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"Yeah… you 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 made them yourself…"
"No way, you can tell?!" Baekhyun squealed in delight, not catching the awkwardness in Chanyeol's gaze stuck on the peperos he made 𝘢𝘭𝘭 by himself. "They look that good, huh!"
"Along with amateur and inedible."
"Oh okay. If you want to fight me, just say 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵."
"Now why would I want that?"
"Then keep those anti comments to yourself!" Baekhyun mocked in the same curious tone Chanyeol asked him with. "You're so ungrateful. Everyone else got store-bought peperos but let someone, for example ME, do something by going out of their way, suddenly they got haters. 𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯."
The smaller one sulked his way into the living room where the rest of his friends were.
It was a house party thrown by their mutual friend and since it was the annual Pepero Day as well, everyone got their pepero sticks with them to celebrate. Sure enough, Baekhyun's did 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 out from the rest that were set on the table. After all, his were the only ones with broken ends, chocolate dripping from their desired spots, marshmallows pulled into some… 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴 – Chanyeol supposed – and colorful sprinkles ungracefully decorating a few of the total. It looked like a kid had experimented in the kitchen for the first time behind their parent's back.
But how far was that from the truth?
Chanyeol rolled his eyes, a sly smile forming on his lips seeing his best friend send him nasty glances from a distance whenever their eyes met.
Believe it or not, it was his hobby to tease the shorter one whenever he got the chance. And stupidly, Baekhyun fell for it 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 despite being used to it ever since they were in elementary. Chanyeol didn't understand how that kept happening, but he'd be damned before he told Baekhyun the truth behind his – more often than not, fake – teasing, for he enjoyed it a bit too much than normal. The amount he subjected Baekhyun to, he doubted anyone else got it the same way from him. With others, he just didn't have that drive. It wasn't as fun; the reactions weren't as pretty.
Amidst Chanyeol's silent watching from afar, a guy he didn't know came by the food table, his swift hand casually reaching for the pocky that had BH neatly glued on it with chocolate. Before he was even able to touch it, Chanyeol held his wrist tightly in place as he glared back into his confused, blinking eyes.
"𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵. Make that mistake." He threw his hand away from the pocky. "Choose another one."
"But it's just–"
"Yeah, it'll just cost you your face. That's all. Go ahead and see it for yourself."
In a matter of few seconds and an intense one-way stare battle, the boy scrammed away from the entire table, not bothering to pick any of the peperos lying there.
A light laugh came from Chanyeol's side just as someone stepped into the empty space. It was none other than Junmyeon, his friend and the party host who had been watching the scenes for quite sometime and decided to make his presence finally known to the other guy.
"Someone said those peperos weren't good though."
Chanyeol threw him a 'ha, so funny' glance before locking his eyes at the front again – at the boy who was lighting up the atmosphere with his loud jokes and contagious laughter.
As if Baekhyun wasn't already the life of the party, he had worn all white and dyed his hair a whitish-silver color too. It made him stand out even more like an angel, and Chanyeol didn't know whether he liked it or not. He wished he could empty the entire room and be the only one to see Baekhyun like that. But unfortunately, he had to share his existence with others.
"For how long?" Junmyeon asked, sensing the type of emotions swimming in his friend's orbs as he kept his gaze on only Baekhyun from among all the people present there in the house, ever since the boy arrived at the party.
"How long, what?"
"For how long will you just stand 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, watching him like a creep, while he exists 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, not knowing you go around threatening people when it comes to him or his stupid-looking pocky sticks?"
"How you managed to make something so wholesome sound so weird, I don't even want to know."
"That's wholesome to you?" Junmyeon scoffed, "I don't understand. All that huge built, those strong muscles from 24/7 gym workouts, giraffe-ass height, being a menace on the low to other people, and you can't even tell that boy how you really feel? Pussy. And not the wap kind."
"Juni, dude, how could I just 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 him what I really feel? That's not just anyone, that's 𝘉𝘢𝘦𝘬𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯 you're talking about. My best friend. We grew up together. Ate together. Played together. Stayed in each other's houses in the same neighborhood. Stole each other's toys. Pulled each other's hair. How can I just say '𝘖𝘩 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥' then what, bro hug him and part ways?" Chanyeol deeply exhaled in frustration. "What I really don't get is how dumb is he to not even realize I see him more than a friend? Now, come on."
"Yeah, like he's going to get a revelation from god 14:72 '𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭, 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦'." Junmyeon rolled his eyes at the taller boy's ridiculousness. "All you do is stare at him from the corner and bully him whenever you get the chance. How will he deduce you love him based on that?"
"You think someone like him can get bullied? And that too, by me? 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦. He beat up 𝘮𝘺 bullies back in middle school. Mind you, he was shorter and skinnier than all of them. All he had with him was a broken twig and a whole lot of courage. With just that, he fucked their shit up and chased them away." Chanyeol finally turned to his friend who was chuckling as well hearing Baekhyun's shenanigans from childhood. "And yeah. I 'bully' him or whatever you say, I know. But doesn't he see how he's the only person I do that to? Why doesn't it make him feel special?"
"Because he's mentally sane?"
"Come on."
"Are you 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴? Getting on his nerves is how you make him feel your love?" Junmyeon let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, man. You must get of 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 bitches, I can just tell. You're 𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤, hell, I'm falling for you right now!"
"It's not my fault he looks so adorable, puffing his cheeks and being... mad and all..."
"Listen to me, 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩." Junmyeon gripped the taller boy hard by his neck and pulled him down so their faces were leveled. He then pointed at an oblivious Baekhyun immersed in his friends' conversations. "That guy right there? A fucking gem. Beautiful personality. Puts effort into everything he touches. Funny. Sweet. Outgoing. A good friend. Makes everyone feel comfortable. Gorgeous face. Sinful body. Great voice. Smile putting the sun to shame–"
"Woah– Wait– Why are you looking at him like that, Junm–"
"Because I can. 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 can. And whoever sees Baekhyun can go on and on about it. There are so many fishes in the sea, you think someone won't come by and sweep Baekhyun off his feet? Get your head in the game, Chanyeol. If you want him, shoot your shot as soon as possible now because there are others who are doing it with complete dedication while you just stand and stare from a corner like a loser."
Chanyeol's eyes narrowed hearing that irking piece of information. "Who is hitting on Baek again?"
"Why do you care? It's not like you're his boyfriend or anything." Before Chanyeol could speak, Junmyeon beat him to it. "𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.. you change that, of course..."
The taller boy took some time to digest the words inserted in his brain. He understood what Junmyeon was saying and he knew he was laying the truth bare in front of him. He knew how his best friend was 'all that and more' and he was aware about the amount of people throwing themselves at him. Baekhyun had told him about each one, as his best friend, and Chanyeol tried to scare them away on the low without Baekhyun's knowledge. Don't get him wrong, it wasn't like he was being selfish by not doing something on his own and not allowing someone else to get with Baekhyun either. It was just that he was seeking a good time to do so.
And a time where he didn't get too jittery that he ended up backing out.
The confession could go two ways. Either Baekhyun accepted it. Or rejected it while never losing a chance to tease the taller boy about it. Chanyeol would never hear the end of it for the rest of his life and that was… 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺.
Because here was the thing – Chanyeol's teasing and games were just so-so in front of the shorter guy's. When Baekhyun came down to the same thing, he could bring the tears out of the person with ease.
However, Junmyeon was more than right too. Anyone could come and take Baekhyun away from him if Chanyeol didn't act on it first. He was now left with no choice but to try his luck. Being rejected to his face would hurt less than not trying at all because at least he would have a confirmation of it then. It was better than not shooting his shot at all and then somehow finding out that it would have ended up working out well had he done just that.
Chanyeol sighed, holding his friend's shoulder with conviction.
"Fine. I'll do it tomor–" he instantly put his hands in front of a girl who was about to take one of Baekhyun's pockies, making her step back in surprise. "Why does everyone want 𝘩𝘪𝘴 pepero, god! Do you not see the other ones right here?"
The girl warily took a few from another box while giving him a weird look and mumbling about how crazy he was looking guarding a bunch of pretzel sticks like they were made of gold.
"Today, Juni. This cannot wait any further, I have to do it today," Chanyeol stated with determination before wrapping the special pepero box again. "And I'm hiding them in your cabinet, okay?"
—
Baekhyun felt the spot beside him get occupied. He looked to see who it was and immediately rolled his eyes hard.
"Don't you have better things to do than stand beside someone who's an amateur at making peperos?"
"That amateur happens to be my best friend. What can I do now?" Chanyeol fake sighed. "Gotta learn to live with it."
"You're so annoying."
"And you look so pretty when annoyed by me." Chanyeol opened a chilled can of coke he knew Baekhyun liked and extended it to him. "Really. You look beautiful tonight."
Instead of taking the coke offered to him, Baekhyun went for the sprite in Chanyeol's other hand that he had gotten for himself. "Is that all you can come up with? Beautiful?"
"Stunning."
"Eh."
"Breathtaking."
"Eh."
"Angelic, as usual."
"Whatever."
"That white chocolate decorating your sweater just adds to your natural sweetness."
Baekhyun looked down and gasped at the chocolate stain on his sweater, abruptly shoving his can into Chanyeol's hand for him to hold. "Now you tell me?! I must've looked so stupid the entire time with this on!" he groaned while harshly scrubbing the stain off with a tissue he found nearby.
"Well, nobody else made any efforts for their peperos, so nobody can say anything about you getting chocolate on yourself while decorating yours."
"You're right." He turned to him with a questioning frown. "That gets me thinking, why are people so lame? Why don't they do fun stuff by themselves at home? Look at their pepero sticks. Bland. Boring. Maybe more aesthetically pleasing, but zero love and effort went into it!"
"What can I say? They're not like you. They're not fun nor lovely. And so hardworking."
"I'm saying!" Baekhyun laughed in agreement. "Lina got store-bought pockies for her girlfriend. When I tell you that could never be me, Chanyeol. I mean, if it was for 𝘮𝘺 partner… dude, I might just break a part of the moon to decorate my peperos with for them. Not to mention how I don't…"
The other boy just stared fondly as his little friend went on.
One of the things that pushed him from the cliff into Baekhyun's love was the fact that his train of happiness never stopped. It may have gotten delayed at times, but it never stopped moving. Baekhyun could be mad one moment and in the other, he'd start behaving and engaging like everything was good and that nothing had been wrong at all. He didn't hold grudges, telling Chanyeol one day that his grandma once told him that doing so reduced life spans and he wanted to live a long, long life doing the things he liked and eating good food throughout.
Chanyeol was so glad grandma Byun told him that which helped the boy develop into one of the happiest and inviting souls he'd ever met. He wanted to protect him, always. Just like how Baekhyun protected him from people who wanted to hurt him when he was young. Just like how Baekhyun protected him from his fears and anxiety by making him vocalize them into a paper bag, blowing in it, and popping it loudly, saying it made them vanish into air straight away.
God, Chanyeol wanted to do that and much more – he wanted to do so much for the boy he was so in love with for so long.
That Pepero Day would be the day he opened the treasure chest in his heart for Baekhyun only. That day would be the day he was going to make his move on him.
"𝘉𝘢𝘦𝘬𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯," Chanyeol interrupted the boy's nonstop chatter which he would never get tired of listening to, even if he sometimes told him how he would sew his lips together one day like that hot, psycho sculptor they read about in the Amethyst story. Baekhyun would just laugh at that and continue on with his stories. However, that time he saw something in Chanyeol's eyes that made him go silent at the mere mention of his name.
When he did that, Chanyeol also got quiet, suddenly at a loss for proper words. Not like he had a speech prepared to begin with; he had decided to just freestyle it. For someone who had been waiting for a perfect chance to confess, that was probably not a good idea, but he had made up his mind.
'It's now or never."
He took a deep breath and exhaled – slow and steady – letting out the air that was stuck in his throat like a ball which hindered the words from coming out.
"Baekhyun, I…" He reached for the boy's empty hand next, busying it by holding it not too tightly, in case his best friend wanted to pull it out. That would be one of ways Chanyeol would get his answer.
He'd understand.
It'd hurt a lot, but he'd 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥.
And he'd do everything in his will to change his mind.
But for that he had to know his response first. So, without holding anything back, he decided on just saying it – the truth that got a bit too heavy to carry all alone by himself.
"This may shock you, I know. But please, hear me out."
Baekhyun swallowed the anticipation down his throat, humming to let him know that he would hear him out at the least.
"Baekhyun, I think I'm in lo–"
"Cut the audition out for Romeo And Juliet, Chanyeol and Baekhyun!" someone yelled at them from one of the rooms far away and destroyed Chanyeol's moment of truth. "The games are starting!"
—
The two boys sat apart from each other. So apart, that they were sitting opposite to each other.
It wasn't common for them to be in different teams. Both were competitive but also didn't want to go against each other. It was more fun when they joined their competitive sides to beat someone else. However, splitting to find a place in a rush – running away in nervousness from what nearly happened – had Chanyeol heading towards one corner of the room and Baekhyun, the other. Like that, they unknowingly got divided into two teams.
All the people there played different kinds of house party games – Charades, Sing The Song, Truth and Dare, whatever came to their mind.
Throughout the entire while, the Shakespeare's characters seemed to be out of it a little, still. Chanyeol couldn't believe he was almost about to do it and that was flipping his insides. Baekhyun didn't know what exactly Chanyeol wanted to say in that serious demeanor and that was flipping 𝘩𝘪𝘴 insides. The shorter one had texted him earlier saying if it was something important they could always excuse themselves from the people for some time to talk about it, or Chanyeol could just text him whatever he was going to say if he was more comfortable like that, options both of which Chanyeol turned down. He tried to focus on playing the games well, but with the way he had been messing up and getting lower points than people expected, it was obvious that his head was occupied somewhere else. Baekhyun too, on his side of the team.
Finally after hours, the last game of the night was presented as the classic pepero game, in the honor of Pepero Day itself – something which all couples and anyone crushing on someone looked greatly forward to.
"Alright y'all, this is the final game of the day because after this Junmyeon's opening the drinks for the night!" Sehun, the game host, exclaimed loudly and a round of excited applause followed suit.
"It doesn't involve rocket science to guess what pepero game is but in case the nurse had accidentally elbowed your head when you were born, I'll tell you what it's about. First of all, someone get all those peperos to the center here."
"Hey, kid. Get the box from the cabinet there as well," Junmyeon instructed in a low voice from the side.
"It's very simple. We have chits here in which each of your names are written. When picked, two people from each team will have to come forward and have their hands tied behind their backs. We'll put the pepero between your mouths and whichever team leaves it out the shortest, wins!"
"Hey! My boyfriend is on the other side! How can I kiss someone else in my team?
"Who said you gotta kiss?" Sehun smirked at the girl's distant thinking. "This isn't a kissing game, dear, only a pepero game."
Upon reluctance in participation from people wanting to play with partners of their own choices, the teams broke up into many small ones consisting of official couples or people who had no problem in potentially attaching their mouths to someone else's.
"Going first are our lovely sweethearts Kyungsoo and.. Jongin.. versus…" Before the game host could match another pair of his choice, Junmyeon butted in between by pushing in the names of people he wanted to see the most in the game arena.
"Baekhyun and Chanyeol!"
The people in the room started cheering as the first game pair made their way to the center of the circle. The other one was still in their place, with Chanyeol glaring at Junmyeon at the back and Baekhyun fiddling with the hem of his white sweater, wondering if they were actually supposed to go in or not.
"Come on, shy birds. You can take your Romeo Juliet play to the next scene now," someone remarked from somewhere in the crowd, making the said characters genuinely laugh at the implication of the words.
Chanyeol's heart was already beating faster than usual and a push to the center from a girl behind him only made it more erratic. As he came to stand in the middle of the circle beside the other couple, Baekhyun eventually followed too, rolling his eyes at his friends who were cooing at him from behind.
Once all four contestants were sitting in front of their pair, Sehun came around to tie their hands behind their backs with ribbons. In that short while, the two best friends looked at each other with small smiles glued on their faces. It shouldn't really be awkward, and it wouldn't have been… if Chanyeol wasn't looking at Baekhyun with that specific gaze of his and if Baekhyun wasn't shyly averting his own.
For what reason they were even being like that, god knew.
"Now choose your own peperos y'all wanna play with."
A tray was brought near them where many pretzel sticks were set on. Without any delay, Chanyeol asked for the one he was waiting to try the most ever since he saw them.
A marshmallow dipped in white chocolate, covered with sprinkles, and drizzled with white and pink cream. It was one of Baekhyun's homemade peperos and looking at it more closely, he could just picture behind his eyes how hard the boy must've squeezed the piping bags to get the cream out.
Chanyeol then momentarily called Sehun to his side and made him place the entire box next to him so that nobody else could take any from it.
Noticing the strange possessiveness for the peperos Chanyeol dissed earlier, Baekhyun raised his brows in question.
"Thought those were inedible."
"They are. Just don't want anyone else to die eating them. Next thing I know, you're calling from jail."
"If my hands weren't tied, you'd be eating those instead."
"Only your hands are tied, the rest of you is still free to devour."
"Hello?!" Baekhyun blurted out in surprise, making Chanyeol chuckle at the expected reaction. He opened his mouth to let Sehun put the pocky in and readied himself while Baekhyun shook his head to shake the unnecessary thoughts off his mind.
His best friend was being different that day and it was doing something to him.
"No matter how hot your pair is or how delicious their lips look, don't lose focus from the game. Remember, kissing is not the goal, leaving the shortest pocky possible is," Sehun reminded them of the rules last time, "At the count of 3… 2… 1… go!"
Baekhyun's peperos were already small to begin with so they had to start off slow, unlike the other pair who tried to eat the sticks as quickly as possible to shorten them. Because they had to lean into each other so that the stick wouldn't break in their mouths itself, Baekhyun involuntarily lost balance and fell on his side. It ripped a laughter out of Chanyeol which, altogether, made the pepero in their mouth fall to the plate below. The remaining stick was concluded to be bigger than the other couple's and that had Chanyeol and Baekhyun losing the first round of the game with swiftness.
Everyone else cheered for the winners whereas the two best friends blamed each other for their loss, continuously laughing about it while swallowing the peperos in their mouth.
"Okay, okay. We need to come up with a plan." Baekhyun sat up straight again. "Come close to me so I don't topple over."
Chanyeol agreed and waddled on his knees closer to the shorter guy before inserting his own input into the strategy. "I can't see the sticks if our heads are placed in the same direction so let's tilt our heads to the other side– yeah, like that. Perfect. Once I deem the pepero short enough I'll be the one to pull away so don't lean in, okay? Or else you'll end up eating all of it."
"Don't laugh this time, Chan, seriously."
Now that they had prepared their foolproof strategy, the next round began.
Just like before, they started it slow, easing their way in until the peperos were half their already short size. At the same time, they both tilted their heads in the opposite direction. Baekhyun had kept his eyes on the stick in their mouths at all times. But Chanyeol, on the other hand…
The power in his brain suddenly went out from having his crush in front of him like that, eyes sparkling so bright with zest and unrestrained joy. His face was so close to Chanyeol's, closer than ever before, and he wondered why the hell they never played this game before during the previous Pepero Days. Why he was deprived of such proximity to the truly ethereal beauty in front of him, he couldn't understand. Seeing Baekhyun's shoulders and chest vibrate as giggles escaped his pouty lips, it was a bit too much on the taller boy's heart and now, he was successfully malfunctioning. There were constant claps and shouts around him encouraging him to win and yet, he couldn't move. It was like all the energy in his body to do that had gone into focusing on the luxurious, privileged view in front of him.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, didn't get why his best friend suddenly paused in place. So, he improvised their planned strategy on the spot and did all the work by himself, eating the pocky and shortening their length as small as he could. During the while, he kept making noises to urge Chanyeol to do something too, but the boy was just stuck – in trance.
"Chanyeol, get it!" one of his friends yelled at him. And it pushed him to get it.
𝘐𝘵.
Baekhyun's head was tilted to the perfect angle and he was already inches apart from his face so it didn't cause Chanyeol to exert much effort to just lean forward and plant his lips on the small, soft ones he often daydreamed about.
Baekhyun gasped at the unexpected contact and accidentally let go of the pepero between his teeth. It didn't fall down as Chanyeol had been gripping it tight in his mouth, and that gave the shorter boy no reason to back away completely since they weren't out of the game yet. So, he leaned in to take his end of the pepero again and in that perfect moment, Chanyeol put all of it in his mouth and what was left there were just his lips that Baekhyun had ended up pressing his flat against.
Neither's eyes closed beyond normal blinking throughout the kiss. Even after they eventually pulled away – not too far – they were only looking at each other while the people in the room looked at them. Amid all the noise in their surroundings, the two boys could only hear their own heartbeats and their only fear at the time was that it'd be too loud that the other might hear it – embarrassingly so.
"Kyungsoo and Jongin! Once again you won!" Sehun announced with mirth. "Romeo and Juliet… I don't even know what to say for you two. Let's go for the final round!"
As everyone got back to their positions, the two friends stayed stuck staring at each other with confusion swirling in Baekhyun's eyes and affection in Chanyeol's. The smiles etched on both their faces were the only thing common between them at the time.
"Ch-Chan…" Baekhyun barely let out in a whisper, "Was that on… purpose…?"
The said boy bit his lip, forming the words in his mind first before saying them out loud.
"Is it… wrong of me…?"
"What... What did you want to tell me earlier?"
"Earlier?" Then he remembered. "Oh. Um. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴. What happened just now. But in verbal form… in a more gentleman-ly way..."
"You… 𝘭-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 me?"
"Baekhy–"
"Guys, put the pepero in you mou–"
"SHUT UP!" Baekhyun yelled at the host who just wanted to get the game moving, and then immediately lowered his voice before speaking to Chanyeol. "Yes, you were saying?"
"Baekhyun I… I don't know how to make sense of it. And I know it's not the most convenient time, especially right now, right 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…"
"But…?"
"But I…"
"But you…?"
"Baek, I just…"
"Yeah…?"
"it's just that…"
"What is it…?"
"I…"
"𝘔𝘖𝘙𝘌 𝘍𝘐𝘚𝘏𝘌𝘚 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘚𝘌𝘈, 𝘔𝘖𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘍𝘜𝘊–"
"I like you a lot Baekhyun, 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬. I think I'm in 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 with you–no, not think, I 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸… and I don't know how to keep it in anymore but fuck I love this game and I love that I'm paired up with you and I realized just now that I always want to be paired up with you and play games where I get the chance to kiss you but I also want that to not be limited to just games, like, I want to be able to kiss you and hug you whenever I want to and there are so many people around you who want you too and I absolutely cannot stand them eyeing you like you're theirs but then I realize I do the same thing so to create a difference between them and I, I'm here telling you that I love you – no – I'm 𝘪𝘯 love with you and bro honestly? You're one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me and having you as a friend is an honor already, but having you as a lover would bring heaven to my feet and I really, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺... want to stand above… heaven…"
Then he took a huge breath in before his lungs shrunk.
At that moment, a needle could've dropped and it would sound like a small blast in the room since everyone else was just staring at him in awe with their mouths agape, including the boy who got confessed to in the middle of a childish pepero game.
Silence from the people around him was comforting, but silence from his crush was deafening to Chanyeol who started wishing for the Earth to open up and swallow him whole like a pepero stick itself. He never wanted to recite the terms and conditions-ass essay to Baekhyun like that at such a time, but Junmyeon's bellow made the dam in his mouth collapse, making the words flow out in abundance and they would've unapologetically continued to do so even longer if breathing oxygen to live wasn't a thing for humans.
Chanyeol turned around to see the boy who was the root of the wreckage and saw him stifle a laugh as best as he could.
But of course, what were friends for if not to humiliate someone to their death?
A sound released from Junmyeon and that caused the entire room to roar loudly. He got a lot of pats on the back while people nudged Baekhyun by the shoulders, pushing and pulling even, to wake him from his daze. It seemed as though they all were waiting for that moment for a long time as well.
Baekhyun leaned closer again so Chanyeol could hear him well amid the chaos.
"R-Really, Chanyeol? Is that how you… 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺… feel? Like faithfully and honestly?"
As if the other boy didn't nearly become purple trying to convey his feelings as best as he could in the short span provided by a single breath.
"You can reject me if you want, of course. There's no pressure…"
"I can... reject you?"
"I-If you want to..."
"Then what will you do?"
"Try to win you over?"
Baekhyun raised a single brow, his lips slightly curving up in a smirk. "By disrespecting my peperos?"
"And then pushing everyone away so only I could have them."
"Because it'll kill them."
"Because 𝘐'𝘥 kill them."
Baekhyun's smile was widening by the seconds and he tried to keep it to himself, but Chanyeol had noticed it already. He internally sighed in relief because even though he didn't get a clear answer from Baekhyun yet, it didn't go as bad as he thought it would. And seeing how it was becoming harder for the shorter boy to maintain eye contact, Chanyeol figured that both of them would enjoy courting Baekhyun until he said yes to him.
"Let's not act shocked, you guys," Junmyeon interrupted them by popping the fragile bubble they were in. "A new couple comes out on every Pepero Day and it happened to be Chanbaek this time. I think the final round will be interesting to watch now. With that being said… Sehun! Please do the honors of placing the peperos in their mouths!"
Now the two boys got something to hide their shy grins behind, even though it covered nothing since their eyes seemed to be permanently pulled into little crescents. On the count of 3, the game began again for the final time and unlike how they started it slow before, Baekhyun quickly ate the ends of the pepero, surprising Chanyeol who was following their previous strategy because he actually did want to win that time.
With the remaining stick still in his mouth, Chanyeol carefully slurred.
"Shlow down!"
But Baekhyun wasn't listening. He had heard enough. Now it was time for him to respond back and he did it in the same way Chanyeol did it at first.
He bent closer – 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 – to the taller boy and pulled the pepero from his mouth with just his lips to drop it on the plate kept below. Before Chanyeol could protest, his mouth got busied with something else that was much sweeter than any sweet treat he ever had the pleasure of tasting before.
Hollers and squeals erupted as the two best friends sat there on their knees, kissing each other as if that was the real way to win the game.
Chanyeol felt the ties on his hand suddenly loosen and without looking back to see who did god's work – it was Junmyeon once again – he kept Baekhyun's face in place by holding it with one hand and his neck with the other to tilt his head to angle it under his own, deepening their gentle kisses into something hotter and more fervent.
That was how he had confessed.
That was how Baekhyun had answered.
And that was how they were celebrating their little win, huge to themselves, and would always from then onwards.
Among all the cheers and whistles, a loud, peculiar shout was heard from the crowd.
"YOUR DREAM FINALLY CAME TRUE, BAEKHYUN! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ALL THAT WHILE AGO?!"
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃.