedly rushes out of the elevator, dragging his intoxicated fool along with him quite aggressively to Chanyeol’s unit.
“Do you have your keys with you?” Baekhyun pokes a half-asleep Chanyeol fully supported by the wall, “You know I’m gonna need your apartment key to get in.”
“Hey Sehun,” Chanyeol hiccups. “Do you wanna know a secret?”
Baekhyun knows Chanyeol took more shots than his system can manage because no one would ever mistake him for Sehun, the height difference already a clear giveaway. “What?”
“I have a crush on Baekhyun hyung.” Chanyeol giggles before realizing what he had just confessed and he gasps almost comically, eyes wide and hands covering his mouth, as if to push the words he let loose back into his mouth. “Oh no, please don’t tell Baekhyun hyung.”
“What does that have to do with your apartment key?” Baekhyun replies as nonchalantly as he can. He knows a sober Chanyeol can barely contain his mouth, unable to filter the thoughts that come to his head, the words sometimes falling off his lips before he can catch them. So what makes a drunk Chanyeol any different? Baekhyun tries to reason with himself but that doesn’t make his heart beat any slower.
“Sehun, promise me you won’t tell.” Chanyeol ignores Baekhyun’s question and instead raises a fist with his pinky finger sticking out. “Pinky promise so I know it’s real.”
Baekhyun almost laughs if not for the taller didn’t sound dead serious and almost sober so he reassures him and wraps his own pinky finger around Chanyeol’s. “I promise I won’t tell.”
(Honestly, who does he think he’s kidding. Baekhyun is so fucking ecstatic, his hands are practically itching to grab his phone from his back pocket and give Jongdae a call and talk about his feelings like a mature man.)
Another hiccup forces Baekhyun to shake his thoughts away and he resumes trying to shake Chanyeol awake for the second time, jostling his arm a little harder than he intended to. “Do you have your key?”
“Do I have my pee?”
“Your key.” Baekhyun enunciates. He feels like he’s talking to a toddler.
“I don’t know what that is” Chanyeol is shaking his head, looking ready to pass out any second now.
“It’s the thing you use to open your door.”
“Love is an open doooor.”
“What?”
Chanyeol doesn’t respond this time, dropping down and sitting on the carpeted floor of the hallway, his long jean-clad legs in a knot.
“Yeol, you just need to tell me where your key is and I can tuck you in bed, okay?” Baekhyun crouches down, trying to meet his eyes.
“I don’t have,” Chanyeol shakes his head for the hundredth time that night. “I don’t have my pee.”
“I meant your key.”
“I kinda want to pee now.”
Baekhyun groans in frustration. “Well, can you punch in your code at least?” He has never been this patient before and he swears he’s going to make tomorrow (and maybe the rest of the week) living hell for the giant.
“Hnsdjrg droonk I is.”
“Oh my god.”
"Sit down, drunken beauty. I'll get you some water and meds so you don’t end up with a hangover tomorrow. Take off your coat- you can hang it over there- and just stay there, alright?" Baekhyun nags and he could already imagine the taller rolling his eyes as he jokes, "yes mom."
Baekhyun grabs a pill box from the medicine cabinet, picking out a blue one and offering it to Chanyeol which he downs it with water. "Thanks for taking care of me, Baek."
Chanyeol’s a little sober now and definitely much more awake. The pair ended up in Jongdae and Baekhyun’s unit because Baekhyun simply refuses to grope around Chanyeol’s jeans- not until the third date anyway- just to locate a tiny piece of brass.
It’s not the first time Chanyeol’s been to their apartment since Baekhyun moved in, having been invited by none other than Jongdae to their numerous movie nights in the hopes of playing matchmaker for Chanyeol and Baekhyun- or Chanbaek as he likes to call it.
Stop trying to make Chanbaek happen! It will never catch on.
(The pair won’t ever admit it but they both secretly like it anyway.)
It’s a bit different without Jongdae and his incessant teasing and whining. It’s a lot less noisy too, with only a groggy Baekhyun and an intoxicated Chanyeol slumping over the kitchen counter every five seconds.
"It's nothing." He shrugs, “And why are you calling me Baek? It’s Baekhyun hyung to you.”
“I just professed my undying love for you and you’re lecturing me about formalities and honorifics. How romantic, hyung.” Chanyeol smiles at Baekhyun fondly and Baekhyun swears he’s reduced to a puddle on the wooden floor. “Can I have my cookies now?”
“I can’t believe you’re still thinking about eating in your state.”
“You make the best cookies,” Chanyeol shrugs, resting his face on his palm and throwing a dreamy look toward Baekhyun. “Better than Kyungsoo."
"Don’t let Kyungsoo hear you say that," Baekhyun gasps theatrically, putting a hand to his chest in disbelief. "That's practically sacrilegious." Making Chanyeol laugh a bit too much which results to him slapping himself, the kitchen counter, his forehead, Baekhyun’s back, basically anything within reach that Chanyeol can inflict his assault on.
“No, it’s true! I mean you may not, like, be the best cook. You’re horrible actually, I've never met anyone who doesn't know how to boil an egg-“
“Watch it.”
“But it doesn't matter! Because you bake the best cookies ever!” Chanyeol nods enthusiastically, agreeing with himself. “That’s my point! You’re a terrible cook but a great baker.”
“With all the favors I’ve been doing you this month, I shouldn’t be anything less than great at everything.” Baekhyun grumbles under his breath, eyeing the younger from the corner of his eye who is still in his thin wool coat.
"Sleepy," he slurs, eyes drooping.
Baekhyun takes that as his cue. "Right, let's get you to bed." He guides Chanyeol by pushing on his lower back lightly, leading him to his bedroom. "At least change out of your clothes before you collapse on my bed, your shirt smells like you just ran a marathon in a wildfire." And he hear a vexatious "yes, mother" being muttered.
He watches Chanyeol struggling to take his shirt off, face painted with confusion. Baekhyun is finding it really hard not to stare so he lets himself watch in awe as Chanyeol runs a hand through his hair, the older’s attention turning to his biceps flexing due to the action. Chanyeol begins to unbutton the fly of his jeans when he realizes Baekhyun’s presence and he quickly snap out of his Chanyeol induced haze and looks away, as if caught red-handed.
"Look away, Baekhyun hyung! It is not right for me to change in front of you." Baekhyun rolls my eyes and turns away but not before throwing Chanyeol a pair of sweat shorts and a loose shirt.
"Are you decent?" Baekhyun asks but there was no response. Chanyeol was already nestled in Baekhyun’s bed cuddled up with his duvet and he watches with envy as pillows engulfed the taller’s lanky body which reminded him of how fatigue ridden he was. Baekhyun shakes his head, a small smile creeping up on his face. His hand on the doorknob, about to shut the door and turn off the lights when Baekhyun had a moment of hesitation, taking one last look at the peaceful face of his sleeping neighbor in the dark with only the neon green light of Baekhyn’s bedside alarm clock illuminating Chanyeol’s face.
3:28 AM
"Good night, Yeol. I’ll be in the next room if you need me."
"Night, Byun. You’re welcome to sleep beside me you know."