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Baekhyun walks in fast pace, through the hallway of his agency building until he reaches in front of the room that he believes where a group of young men are currently practicing in. He takes a deep breath before slowly opening the door, peeking into the practice room. He sees some of the boys are already on the floor, panting and some are still trying to sharpen the choreo. He lowers his snapback and sneaks into the room and leans against the wall with his arms folded against his chest.
Nobody realizes his existence in the room until someone looks at the reflection of the mirror. “Oh?”
Everyone turns their attention to him. He then takes off his snapback and smiles at his junior group. “Hi.”
“Baekhyun hyung,” everyone stumbles on their feet and bows to him.
He just gives them signals that it’s all fine. “Good job, everyone,” he just smiles cheekily, trying to mask the awkwardness that is building inside of him. He knows some of them eye him with curiosity. He then turns to Doyoung.
“Oh, yeah, we’ve just done with the practice,” Doyoung grins awkwardly.
“What are you doing here, hyung?” Taeyong finally speaks up after eyeing Baekhyun ever since he acknowledges his presence in the room.
“Oh—,” Baekhyun clears his throat. “I’m here to pick up someone.”
The rest of NCT 127 just looks at each other. They know. “Guys, let’s get our stuff and head to our car, yeah?” Doyoung breaks the silence and bulges his eyes, giving signals for the rest of the band to leave Baekhyun with their leader alone.
“Hyung—”
“Get all your stuff, we’ll go home,” Baekhyun interrupts, before Taeyong can voice out any complaint or protest on him.
The younger of the two just slowly walks towards where his backpack is placed before walking closer towards Baekhyun. “I’m all set.”
Baekhyun just nods and he takes Taeyong’s hand into his and pulls the latter out of the room, towards his car. “Have you eaten?” he asks once they settle into his car.
Taeyong nods.
“And you continue practicing after that?”
“Just a bit!” Taeyong answers, a little too defensive. He knows what’s in Baekhyun’s head.
Baekhyun just chuckles and holds himself from rolling his eyes at his younger boyfriend. “Let me know if you want to have another round of dinner. You can take a nap if you want to while I drive.”
Taeyong nods and adjusts the seat before he makes himself comfortable in it. He sighs dreamily. He loves the smell of Baekhyun’s car. “Night, hyung.”
*******
“Taeyongie—”
“Baby—”
“Sweetcheeks—”
Baekhyun sighs. He forgets how much of a deep sleeper Taeyong is. “Taeyongie, wake up!” he shakes the younger’s frame a little too aggressively until the latter stirs from his so-called nap. He has no choice but to do that. He remembers how once he had to yell right in Taeyong's ear because the younger one refused to wake up.
“Hyung?” Taeyong adjusts the seat again and sits straight before he looks around. “This doesn’t look like our apartment.”
“Yeah no—,” Baekhyun chuckles. “Because this is my apartment building.”
Taeyong has never turned his head as fast as he does right now. His doe eyes widen. “What? Why?”
Baekhyun shrugs in answer. “Just because,” he takes his wallet and phone before shoving them into his pocket. “Get out of the car or do you need me to carry you to the door of my apartment?”
Taeyong shakes his head to no one. He pulls his backpack with him and matches his step with Baekhyun. Silence is surrounding them on their way to Baekhyun’s apartment.
“You said we’re going home,” Taeyong finally breaks the silence between them once they get inside of Baekhyun’s house.
“This is not a home to you?” Baekhyun arches his eyebrows before putting his car key on the table. “I lost count how much you’ve spent your time here,” he chuckles. “If you got time.”
“Thought you’re going to send me to NCT dorm,” Taeyong mumbles under his breath, but Baekhyun is still able to catch it.
“And let you push yourself until God knows what will happen?”
“You’re not at our agency by coincidence, right?” Taeyong asks in a small voice.
Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “How can it be a coincidence when I said clearly I was there to pick up someone. You.”
“How?”
Baekhyun sighs and closes his eyes. He promises to keep this a secret but this is Taeyong that he is dealing with. The younger is full of curiosity and will insist on asking until he gets his answer. “Doyoung texts me,” he finally speaks. “You are— not completely fine.”
“Hyung—”
Baekhyun signals for Taeyong to keep quiet. “Miss me with your 'I'm okay' excuse, Taeyongie. I know you don’t. Everyone— at least the one that is close to you knows that you’re not. Jongin has been telling me he feels something is off with you. Your members are worried to the point one of them has to steal my number from your phone and text me to get you settled,” he sighs, holding back his emotion. The last thing he wants is getting into an argument with his boyfriend. He walks closer to Taeyong and puts his hands on the latter’s shoulder.
“Hyung, I’m sorry,” Taeyong says.
Baekhyun smiles before he plants a peck on Taeyong’s lips. He then turns the latter around and pushes him into his bedroom. “Go and clean yourself. Do you want something to eat?” he asks and smiles when the bunch of blue hair in front of him is shaking. “Okay, clean yourself and you can have any of my clothes. Your choice.”
Taeyong quickly turns around to face Baekhyun before the elder pushes him further into his room. “But hyung, we—”
“Oh, you want me to bath you?” Baekhyun teases, wiggling his eyebrows. He knows very well how to turn the atmosphere lighter.
Taeyong can’t understand his boyfriend and the obsession of cutting him off tonight. He rolls his eyes. He appreciates Baekhyun’s effort to light up the atmosphere but a hormonal boyfriend is the last thing he wants to deal with tonight. Not when he feels like he’s about to lose his bones. “I mean— I thought we need to talk?”
“Oh,” Baekhyun nods. “The talk can wait, baby. Plus, you smell. You know how I take good care of the cleanliness of my apartment, right?”
“Should’ve just followed my manager earlier,” Taeyong says before getting into the bathroom and leaving Baekhyun alone.
It takes Taeyong 30 minutes in the bathroom before he walks out and rummages through Baekhyun’s closet to find some clothes to wear. If it’s some other night where Baekhyun is in his mood to tease the hell out of him he’ll say that he likes it more if Taeyong just settles in without clothes but he knows tonight is not the night. He takes a glance towards Baekhyun, who is already on his bed, looking intently at something on his phone.
“You’re not gonna realize if the phone swallows you in, right?” Taeyong straightens his— Baekhyun’s shirt before he settles himself under the blanket. The elder still looks at his phone without bothering to even look at him. Feeling ignored, Taeyong snuggles closer to Baekhyun until a part of him is on top of Baekhyun. He sighs dreamily. He forgets the last time they do this due to their busy schedule. “Now that I am no longer smelling bad, are we going to talk?”
Silence still surrounds them.
“I don’t like it when you bottle up everything inside, you know that right?” Taeyong draws some random patterns on Baekhyun’s clothed chest.
Baekhyun finally puts down his phone and dims the light of his room a little. “You’re the one to talk about it?”
Taeyong sighs, but this is not the dreamily sigh. He knows everyone worries about him, including Baekhyun. “I can handle it.”
Baekhyun adjusts his position a bit so he’ll be on his side, facing Taeyong. “Yongie, no matter how strong someone is, they need support from everyone around them too. They need a pillar where they can hold onto when their world gets a little shaky and there’s nothing wrong with it. I told you right? And I— I can be that pillar, Taeyong. I want to.”
“Won’t I be a burden?”
Baekhyun plays with the strand of Taeyong’s blue hair. Still a little wet from the bath he took before. “If you become a burden, I’d just ignore you last year,” he chuckles, remembering all the talks he had with Taeyong, sometimes joined by Taemin and Jongin. “Jongin keeps on telling me to keep you in check. For a moment I was confused, who is your boyfriend. Me or Jongin.”
Taeyong lets out a small laugh and it kind of takes a small tight feeling in Baekhyun’s chest away. Taeyong will forever be grateful how fate is putting him and his seniors in the same group. They have helped him see things in different perspectives, keep him standing high on the ground, being behind his back when he feels like he’s on the verge of falling. For once, he feels like he can just enjoy the ride every time he has his seniors, who are now like his own older brother, with him. “Tell Jongin hyung I say thank you.”
“Wanna tell me how you’re feeling now?”
The younger of the two bites his lower lips, trying to form a sentence. “Tired,” is all he says.
Baekhyun keeps quiet. He doesn’t need Taeyong to say more to know what he means. He slowly pulls the latter into his embrace and kisses the top of his head. “Then rest.”
Taeyong has a feeling that Baekhyun is not talking about now. He tries to loosen Baekhyun’s hold around him before he looks up to get a clear view of the elder.
Baekhyun knows that his boyfriend knows. “Doyoung, remember?” he reminds the younger. He can try protecting Doyoung from Taeyong’s wrath— for butting into his business, later. “Just rest, Taeyong ah. Trust your members. They can and will manage to do it without you for once. You’ve got one crazy schedule in the last year alone. I don’t wanna talk about how you never really take a break. Just rest, loosen yourself a bit. Don’t push too hard. We’re only human.”
The younger narrows his eyes. “You see my schedule?”
“Leader duty.”
Taeyong just scoffs. He knows Baekhyun very well. The elder probably investigated the hell out of his manager about his schedule. “Did you keep track on Mark’s schedule too?” he teases.
“Should I?”
“You are one nosy boyfriend,” Taeyong playfully pinches Baekhyun’s waist. In his heart, he’ll always be grateful for Baekhyun. He’s not sure if the elder knows but the latter sure has become Taeyong’s emotional pillar. “They will be fine with it, right? I mean, the choreo has to be changed. Someone is missing.”
Baekhyun smiles in satisfaction. At least Taeyong considers giving himself a break. “It’ll be a little bit hard, well, they need time to adjust themselves to a new formation,” he says, of course he knows this very well. How many times in his career with EXO, he and the rest of the group has to form a new formation in choreo following the number of members. “But they will be fine. You guys are one hell of a group. You can work this out.” He keeps quiet. “You can monitor them, if you want. If you still think about leader duty and all. Trust me, they would want you to take a break too. They are all worried for you.”
Taeyong smiles. He’s always thankful for how Baekhyun always understands him the most. “What about our group’s preparation for the comeback?”
“Damn, you can’t live a day without worrying about other people, don’t you?” Baekhyun pinches Taeyong’s nose. “Practice can wait or we can go on without you. Comeback can be pushed back, it’s not like any announcement has been made.” He sighs. “Nobody's going anywhere. I promise you.”
“If I ask for your help to drive me to our agency to monitor the other guys practicing, will you do it?”
Baekhyun faking a gasp. “What do you mean by asking me that question? Don’t you know that I am your personal driver now?” he jokes but it’s not like driving Taeyong around is something strange for him to do. The younger is one of the people that have the privilege of getting him voluntarily to get out of his house and drive him around. “You can even ask me to drive you back to your family house.”
Taeyong laughs and tightens his embrace around Baekhyun’s waist before nodding against the latter’s chest. “Thank you, hyung. For everything,” he looks up at his boyfriend again. “I feel like I never thanked you enough, for everything that you’ve done for me.”
Baekhyun plants a kiss on Taeyong’s forehead. “I just need one thing,” he cups Taeyong’s small face in his hand. “I just need you to be happy and healthy. Always put yourself before anything else. And I need you to trust me. Tell me if everything gets a little too much. I won’t always ask you because I respect your space but don’t keep on bottling things up. Even if it’s not me, talk to your members, anyone. I am happy if you are. I want to be that pillar, remember?”
Taeyong just nods. If he speaks, he knows he’ll cry in front of the elder. “You already are,” he says, voice cracking a bit.
The elder smiles and nods. “Thank you,” he kisses Taeyong’s forehead again. “Should we go to sleep now?”
Taeyong snuggles closer to Baekhyun again before nodding. “Goodnight hyung. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
*******
Taeyong wakes up to the empty space beside him. He remembers holding a certain someone to sleep the night before. He washes his face and brushes his teeth before walking out of Baekhyun’s room, only to find the latter on his phone, talking to someone.
“Oh, he wakes up. No worries, I got your back. Gotta hang up, bye,” Baekhyun immediately puts down his phone and turns to Taeyong before presenting his toothy grin. “Rise and shine, baby!”
“Is that Doyoung?” Taeyong asks before he takes a seat beside Baekhyun. “The one you talk to just now.”
“None of your business,” Baekhyun says casually before pushing a plate with a pancake in it into the younger’s direction. Taeyong demanding to talk to Doyoung this early is the last thing he wants to happen. He knows the fact that Doyoung secretly contacting him about Taeyong doesn’t sit right with his boyfriend. “Honey?”
Taeyong looks at Baekhyun and raises his eyebrows.
Baekhyun just laughs out loud. “I mean, do you want to put some honey on your pancake?”
That makes Taeyong’s face redden. He blames Baekhyun and his thousands of pet names for him. He just nods while Baekhyun is still laughing at him. “You are an ass sometimes,” he mumbles before laughing along with the elder.