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Baekhyun stands there, confused and stunned by the very loud music and the fans screaming. It takes him a few seconds to understand what just happened; he drops the pillow he picked up on his way there and removes the Pikachu headband with his heart beating 10 ten times faster and opts to wave to the fans to ease his clenching chest and the need to let his tears pour out his eyes. He can't cry there, not in front of his bandmates, of so many people, so he keeps waving as he swallows hard, the lump in his throat tightening so painfully and his brain busy trying to understand what he did wrong. He misses the first two seconds of his lines.
He wants to slap himself in the face, because not only Chanyeol rejected him for the whole world to see, he pushed him aside and walked away with his arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder and now, he’s feeling really, really stupid while struggling to walk back to the main stage wrapped on those stupid golden confetti straps he tangled himself in. He only wanted to see Chanyeol smile again, even if that meant making a fool out of himself for him as he always does.
Baekhyun manages to reach the main stage without falling face to the floor, he keeps waving and singing and pretending everything is fine. Jongdae seems to have notice his sudden lack of good mood, because he's now running towards him with an apologetic look in his eyes but with his signature curly smile on his lips. His friend takes the golden straps he's been dragging all across the stage and starts running around him as he sings his lines with his characteristically cheerfulness, wrapping those golden straps around his body even more, it makes him feel a little better and he can't help the small smile that spreads on his lips.
He opts to spend the rest of the concert as far from Chanyeol as possible, avoiding being on the same side of the stage again and trying really hard not to look his way every time his stupid boyfriend does something stupid.
Is not different by the time the concert ends. They leave the venue all together, surrounded by their staff and a few security guards just in case crazy fans are waiting for them outside. Baekhyun avoids at all cost having to get in the same car as Chanyeol by staying a few steps behind, next to Jongdae and Junmyeon; he waits for the members to hop in, but can't help to avert his eyes to the other van. Chanyeol is there, with his face pressed against the tinted glass and he's looking at him; Baekhyun swallows, not being able to look a way for a few seconds until his manager calls his name for him to get inside.
"You okay?" Jongdae dares to ask once they're all seated. He nods as he fumbles inside his bag for his phone and earphones, which turned out to be not such good idea either because his phone is bursting with notifications from Instagram: likes on his last post of him congratulating Chanyeol for his birthday on a way that probably no one was expecting. Comments such as Chanbaek is real, Get married already, I love my parents and I wasn’t expecting this to happen, flooding the comments’ section. He sniffs and scrunches his nose up to hide the small sob because even then, Chanyeol's response wasn't what he was expecting either. A few cold-sounding words, nothing more.
The other van arrives first to their hotel because Jongin had insisted that they should stop for something to eat since he wasn't planning on leaving his bed for what was left of the night.
Only when Baekhyun pulls out his car key to open the door, does he remembers a small detail: he shares the room with Chanyeol, Sehun and Jongdae. He curses under his breath, it's too late to ask another member to switch with him and probably no one will want to since Jongdae snores very loud when he sleeps. Baekhyun has to bite his tongue and get in the room. He leaves his stuff on the small couch and takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to spend the rest of the night sleeping in the same bed with Chanyeol.
Baekhyun wants to say something, anything, just to hear his voice and ease his heart a little, but he doesn’t, afraid of being rejected once more. Chanyeol and Sehun had already changed their clothes for something more comfortable, leaving Baekhyun with the words stuck in his mouth. The taller is grabbing his phone, card key and wallet and shoving everything in the pockets of his hoodie, not even sparing a glance at him.
"Where are you going?" Jongdae asks from where he's sitting on his bed.
"There's a small fair a few blocks from here. Manager hyung said we could go." Sehun answers.
"Just the two of you?" Jongdae insists.
"Yeah." Chanyeol says, nonchalantly.
Baekhyun keeps his eyes down, pretending to be interested on whatever he’s looking on his phone, but he's not really paying attention, he doesn't even realized he was just staring at his home screen picture until he hears the door of the room closing. It's only then that he lets the first tear come out; he crawls on the bed until his head reaches the pillow and curls himself up, hugging his knees against his stomach. He cries and sobs everything he's been holding back for the last couple of hours.
"Baek?" He hears Jongdae's voice, but he doesn't move. Jongdae scrambles with the covers and then Baekhyun feels his weight dipping the mattress behind him. "Hey." He places his hand on his arms. "What happened? Why is Chanyeol─?"
"I don't know." Baekhyun cuts him off. "I don’t know what I did wrong this time─" he sobs. His body trembles a little. Jongdae keeps quiet, not knowing what to do or say to calm his friend down.
They stay like that for a while. Baekhyun sobbing and Jongdae soothingly rubbing his hand on his friend's arm for comfort. Baekhyun thinks he can't keep crying anymore, not when Chanyeol is probably coming back soon and he doesn't want him to see him like that. He wipes the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand and sits, throwing his legs out of the bed and searching for his shoes and his hoodie.
"Where are you going?"
"Out." It's all he says.
"It's late, Baek."
"I need some fresh air." Baekhyun says as he grabs a black hoodie from his suitcase, frowning when he realizes it's one of Chanyeol's that he keeps for himself; he throws it back on the bag and takes one of his property. Jongdae's still giving him a worried look by the time he walks to the door. "I won't leave the building, I promise." He sighs.
Baekhyun wanders around the lobby for what it feels like an eternity, the music playing at a considerable volume in his ears. It's too cold to go to the hotel gardens and too risky to go out on the streets on his own, considering that fans probably know where they’re staying. It's been maybe two or three hours, he's receiving a suspicious look from the lady at the reception and the security guard on the door, but he doesn't pay any attention to that and the moment the current song he's listening to ends, he hears Chanyeol's loud laughter booming through the empty lobby. He widens his eyes and turns around to find his boyfriend and Sehun entering the building, laughing and uncaring. Sehun is carrying a big, pink stuffed bear in his arms and Baekhyun feels his heart squeezing painfully for the nth time that night.
He runs to hide behind a wall near the reception, ignoring once again the not subtle at all glare the woman is giving him. He stays there until they both disappear behind the elevator doors. Baekhyun sighs and leans against the wall, rolling his head back against the marble, closing his eyes and wondering again, what he did wrong for Chanyeol to treat him like this.
…
Chanyeol enters their room with a wide grin on his face, pushing Sehun playfully and snatching the bear away from his arms, ignoring the nagging and whiny hyung the younger lets out.
“I just let you carry it.” Chanyeol grumbles under his breath. Sehun sticks his tongue at him and then disappears inside the bathroom.
He takes off his shoes as he looks around the room: Jongdae is sitting on his bed, the lamp on his nightstand still on while he watches something on his phone. It's too quiet, he thinks at the same time his eyes land on his empty bed. He frowns.
"Where's Baekhyun?" He asks, but gets no answer. He grunts and strides towards Jongdae's bed, pulling on his earphones and gaining himself a death glare. "Where is Baekhyun?" He repeats.
"Out." Jongdae shrugs and returns his eyes to his phone.
"What? On his own? It's five in the morning."
"He wanted to be alone."
"Why?" Chanyeol quirks an eyebrow.
"I don't know, I thought you would know that."
"What are you talking about?" Chanyeol asks, confused.
"Are you seriously asking me that right now, Park?" Jongdae drops his phone and gets on his feet. "First you treat him like shit, you ignore him the whole time and then, you treat him like shit again in front of thousands of our fans. You leave to god knows where not even considering him in your plans when he only wanted to be with you in your" he pokes at the taller's chest "fucking" pokes again "birthday." And again.
Chanyeol blinks, surprised by Jongdae's sudden outburst. He glances over his shoulder to see Sehun standing below the bathroom door with his arms crossed against his chest.
"He’s right.” The younger nods. “I thought he was coming with us to the fair." He says. "I figured he wanted to stay and rest when you didn't mention anything about it."
Jongdae lets out a bitter chuckle. "You're an asshole." He says and goes back to bed, taking his phone again.
"Where did he go?" Chanyeol asks before he can put his earphones back. Jongdae just shrugs.
Chanyeol puts on his shoes again and takes the bear with him before leaving the room. He knocks on the others member's doors, receiving a he's not here, fuck off from a sleepy Kyungsoo and a door slamming on his face from Jongin. He thinks about asking their manager, but he doesn't want to get Baekhyun in trouble, so he takes the elevator on his own, back to the lobby. He looks around for a moment, but the place it's empty and quiet. He makes his way towards the reception area and with the very limited Chinese he knows, asks the lady if she's seen a boy, short and with red hair. She frowns and points with her finger to the front, where the exit to the gardens is. Chanyeol bows his head and leaves.
He finds Baekhyun sitting on one of the stone benches near the small playground area for kids. He has his head hanging low, his phone in his hands and the wires of his earphones hanging from his ears. Chanyeol gets closer, sitting next to him without a word. Baekhyun's heart jumps in his chest when he feels someone's presence on his side; Chanyeol smell gives him away, but he bites his lip and pretends to be absorbed on whatever he's listening to; truth is, he stopped the music a while ago, not in the mood to keep listening the same songs on shuffle.
"I know you can hear me." Chanyeol says as he hugs the bear tighter against his chest. Baekhyun sighs and removes the buds. He looks up, brushes of orange and pink are starting to paint the sky, greeting the rising sun. "You haven't slept, have you?"
"No." He mumbles.
"Baek─"
"What do you want?" Baekhyun asks, probably harsher than he intended. Chanyeol seems surprised for a second.
"I─ Jongdae told me you─ well, that I've been─"
"─acting like an asshole? Yeah."
Chanyeol puffs his cheeks. "I'm sorry Baek, I─"
"Why?" Baekhyun frowns. "I mean, what did I do? Was it because of my Instagram post? I admit I crossed the line, but I never imagined it would bother you this much. If you wanted me to delete it you could have just told me."
"It’s not that." Chanyeol shakes his head. "Well yes, I admit I freaked out a little when I first saw it because you never greet anyone like that and you know how people are, then I─" he sighs. "I guess I overreacted."
Baekhyun sniffs and unblocks his phone, opening the Instagram app to go to his profile. He taps with his shaky fingers a few times, but fails to open the list menu that offers the deleting option.
"What are you doing?" Chanyeol widens his eyes a little, panicking and moving a hand up to stop his boyfriend.
"I'm deleting it."
"Why?"
"It bothers you."
"No, no, stop." Chanyeol snatches the phone away from his hands. "I'm sorry, okay? I was being stupid. I don't want you to delete it, I like it." He smiles.
"That’s not what it looks like." Baekhyun mumbles, looking down at his lap.
"I do, really. I have to admit that seeing those lips on my feed almost gave me a heart attack." Chanyeol wiggles his eyebrows, trying to be playful and light the mood up a little, but Baekhyun avoids his eyes, feeling his cheeks heating up.
"Why did you bring that here?" Baekhyun asks, changing the subject and pointing at the pink bear on his boyfriend's arms. "You know Sehun likes his stuffed toys in bed with him." He scoffs.
Chanyeol laughs. "Yeah, but I brought it here because is not Sehun’s— how did you know?."
"I— I saw you when you came back. Sehun was holding the bear.”
Chanyeol hums and nods. “Well, it’s not Sehun’s. I got it for you, but Sehun insisted he wanted to hold it because here," he pushes the bear onto Baekhyun's arms "smell it." Baekhyun frowns, doubting at first to take the toy, but Chanyeol pushes it further. He presses his nose on the soft fabric of the bear and a sudden scent of strawberries fills his nose. He gasps and looks at the toy. "I knew you were going to like it so…"
"You're an idiot." Baekhyun grumbles.
"What?"
"I should be angry at you for acting like that but I can't, you're just─"
"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" He asks with a hint of hope.
"Not quite." Baekhyun answers. Chanyeol's shoulders deflate. "But you'll get there."
The younger smiles and looks around to make sure no one's near them, then he takes Baekhyun's chin with his hand and pull him closer for a quick kiss. "I love you." He mumbles.
Baekhyun clears his throat and stands up. "We better go back to our room before manager hyung realizes we're not there." He says, before start walking.
Chanyeol chuckles, his smile never leaving his face as he follows his boyfriend closely. His head already going on about what he can do to get the shorter's full forgiveness.