Baekhyun woke up to the sound of knocking on his door, rolling onto his face and whining tiredly into his pillow. Peeking at his clock, he found that there were at least ten minutes before his alarm would ring, making him curse whoever decided to knock on his door.

He heard the person call "room service" and all he did was say not right now and the worker left, leaving him there to his own thoughts.

He sighed and let his body go lax, thinking back to last night where he ate food over at Chanyeol's place, biting his lip when he realized that he was smiling.

Park Chanyeol, aka the tall, attractive man that Baekhyun low-key stalked on TV. No one, not even Sehun, knew that Baekhyun had a little bit of a guilty crush on the celebrity, since the brunet himself had said that people who fawned over idols were the stupidest people on the planet (little did he know that after stumbling into Chomp!! he'd find someone that would turn him into one of the "stupidest people" on the planet).

But this little crush that Baekhyun had—it was only admiration. He wouldn't ever actually date Chanyeol, considering that they came from different worlds. Chanyeol was rich and many people knew him, whereas he was this debut Seoul singer who went by the name BBH, and his first album had sold a whopping 5 hundred copies (Baekhyun liked to over exaggerate the first words but in reality, he was going broke). Chanyeol was an independent guy, unlike Baekhyun who got his vacation from his rich Canadian doctor parents, who said that he needed a "break" after publishing only five of his songs. The singer was sure that his parents meant "a change of mind and career" when they had said that.

They had always pushed Baekhyun to be a doctor, dentist, or pharmacist but Baekhyun had frankly no interest in any of those subjects. He liked singing, and even teen Baekhyun told himself that it would be in his best interest to rebel. When his parents had moved to Canada, Baekhyun stayed back and told them about his dreams, to which they didn't oppose to nor encouraged, but they promised that they would still support him with money problems.

His passion for singing led him here, where people in the k-pop industry called him a flop or failure, but Baekhyun tried not to let those words get to him. He believed that he'd make it one day, regardless of how far that day was.

Baekhyun slipped out of his bed, wiping his eyes as he searched for clothes to take a shower with, stumbling on yesterday's wardrobe before getting to his suitcase. At the sight of his luggage, he laughed when he remembered how Chanyeol's underwear flew out from his suitcase after Baekhyun had unzipped it yesterday. It was quite embarrassing considering he was hailing a cab and the man was helping him put his suitcase in the trunk, to which he quickly added that he wanted to grab his water bottle, only to find that he didn't even have his own damn suitcase. He had freaked out and shoved everything back in, glancing at the name tag and nearly having a stroke when he saw Chanyeol's name.

Baekhyun had left the taxi man then, deciding that he'd need to sort out his suitcase problems before heading to the hotel. He was just on his way back to the baggage pickup in hopes of switching the suitcases when Chanyeol called him, telling him to meet him at the front. Baekhyun hadn't expected Chanyeol to offer him a ride to his hotel, nor did he expect the taller to help him carry his luggage up 16 flights, adding to that was Chanyeol actually getting food for both of them.

In general, Park Chanyeol was not what Baekhyun expected him to be like, to say the least. On TV he was usually the harshest critic on the show—someone that all the contestants wanted to get praise from; a Simon Cowell but for food. Baekhyun assumed that he would be stoned-face and completely unresponsive to Baekhyun's antics, but after his first little stunt of shoving his suitcase into the overhead compartment, Baekhyun was pleasantly surprised at how much emotion Chanyeol showed.

The brunet hadn't meant to come off as an asshole, but the people around him knew that when he got nervous, he turned into a pretentious asshole to hide the fact that his heart was beating quickly and his palms were sweating. This would be Baekhyun's first trip to someplace where he didn't have a relative or friend, which left him in the hands of nature, common sense, and luck. Messing around with Chanyeol lessened his nerves, and the taller was kind of really cute when he was annoyed.

After spending last night talking about random crap with Chanyeol, Baekhyun wasn't nearly as nervous around him as before, and he had come to realize that Chanyeol was cute at random moments and boring in the next, a stunningly gorgeous model and a stupid dork after. Baekhyun had barely spent any time with him but he could just see that Chanyeol probably watched Disney whenever he was bored—which wasn't bad since Baekhyun loved some classic Tangled once in a while.

(Regrettably), Baekhyun's little crush on Park Chanyeol was more than "little" now.

But he knew that those thoughts had to be locked up and kept away because yesterday had probably been the only time that Baekhyun would talk to him and see him in real life. After that, Baekhyun would be going on a cruise and Chanyeol would be going who knows where.

Dejectedly, the brunet stepped out of the shower and dried himself off, preparing himself for his first day on the cruise. He would be boarding the boat at 1 PM and when all the passengers were on, it would be departing to Cartagena first. It was currently 10:30 AM and Baekhyun wanted to make sure that he was on time, determined to get to the port in half an hour.

He packed all of his belongings back into the bag, a feat that wasn't so hard since Baekhyun hadn't even been in Barcelona for more than twenty-four hours. He gave his free-wifi-comfortable-bed room a goodbye, checking his appearance in the mirror one more time before shutting the door behind him.

The rest of the hour passed by in a blur; climbing down all those flights of stairs, signing out of his room and not forgetting to give the elevator his middle finger, entering a taxi and leaving to go to the port.

Once he was there, his luggage was given to the cruise staff and would apparently be in his new room by 1 PM, which left him plenty of time to sit around with all of the cruise passengers, waiting for the okay sign to board the boat. From what Baekhyun could see, the boat was huge, and it made sense since there were so many people waiting at the port building, either shopping to waste time or bundling up in groups like ants. Baekhyun guessed that there were at least two thousand people waiting to board the ship, but from what he had heard, the boat could hold a total of five thousand people, and since all the staterooms were booked, Baekhyun would be seeing a lot of people.

He saw a glimpse of ash-gray hair in the crowd and he perked up from his spot on the couch, his hope deflating when that colour disappeared as if it was only his imagination.

Baekhyun looked around him at all of the other travelers, wondering if what he had heard from his parents were right. Apparently, the cruise was going to be filled with rich-snobs who were regulars on the boat and they would all judge Baekhyun if he didn't wear something fancy on a formal night.

Baekhyun didn't exactly care though—he lived his life according to the words "they won't remember you anyway", since the fact of the matter was that nobody really cared about anyone but themselves, and even if Baekhyun tripped on his feet, knocked over eight people and accidentally flung his shoe into a little girl's face, most people wouldn't be able to recognize him in a year or less. That was probably the reason why he had the guts to sing for such a long time in the airplane, since none of those people would recall the story of Byun Baekhyun singing on one fine day; they'd simply forget about it.

The rest of Baekhyun's two hours were spent exploring the port building, checking out the souvenir shops and buying a small keychain of Barcelona. At 1:20, people were called to line up and Baekhyun did so, waiting another ten minutes to get a card that resembled the one at the hotel.

It served the same purpose as the one he got in his hotel; opening the door to his personal stateroom, but in addition, the card could've been used to purchase things on the boat that he'd be charged for after his cruise was over. Baekhyun entered the boat's gangway and saw cruise workers taking pictures of families in front of a back drop, saying something like "Memories are the most important part!" and Baekhyun quickly brushed by, not wanting to seem sad if he went to take a picture himself. Plus, he was almost sure the families would be charged if they wanted to get any of the photos.

Baekhyun got to the entrance of the boat not more than a few seconds later, walking on the seemingly unstable platform that led him inside, the little number seven indicating which floor he was on. The brunet nearly missed what the lady at the entrance said, for his jaw dropped and his eyes widened when he saw the boat's interior.

It looked nothing like what Baekhyun had expected—frankly, he didn't know what he was expecting, but certainly not a five-star hotel. Baekhyun had entered one of the entertainment and food floors, the view of plush carpet and sparkling chandeliers leaving him stunned. The entire place looked the colour of deep brown and golden yellow, caused by the multiple comfy-looking chairs and tables strategically placed for the bistros, and the golden railings of the banister in the middle of the floor. Baekhyun approached the railings and swore the entire thing was a joke, glancing two floors down and seeing a professional piano player jazzing away at the keys, a dance floor in the middle of other chairs meant for the bars and other bistros on floor five. He could see an art gallery across him and swooned when he made out a Gelato Bar.

Baekhyun spent his first minutes on the cruise exploring floors five, six and seven, finding himself in awe the entire time—because damn, he did not expect a theatre, library, art gallery and two bars to be on one floor.

There were 19 floors on the gigantic boat, which meant he had so much to explore.

Baekhyun felt like a kid bouncing around in a candy store, trying to calm himself down and look as uninterested as the rest of the passengers who strolled around as if everything was completely normal and not mind-blowing.

The first thing he did was—of course—buy himself some gelato using his cruise card. His parents had told him that they had given him fifty dollars on the card to spend on the boat, and although the amount was small, Baekhyun still appreciated it a lot.

Once he was satisfied with the amount of sweetness in his stomach, he decided that he should check out his room, remembering the number to be E304. Supposedly, there were 700 rooms on each floor, odd numbers on one side and even on the next. The letters in front were the names for their floors, and in Baekhyun's case, he was on the Emerald floor, floor eight.

His room came with a balcony, desk, bed, closet and washroom, smaller than his hotel room but still comfy nonetheless.

Baekhyun dropped onto his bed, his thoughts going back to Chanyeol at any point that he let his guard down. Well, the brunet reasoned, he was only thinking of Chanyeol in that idol-like way. He admired the guy, not... anything else.

Baekhyun spent the rest of his day exploring the 19 floors of his boat, ignoring the floors for the staterooms and floor 4, which was simply a boring gangway floor. The singer learned that there would be free food at any time of the day—aka Baekhyun's paradise—whether it be in the two buffets on floor 16, or one of the two free restaurants on floor 5. He went to some of the entertainment that the boat supplied; things like musicals, guest shows, concerts, and all that jazz, and when the sky was turning dark and the party life was beginning to show, Baekhyun decided to retreat into his room. He didn't feel like partying that day, although he would usually be all up for that kind of stuff.

The captain made an announcement that they would be arriving in Cartagena at 9 AM and Baekhyun washed himself up, getting ready for the night before plopping down in his bed.

He clicked off the lights to his room and stared out of his window, observing the deep blue sky. They were in the middle of nowhere, so there were no lights or disturbances that would block out the view of the stars, allowing Baekhyun a glance at the sky's freckles.

The thought of floating around in the water was a little weird for Baekhyun, and he found himself struggling to sleep with the thought that Titanic could be re-enacted on this exact boat, but he was eventually lulled to sleep with the thought that tomorrow would be a long day.

It was at ass'oclock that the alarm in Baekhyun's room startled him awake, the shorter jolting at the sound of such an unfamiliar ring. He stared blearily around his dark room, wondering why the sun seemed to be only rising now (because if he remembered correctly, he set his alarm for 8 AM).

That was when he realized that it wasn't his own alarm clock ringing, and he switched off the nuisance without a second thought, burrowing himself back into his abundant amount of sheets.

A few minutes later, feeling curiousity poke at him, he peeked at the time and nearly guffawed, wondering why the alarm—supplied by the boat—would go off at an ungodly hour such as 5 AM. It was only then that he remembered that he had been the idiot to set the alarm so early in the morning, having ordered an alarm that would ring at 5 AM because he "wanted to experience everything fully".

He groaned, knowing that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep with the thought that he'd be missing some thing(s) while on the cruise. After mentally cursing his stupid self, he slipped out of bed and quickly washed up, finishing when the sun seemed to be just peeking up over the horizon.

Quickly, he grabbed his phone and slipped on some shoes, bounding down to floor 7 to step out on the deck.

The wind that greeted him was a little chilly, but along with the cold, it also washed a feeling of awe over him; like the sunlight draping over the sea's surface. Baekhyun approached the side of the boat, leaning his arms on the tall railing as he overlooked the little ripples in the water, the deep blue lightening with each passing second.

In the middle of the sea—without any buildings, land, or artificial light, the sun's glow seemed to illuminate the obscure, chasing away the remnants of night and darkness. He let out a breath of content, feeling the tension of the unknown slipping past him and disappearing as he enjoyed the entire experience, following the slow ascent of their sun.

The same wistful noise came from beside him and he took his gaze away from the view, focusing instead on the one meters away from him. He leaned his head to the side, catching a better look at the figure and smiling as he wondered how his mind managed to conjure the weirdest of things when it was happy. Baekhyun briefly wondered if he was still dreaming—if he had fallen back to sleep after hearing his alarm clock and was now imagining the other standing there, the backdrop of the sky sending shadows over his features.

Chanyeol was there, arms crossed and leaning similarly against the railing as the breeze ruffled his hair, head tilted up with the ghost of a smile on his face. His eyes were closed as he too basked in the feeling of floating around somewhere on the sea, seeming to have no care in the world.

After staring at him and deciding that the entire thing wasn't a dream, Baekhyun found himself feeling relieved. Simply the thought of Chanyeol being on the boat made him a little more at ease. He was the only one who knew Baekhyun in some way or another—hell, he was probably the only other Korean-speaker onboard.

Chanyeol seemed kind; he didn't freak out when Baekhyun was being an ass, he bought food for the two of them, and there was just something about the way they had joked around that night in Barcelona. Baekhyun could feel himself going soft for the taller—if he hadn't already been, considering his little crush for his idol persona.

"I didn't know that you were going to be on this cruise," Baekhyun spoke after catching up with his train of thoughts.

When Chanyeol turned to him, Baekhyun gave him a small smile, a little surprised that the sound of his voice actually carried over the noise of the waves splashing about. The giant took a second to process that it was Baekhyun, but put his gaze back on the sunrise shortly after, his own smile appearing more assured than the one he had on before.

"I kind of figured that we'd be having the same vacation," he answered, the shorter nearly missing the words.

Baekhyun took a few steps closer to him, listening to the way his footsteps ruined the natural silence surrounding them. "And you didn't decide to tell me?" Baekhyun questioned, a teasing lilt present in his voice.

"I thought you'd be intelligent enough to know," Chanyeol replied in the same tone, the brunet laughing at the answer.

"You think you're so clever." Baekhyun clucked his tongue, wishing that he had a pebble to toss into the sea, doing the same as Chanyeol and staring at the view again. He wondered if the drop of a rock would disrupt the waves caused by the boat's movement. "Say... why'd you choose to go on this cruise?"

"Well... Sehun pushed me to do it, really. That's it."

Baekhyun nodded, though he had a feeling that there was a bigger reason for it but decided not to push it, breathing in the fresh air and letting it out in a deep sigh. Now, the sun could be fully seen and the orange in the sky was dissipating to make space for the light blue, their little sunrise viewing coming to a stop.

"And you? Why did you move to New York?" Chanyeol inquired, his fingers tapping a beat onto the smooth wood of the banister.

"Ah... um... It's closer to my parents and Sehun, and my life was pretty boring back in... Seoul..." Baekhyun lied straight through his teeth, hoping that he seemed convincing enough.

It was a little more than obvious now, but Baekhyun didn't live in America even if he had told Chanyeol that he did. He lived in Seoul, and he was only in America because he had decided to stop by at Sehun's for a week or two before officially going on his trip. He didn't know why he had lied to Chanyeol, but it was only one, small, white lie. It wouldn't kill Chanyeol to think he lived in America. It was partly because even if Baekhyun was Chanyeol's closeted fan, at the time he still didn't know if Chanyeol was a creep or bad guy behind his Loey persona. It would be weird now if he told Chanyeol that he actually lived in Seoul and had lied because he didn't trust the guy.

"Yeah, I can understand what you're saying. I used to live in Seoul a long time ago and I moved here but... Honestly, I want to go back someday," Chanyeol said, the shorter turning to look at him when he heard the drop in his voice. Chanyeol looked a little sad, and Baekhyun wondered why that was. "I miss it a lot."

"So why not go back?" Baekhyun questioned, "Instead of going on this long cruise, why didn't you just book a plane over to Seoul?"

A smile appeared on Chanyeol's face and it seemed to be one of longing, but he only shook his head and pushed off the railing, turning to stare at Baekhyun. "I think I'll be going back up to my room now," he smirked, turning the earlier atmosphere back into one of teasing, "Don't miss me too much." With a wink, Chanyeol left and Baekhyun choked on nothing, the entire subject from earlier flying away in the wind as he wondered why Chanyeol deemed that a wink was needed.

He shouldn't perceive the wink as anything special—Chanyeol was most likely straight (if Baekhyun's stalking hypothesis was correct). The wink was probably just a joke, and Baekhyun shouldn't over think it.

Besides, it's just a celebrity crush, Baekhyun reminded himself.

Yeah, right.

◦•◦❋◦•◦

10 AM found Baekhyun preparing to leave the boat, the sight of Cartagena being enough motivation for him to leave the buffet and explore the city instead. If he was saying the truth, he'd say that he was extremely nervous to travel around an unknown city all alone—without a tour guide nor partner.

He wondered where Chanyeol was; if he was currently in the city or still roaming around the boat somewhere. He sort of wished that he had suggested touring the city together (if Chanyeol didn't already have a personal tour guide) and now he was really regretting it, because he didn't understand Spanish nor English so how the hell did he expect to get anywhere?

Baekhyun stepped off of the gangway and into the humid air, fixing the cap on his head before setting off into the city. It looked relatively small, and it seemed to be a pit-stop compared to the rest of the cities he knew he'd be exploring. He was internally grateful, hoping to be able to travel the entire place by foot.

He had his map held out in front of him the entire time, watching the old buildings pass by him with every step he took, taking his time to appreciate other things. He managed to find himself in a nice-looking alleyway, stopping as he stared at a display case with a fermented snake and other, mysterious things. Pulling up his camera, he took a picture of that and many other things, using them as a souvenir and also as a landmark for when he needed to get back.

Soon, he found himself sitting in what seemed to be a mini-park, the trees tall over his head and the normal wooden benches replaced by smoothed down rocks. He sat down and browsed through his pictures, taking a little break. Just as he was passing by one of his favourite pictures, he saw, from his peripheral vision, that someone sat down beside him.

Clicking his camera off, he turned to the person and grinned when he spotted Chanyeol, the taller looking equally tired as he felt. Chanyeol pulled off his hat and ran his hand through his ashy hair before placing it back again, his ears only seeming to become more obvious with his hat on.

"I didn't know that I was being followed."

Chanyeol snorted. "As if."

"Then what brings you over to my rock?" Baekhyun questioned, amused with the way that Chanyeol's lip quirked at his words.

"I was taking a break," Chanyeol pointed out, the shorter laughing incredulously.

Baekhyun decided not to tease Chanyeol any further, even when there were a dozen other rocks and Chanyeol could've chosen to sit on any one of them.

They did nothing but stare at the distance, after that. It was incredibly comforting; being around Chanyeol, and Baekhyun was starting to realize that more and more every time he met the guy again.

"Hey," the shorter began, knowing that it would be a waste to let this feeling go, "How about you become my travel buddy?" He had asked this with a tilt to his head, a smile on his face as he stared at Chanyeol.

The other turned to look at Baekhyun, momentarily caught because of the view of Baekhyun with a cute hat that said: "Off I go!", the green trees in the background ruffling according to the wind.

It didn't take a second thought for Chanyeol to agree. "Sure."

And that's how they got there, climbing up a long flight of stairs that lead to the highest point in the city (if they didn't count the strange, medieval looking castle that stood a few meters higher on the outskirts of town).

Baekhyun's legs were aching and the sun was beating down on his back, but he continued on anyway, internally grateful for his abundant use of sunscreen that morning. Chanyeol didn't seem so bad, his longs legs allowing him to skip a step every time without faltering for even a second.

It was only after another small flight of stairs—this time made out of rock and a little unstable, which meant they were close to the top—that their little journey was finished.

Baekhyun couldn't even catch his breath, the view of the city from up on the mountain refraining him from doing anything of the sort. Up there, the wind was strong and it made the sun a little more bearable, the temperature cooling down a few notches.

The brunet let his guard down for a few seconds, and that was enough for the breeze to pick his map out of his hand, a little noise of protest leaving his mouth before he was going and reaching for it. He felt a hand grab his arm closest to the inside, his footsteps halted as he watched the map fly away in the distance, destined to land somewhere between the rows of buildings below.

"Are you serious?" He heard Chanyeol say, his tone reprimanding. "You were going to step off the damn platform for a map?"

Baekhyun looked down and realized that he was indeed close to the edge (he would've only fallen a few meters down, because the mountain seemed to have layers) but he understood how dumb that probably was, chasing after his map like a puppy would a butterfly.

He let out a laugh, taking a few steps back when Chanyeol freed him.

He willed himself to forget the map that he hoped to keep as a souvenir, turning in a circle to fully take in the view.

"You should take a few pictures of me," Baekhyun said, lifting up his camera and cringing when the strap stuck to his neck because of his sweat. He handed Chanyeol the camera when the taller held his hand out, warning him not to drop it lest he wanted to pay a couple thousand. It was his baby, after all, and his parents had paid 2000 dollars for it.

"D750," Chanyeol whistled when he saw what kind of camera he had, "Do you take pictures a lot?"

"Sometimes," Baekhyun said, pursing his lips, "Only when I feel like it." Chanyeol clicked the camera and Baekhyun scowled, only to hear the shutter flickering again. "I haven't even posed yet."

Chanyeol seemed to ignore his words and Baekhyun began doing general poses, like holding his arms out and smiling a big, blinding smile. He posed according to where he would post the pictures (the first one was for his parents, the second one with him looking cool would be for his Facebook) and they finished after Chanyeol took around five pictures.

When the camera was in Baekhyun's posession again, he backed up a few steps, careful of the ledge, and bent down on one knee to take pictures of Chanyeol. At first, the younger only raised his eyebrow at Baekhyun, wondering what his intentions were but figuring out mere seconds later. After that, he began posing just as Baekhyun had—with the exception that he didn't smile even half as wide as Baekhyun had.

"Remind me, you're a model, right?" Baekhyun asked, the teasing smile on his face showing that he was obviously messing around.

"Flattering," Chanyeol deadpanned, right as Baekhyun took a picture of him.

"That, was flattering," Baekhyun said with a small laugh, staring at the picture he just took of Chanyeol. "That was probably your best picture yet. Congratulations."

The celebrity rolled his eyes but didn't bother too much, since he knew there were worse pictures of him on the internet anyway.

Baekhyun took a couple more before they decided to head back down and explore the rest of the city. There, they entered the Italian version of a dollar store, purchasing a few knick knacks that would serve as better souvenirs than a map.

The next three hours were spent fooling around, the shorter having found a decorative umbrella that he used to smack Chanyeol with, while the latter, being the creative and childish idiot he was, sprayed Baekhyun with a spray bottle labeled "rat" (but only contained water). Their little trip in Cartagena ended with the two of them watching a high school band perform and buying overpriced drinks that ended up being wasted on Chanyeol's part since he had spilled it right after two sips.

They returned to the ship dead tired and positively sweaty, but scheduled to be on deck 16 (aka buffet land) half an hour later, agreeing that they should wash up before doing anything more.

It was seven when they met up again, eating food and chatting away casually and now it was Chanyeol who was realizing how comfortable he felt with the shorter, having known him for only two days. Those two days felt longer than they usually did—mostly when they were on vacation.

They missed the sunset because they spent too long trying to figure out why the cake tasted like it did ("I swear to god that there's orange in here!"; "No you stupid ass, they used grapes"). They vowed to watch the sunset tomorrow.

"This boat apparently has internet," Baekhyun stated as they sat on the outdoor lounge chairs, Boss Baby playing on the huge screen above their heads. "Well, they only have internet for their own site..." Baekhyun pouted, bummed out that he couldn't use his social media—the internet cost money, and it wasn't exactly cheap.

Chanyeol snorted, playing a game on his phone as Baekhyun checked out the activities on the boat's site.

"Hey, there's a show coming up," Baekhyun said, leaning over and showing Chanyeol the screen of his phone. Chanyeol glanced at it and read the information, noticing that they only had ten minutes before it started.

"Then let's go," he answered, frankly bored with his game now.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in the theatre, waiting for the show to start. The two of them hadn't checked to see which show it was but they expected a cruise like this to have top quality shows so they weren't necessarily worried. Baekhyun looked over to Chanyeol who was playing Bouncy Hero while waiting for the show to start, wondering what the taller thought about him. What if it was obvious that Baekhyun had a crush on him? What if Chanyeol was secretly super grossed out but kept him there as a charity case?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a singular spotlight turned on and a man walked out, that man apparently being a welcomer. The man said a few things that Baekhyun couldn't understand (because they were all said in English) and he glanced over at Chanyeol one last time to see him nodding along, before the curtains began rising.

The two Koreans didn't know what to expect, but they certainly didn't think they'd find eight or nine girls prancing up to the front of the stage, an upbeat song turning on as the inappropriately dressed actors began dancing. They were all in dangerously high high-heels and they either had leather or jean booty shorts, fishnet stockings covering the rest of their legs. To top it all off, their makeup was over exaggerated and their wigs were huge, but that was art, they supposed. That was most likely the theme of the show, and though they weren't against any of the stuff happening, they were still uncomfortable.

A few minutes in, when Chanyeol couldn't take it anymore, he grabbed Baekhyun's arm and lead the two of them outside of the theatre, the shorter a little confused yet glad that Chanyeol left—confused because, well, he didn't know if Chanyeol was into that sort of stuff or not.

"Um... why did we..."

"Sorry," Chanyeol said, looking a bit sheepish, "That show was a little too intense for me and I kinda grabbed you on instinct."

"Oh," Baekhyun said stupidly, "Well um, I don't mind being pulled out. It was a little crazy for me too."

Chanyeol smiled, the two of them making their way down to the lounge where they could listen to a pro pianist play. Baekhyun thought that the discussion was already over, taking a seat in one of the sturdy and comfortable chairs in the lounge. He was ready to lean back and bask in the classical music, but Chanyeol said one last thing that had to rouse his thoughts.

"I'd rather it be boys, anyway."

Baekhyun had blinked once or twice, taking a little while to understand the statement, before his face flushed, the new info making his heart sing yet his brain embarrassed. He bit his lip to stop the smile from appearing on his face—and damn, he was acting so nervous all of a sudden.

Because, well, that was nice to know.

Chanyeol liked guys too.

◦•◦✽◦•◦

The info that he received did not help him in the slightest the next day, when they traveled Gibraltar together. They spent a few hours wandering the streets, and then took an expensive cab up onto the rock of Gibraltar, stopping at Michael's Cave on the way. Baekhyun had laughed when Chanyeol almost slipped off the stairs in the cave and Chanyeol retorted in laughing when Baekhyun squeaked and said that something apparently touched him on the arm. They visited the Moorish Castle after and finally they reached the top of the rock of Gibraltar.

There, they met the macaques, which were a famous species for being assholes. Those monkeys were known for stealing people's stuff and ripping it to shreds or eating any food possible. Baekhyun had made the mistake of missing the sign that said not to bring ice cream to the top and he got attacked, a young macaque jumping on his shoulder and swiping it from his hands.

He was equal parts scandalized and scared, and he basically glued himself behind Chanyeol for the rest of the trip up there, flinching whenever a monkey so much as looked his way. Chanyeol found the entire situation cute but didn't comment on it, only shifting a little in Baekhyun's way when there was a macaque and Baekhyun backed away.

The day after that was a day at sea, and the two spent it entering contests of singing in the secondary, smaller theatre, eating pizza at Alfredo's, and then finally watching another show that was more to their taste. By that point, they were completely comfortable with each other and sometimes Chanyeol would even go to Baekhyun's room to play a board game with him when they were bored. The captain had made several announcements that the wind was extremely strong, going at 40KM/H and that everyone should avoid going to the top decks in case something happened.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun didn't want to do any of that, and instead they were sitting on Baekhyun's bed, a board game in between them.

"I'm excited for Marseille tomorrow," Baekhyun said as he moved the little piece on the board, waiting for Chanyeol to roll the dice and do the same. "I've always wanted to go to France."

"Yeah? I think I'm waiting for Rome. It was my favourite to study back in school," Chanyeol stated, scowling when he made a bad move and had to return to the beginning.

"The fall of Rome," Baekhyun said overdramatically, "Or more like, the fall of Chanyeol," he joked, pressing his little piece onto the tile that said YOU WIN! and grinning when Chanyeol pouted.

"Who cares. I'm better at reading maps than you," he bragged, mentioning the time that Baekhyun had been going the completely opposite way (he made them go an extra two hours in Gibraltar).

"You're not that great either," Baekhyun retorted.

They debated on who was worse up until the point that Chanyeol checked the time, deciding that he should head back to his room because it was 1 AM.

Baekhyun nodded and waved him goodbye, cleaning up the game when Chanyeol left. He noticed that the other left his cap back and quickly left the room, looking in the hallways to check where he went but frowning when he couldn't find him.

"That guy just vanished into thin air," Baekhyun sighed, shaking his head.

Little did he know that Amanda wasn't very creative, and Chanyeol was actually staying in the room right next to his own.

The next morning, Baekhyun woke up to the sound of captain Bob Oliver announcing something that his groggy mind couldn't make out, until he heard the words canceling the trip, day at sea, too strong winds—and Baekhyun was jumping out of bed, nearly screaming no when he realized that they had to cancel their trip to Marseille because it was too dangerous to dock with all the wind.

He threw on some clothes, going out of the room to see if any people were going to protest and overthrow the captain (he was over exaggerating,) and went onto floor seven where the reception desk was, feeling mildly proud that there was a huge line asking for help. He joined, only planning to see what answers everyone received and after a few minutes, noticed that every answer was basically the same. "We will compensate you for this loss," the woman behind the desk repeated over and over, and Baekhyun decided to save her time and step out of line. There were a few discussions on what that compensation would be, but an hour later, when the buzz died down, Bob Oliver stated that he'd allow everyone on the ship free tickets to the most expensive restaurant currently on board, alongside a refund of the money they would have spent for Marseille (a couple hundred, at least).

At around noon, Baekhyun fell back on his bed, letting out a long sigh as he stared out the balcony window. They hadn't even made it close to Marseille but had to turn back because of strong winds.

He was undoubtedly feeling under the weather (the shitty weather that caused all of this) and he rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. He was ready to deflate completely and sleep away the day but he heard a few knocks on his door, listening for the "Steward" just in case it was a worker.

When none of that happened, he lifted his face from where he had shoved it and quickly sat up, smoothing his hair down.

He anticipated that it would be Chanyeol, his normal reaction of skidding to the door like a child and greeting the taller being replaced with him wordlessly opening the door, turning and letting Chanyeol enter himself. It wasn't helping that Chanyeol was smiling like he had good news, when basically nothing could be good news to a person who just had their dreams crushed.

When Baekhyun spotted the slight frown (arguably a pout, but Chanyeol would never admit to that) on the taller's face, he instantly felt guilty for his mood, letting out a sigh.

"Sorry I just... You know how I wanted to go to France..."

Chanyeol nodded wordlessly and the shorter thought that Chanyeol was still offended, until he suddenly told Baekhyun to change clothes.

"H-Huh?" Baekhyun questioned, wondering how he should take Chanyeol's words. Change? Like, in front of him? Baekhyun was already red from the thought, and when Chanyeol caught the sight he laughed, promptly sitting down on the bed with his hands suspiciously behind his back.

"They apparently have many events planned for today, in payment for the mess that happened so I figured... Why waste it all, you know?" he began, pursing his lips as he tilted his head, "I know you really wanted to go to France and I felt bad and... and here." Chanyeol suddenly pulled out the mysterious object from behind his back, and Baekhyun stared blankly at the item for a second or two.

It was a brown bear.

It had light brown fur and it wasn't one of the floppy ones with legs that hung straight down, rather it was permanently in a sitting position, its arms and legs short and stubby and rather cute in Baekhyun's opinion. It was wearing the Captain's uniform, complete with the little hat placed on top of its head. Baekhyun had to stop himself from cooing, because its face was seriously cute and he was suddenly questioning how a stuffed bear could have him going all soft—or maybe it was just Chanyeol giving it to him that made his heart melt.

"It... It's so cute," Baekhyun said after a moment or two, tentatively reaching his hands out. Baekhyun took the bear with two hands wrapped around its midsection, under its arms and over the captain's shirt. The little black tie on the front was making Baekhyun mentally tear up, feeling like some proud mom for her child.

"I saw it this morning and it reminded me of you, and I didn't want you to be that disappointed that we missed Marseille so..." Chanyeol seemed nervous for once, his hand placed on the back of his neck as he waited for Baekhyun to say more.

"Thank you," Baekhyun answered, somehow incredibly touched by the childish act that had just passed. It seemed silly that Chanyeol bought him a stuffed animal to cheer him up, but it couldn't have been that silly if it worked. "I like it—I really like it."

Chanyeol grinned at him and Baekhyun tucked the animal in the crook of his bent right arm, thinking up of a name. "I think his name will be Olibob," Baekhyun spoke up after a minute of thinking. "Because he's the captain, but Bob Oliver is boring and Olibob sounds like 'all aboard'."

"Creative," Chanyeol complimented, feeling the same way Baekhyun did staring at the stuffy, but to the male himself. He checked the clock on Baekhyun's bedside table and the shorter followed the action, realizing that they were probably missing some of the events. "There's a string quartet that's going to be performing soon. I thought you'd want to be dressed a little more fancy tonight."

Baekhyun looked down at his clothes, agreeing that his yellow t-shirt and his blue jeans wouldn't look the most flattering on a 5-star boat.

"I'm going to change," Baekhyun began, slowly adding: "In the washroom..."

Chanyeol snorted, falling back onto the bed. "I wasn't asking for you to change in front of me—unless, I mean, you want to."

"Like hell I do!" Baekhyun squeaked.

◦•◦❀◦•◦

Their afternoon had been relaxing yet extremely amusing, with Baekhyun attempting to speak English to one of Chanyeol's friends that he had recently met (and failing extremely, might he add,) doing a treasure hunt in the art section, and eating some more Gelato together.

Baekhyun had changed into some dark jeans, a white shirt and a blazer, whereas Chanyeol was still wearing his former attire (a white dress shirt tucked neatly into black pants that fit him annoyingly well, with rolled up sleeves that made it look a little more casual).

The time was slowly getting late but the two hadn't noticed, spending all of their time on the boat's deck thinking that only ten minutes had past but soon realizing—with the setting of the sun—that at least half an hour had passed. It was then that the two decided to head inside and do one last thing before retreating back to their rooms.

"Do you want to watch a singer perform?" Chanyeol questioned as he scrolled through the events page. Baekhyun nodded and let Chanyeol lead him to floor seven, past the library where the Vista Lounge was located. The place was a low-ceilinged room with around fifty comfortable seats, placed strategically to be able to spin and converse with people but also watch the small stage up front. Baekhyun and Chanyeol found some seats near the front, sitting down and waiting for the show to begin.

While they waited, Baekhyun leaned over and peaked at Chanyeol's phone, the taller inwardly smiling at how curious Baekhyun was toward anything that he didn't know. Chanyeol was playing one of the ten games that he had downloaded specifically for wasting some time in Europe (whether it be in airports, waiting rooms; whatnot) and Baekhyun was watching intently.

"You suck," Baekhyun pointed out when Chanyeol died again.

The taller snorted but didn't comment further on it, playing another round, dying, and then handing it to Baekhyun when it was obvious that the brunet wanted to try. He beat Chanyeol's high score easily and was about to brag about it until he was (thankfully, in Chanyeol's case,) interrupted by the intro of a song.

The two looked up and saw the curtains opening, a man in a shiny silver suit gliding across the stage. Baekhyun felt as if he recognized this man—he was about as short as him and he looked Asian, plus his voice was familiar.

It clicked in his mind that this was Kim Jongdae, the person that Baekhyun had trained with for a year or two. His eyes widened in shock, wondering how the boy had gotten to learn English fluently like this and perform on a cruise ship. Jongdae was holding a mic equally as flashy as his suit and he was belting out all of the high notes perfectly, receiving cheers and claps from the audience.

It was only after 3 songs that Jongdae stopped to talk to the audience a bit, the spotlight changing to a soft yellow as he sat down.

"Hi, my name is Kim Jongdae," he introduced, and Baekhyun only understood it because that same phrase was in his handbook of Common English Phrases for Traveling Overseas.

For the next ten minutes, Chanyeol and the rest of the audience laughed at all the clever jokes that Jongdae said, and Baekhyun couldn't help but feel left out. Why couldn't Jongdae just speak Korean so that he could be the one laughing?

Baekhyun was evidently sulking now, slumped in his seat with his arms crossed as he watched Jongdae talk animatedly about a dog or something. He should've expected this—because the other shows that they watched were all in English too, and he could only sit there and appreciate the nice aesthetic. He hadn't sulked the first times, but now he was a little jealous, because Jongdae came from the same music school as he but here he was, with an actual crowd filled with rich people who were complimenting his singing and talent.

He was suddenly thinking about the few comments he got on the music videos his company released of him and he felt bitter, but tried to shake the thought away.

I'm going on this cruise for a reason, Baekhyun thought to himself. He needed to refresh himself instead of thinking back to his failing career.

After one last laugh, Jongdae began singing again, reminding Baekhyun all over again about how there were so many people that were more talented than he—but then again, he was reminded every day by his managers and ceo anyway.

Jongdae's show time was slowly coming to a stop and Baekhyun realized this because the crowd (including Chanyeol) all boo'd when he said something and pouted.

In his next sentence, Baekhyun recognized the word "dance" and "mom" and that's all the info he got before Jongdae began singing a slow, ballad type of song.

Before he knew it, Chanyeol was grabbing his hand and making both of them stand, leading them to the middle of the rows. The space was only around three meters wide and the length of the rows but Chanyeol didn't seem to mind, because his hands were on Baekhyun's waist and they were now swaying to the music. Baekhyun had hesitantly placed his arms over Chanyeol's shoulders, linking his hands behind his neck as he furrowed his eyebrows. Chanyeol leaned forward, his head nearly next to Baekhyun's as he tried to be heard over the sound of Jongdae singing.

"Jongdae wanted us to dance," Chanyeol explained (finally, in a language that Baekhyun could understand). His voice was low and different from the person currently singing at the stage, and it sent shivers down Baekhyun's spine, the shorter feeling infinitely grateful that Chanyeol hadn't noticed. "There was no one doing it so I thought, why not?"

"B-But," Baekhyun began, stuttering and mentally cursing himself, "The people will think we're together."

"Who cares," Chanyeol finished the discussion, grinning before he leaned back again.

It was when the spotlight was directed at them that Baekhyun turned even more nervous, realizing that people usually remembered things like this (who wouldn't remember the Asian, supposedly gay couple dancing on a European cruise?). He heard the crowd cheering at them but that didn't make him any less nervous, because this meant that everyone's attention was on him.

He was pulled out of his worries when Chanyeol's hands squeezed his waist the smallest bit, and he glanced up at Chanyeol's face only to wince at the bright spotlight shining right in his eyes. Though, a second later, when Chanyeol swayed a little to the right and his head blocked the light, he found himself mesmerized. It was only a short moment in time but Baekhyun knew that he'd remember it forever; the view of Chanyeol staring down at him with a small smile on his face, the light behind him acting as some sort of halo for his hair—and his hands, warm and comforting on his hips.

Suddenly, Baekhyun wished that Chanyeol remembered this moment forever.

He hoped he would, because if Chanyeol saw Baekhyun in the same light that the shorter had seen him, he was sure the memory would live on.

Baekhyun did end up messing up a few minutes in, stepping on his own foot and nearly bringing both of them down, but instead of hiding his face in Chanyeol's chest like he was terribly inclined to do, he laughed when Chanyeol did too.

Chanyeol's laugh was pretty; a deep chuckle that would usually be placed in the category of "hot" but reminded the brunet more of a chilly fall day. The type of day that anyone could be persuaded into taking a walk outside.

The thought of the people around them faded away and Baekhyun suddenly had this insane urge to hug Chanyeol, someone he had met for only five days. He somehow made everything okay, even if things weren't okay (flashback to the moment he had cut his palm with a butter knife during breakfast, giving Baekhyun a cheeky smile and saying that he was fine). Baekhyun had spent those five days entirely with Chanyeol, and he kept learning new things about him that made his heart flutter in the slightest ways.

He looked up at Chanyeol's eyes and had a glimpse of them before the spotlight was abruptly taken off of them and was focused on Jongdae again, but Baekhyun didn't miss it.

That same adoration that he held toward Chanyeol was reflected in the taller's eyes.

People were beginning to settle down and focus on Jongdae again, the little dancing fiasco slowly disappearing in their minds... but Baekhyun wasn't ready to let go of this moment yet.

So he didn't, listening to his earlier urges and swiftly wrapping his arms around Chanyeol's waist before he could go back and sit down. It was obvious that Chanyeol was shocked—mostly with the way that his arms awkwardly stood in the air for a couple of seconds—until he chuckled, patting Baekhyun's head that had somehow leaned against his shoulder.

It felt good; being held by Chanyeol. And Baekhyun realized, dreadfully, that he was in way too deep.

◦•◦✿◦•◦

By the time Chanyeol found Baekhyun's presence familiar to him, he realized how fast he started liking the shorter with him.

Their dry and idiotic humour was the same, coupled with the fact that they both loved teasing to the point the other would have a faint (strong) blush on their faces. If Baekhyun wasn't, well, Baekhyun, Chanyeol would've felt that he had been flirting with someone the entire time. But he was Baekhyun, and since he was himself, the actions came so easily that Chanyeol couldn't believe it could've been called flirting.

Baekhyun was just a good friend. A very good friend.

When Chanyeol woke up and found out that it was another day at sea, a smile appeared on his face when he thought about things to cheer Baekhyun up with. Yeah—Baekhyun was just a "very good friend" but unlike how the celebrity usually thought (cheering people up was boring and tedious, as well as useless), it made him happy when he cheered up the brunet.

What he didn't know was that Baekhyun was already cheered up, simply by looking at Olibob, his new favourite stuffed animal.

It made Baekhyun smile, thinking about Chanyeol buying that bear just for him.

Baekhyun left his room happily and knocked on Chanyeol's door, waiting for him to exit before they started their daily "let's do as much as possible."

When Chanyeol came out, they went to the lounge on floor seven to play Jenga. The first two rounds were both in Chanyeol's favour, who was glad that he could choose a punishment for Baekhyun should he win one more (best out of five, changed after Baekhyun started whining about best out of three being unfair).

Baekhyun was currently leaned over in his spot, arm raised as his fingers poked at the block that he had regrettably picked—and because of their stupid rule, he couldn't choose a different one now that he had touched it. He poked and prodded for another few seconds before sighing defeatedly, admitting his defeat silently.

Baekhyun pushed the block with enough force for the entire tower to be crumbling over, doing it as a dramatic joke for his loss. Instead of blocks flying everywhere and a punishment set on his head, all that happened was the flight of a single block, smacking Chanyeol's kneecap before landing on the ground.

"Hey!" Baekhyun exclaimed in joy, surprised that he had actually taken out that block without having the tower tip over fully.

Chanyeol scoffed, hardly believing that it was even possible for him to lose this time.

He was wrong, because the block Baekhyun had pushed out made everything that much harder, and the tower fell when Chanyeol so much as touched it.

"Winner winner chicken dinner!" Baekhyun stuck out his tongue, laughing when Chanyeol threatened to smack him playfully.

"Why are you so immature?"

"Why are you pretending that you're not just as immature?"

Chanyeol rolled his eyes but he accepted the truth, because Baekhyun unfortunately knew a lot, if not everything about his personality. Spending every second of the day with Baekhyun was really unveiling parts of himself that he wasn't planning on sharing with other people—at least, ever since he joined the cooking show.

He used to act very much like how he acted around Baekhyun. He'd say that it was his "true" self, or whatever people called it nowadays, but after the scrutiny of the public and the gleeming lense of the camera, he hid that part of himself. Instead of laughing with a twitching eye and hitting whoever was closest to him; acting like his egotistical self and complimenting his features; speaking his mind on whatever he wanted to, he acted as the cold "Korean Prince" on Junmyeon's dumb show.

It wasn't that he was mean to the contestants or to the other judges, he just mostly felt left out. He was the only Asian after all, and the only one to not have a proper... degree for taste-testing. He didn't really know what he needed to qualify for a cooking show, honestly. It started with him not knowing what the hell the other judges were saying, being left out of discussions and ignored because of his apparently unqualified opinion, to him knowing more than the others, yet still alone because he never really got around to talking to them.

Plus, he had very specific taste. He knew what was technically considered "good" but the people who won in Chanyeol's ranks were the people who had creativity (and didn't use too many hot ingredients, because only god knows that he can't handle spicy food).

He was brought back to the present when Baekhyun stopped ranting about whatever it was that he was ranting about, merely staring at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol stared back, subconsciously searching for emotion in Baekhyun's eyes, wondering what he was thinking about.

"Yes?" he eventually asked, after a while of silent observance.

Baekhyun blinked once before he shook his head, a smile appearing on his face as he returned to stacking the Jenga blocks. "What kind of music do you generally listen to?"

"That was random, why?"

The brunet's jaw dropped and he scoffed, "That was not random. If you were actually listening earlier, you would've known that I've been talking about singers this whole time."

"Oh," Chanyeol grinned apologetically. "Sorry, and I listen to RnB, Future Bass... Any type of EDM, really."

Baekhyun pursed his lips, nodding. "I see. Anything other than weird metallic noises?"

"They're not weird, and yeah. Sometimes I stumble across ballad-jazz singers... Like BBH, for example..." Chanyeol trailed off, suddenly recalling how Baekhyun's voice resembled that of BBH's a lot. Even his initials were the same.

His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the top of the table in confusion, questioning if he had actually been talking to BBH this entire time.

But when he remembered that Baekhyun's been living in New York for some time now, he found that impossible. Surely the company would release something saying that their idol was moving to a whole other country. BBH was probably still in Seoul, working on something new for Chanyeol's abnormally large ears.

"Is BBH your favourite?" Baekhyun asked, a secretive smile on his face that made Chanyeol's stomach feel strange.

"For genres more focused on singing, yes."

Baekhyun bit his lip and Chanyeol watched in wonder as the shorter tried to hold back a smile, the trademark crinkling at the side of his eyes a big sign.

"I like jazz a lot," Baekhyun said after recomposing. "The iconic artists like Ella Fitzgerald just really make me happy."

Chanyeol associated Baekhyun's smile with the fact that he was glad that Chanyeol liked jazz, and not because of some secret he had or anything.

"Ella Fitzgerald? Never heard of her."

"You're kidding!" Baekhyun yelled, alerting some of the other people playing games around them.

Chanyeol shook his head and Baekhyun looked so scandalized, making the taller laugh. "When was she popular? I didn't really get into music until a lot later on in my life."

"I don't know, search it up," Baekhyun waved his hand.

"And you say she's your favourite."

"Shut up."

Chanyeol searched up the artist on his phone, because he actually paid for the on-board internet unlike Baekhyun, who was going internet-less for the entire trip. He complained about it a lot to Chanyeol.

"Ella Fitzgerald, the queen of jazz, born on April 25, 1917. Died in 1996," Chanyeol read aloud, Baekhyun nodding along to that info. "Well, I definitely didn't listen to any of her music when I was 4."

"She was a legend, her music didn't die with her you dimwit."

Chanyeol set his phone down and disregarded Baekhyun's comment, instead focusing back on the Jenga game at hand.

"Let's get this finished. I need to beat you before the music game show starts," Chanyeol stated, referring to the game show happening every night. Supposedly the winners got prizes, and the two of them agreed to go that night.

"Bring it on."

The next half an hour was spent agonizingly slow, each of them making careful moves, with Chanyeol groaning most of the time. Things were having an unexpected turn, and it was only looking worse and worse for Chanyeol.

In the end, after countless mistakes on Chanyeol's part, Baekhyun somehow won 3-2, having won two more games because of the new trick that he called the "flick".

Baekhyun laughed triumphantly for a whole ten seconds, before a mischevious expression replaced his victorious one. "So... now you have to do what I say."

Chanyeol sighed but nodded his head, accepting his demise. He wasn't even that upset, to be honest. He knew Baekhyun wouldn't make him do something rash.

"To be honest I don't actually know what to ask from you..." Baekhyun admitted and Chanyeol shrugged, telling Baekhyun to ask him to answer any question, do some sort of tedious task or dare. "Answer any question, huh?" Baekhyun pondered on the thought, tapping a finger on his chin cutely.

Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun and he found the corners of his lips twitching, catching himself in the act and wondering how he started reacting to Baekhyun like this. The only times he did things like this was when he... fancied someone.

"Who is your romantic interest right now?" Baekhyun all of a sudden asked, and Chanyeol's eyes widened. He swore it was supposed to be speak of the devil and he shall appear, not think.

"What, are we in elementary school again?" Chanyeol joked, hoping that Baekhyun would see the childishness of his question and move on. Unfortunately, Baekhyun didn't.

"No, we're grown adults and I'm asking you if you're interested in someone, mister popular celebrity. Do you know what kind of drama I'm getting right now?" Baekhyun questioned, making Chanyeol frown.

Deciding to go with it, he just hummed. "There's not really anyone right now..."

It was Baekhyun's turn to frown this time, but then he ended up smiling with that mischevious look again. "Oh come on, how about this, then? Describe who your current love interest is. I know there's someone—" Baekhyun gasped, "Is it Jeremy? Your gay friend from the cooking show?"

Chanyeol nearly gagged, because "Jeremy", gay dude on the same show as him, was a complete asshole and definitely racist. He was always making comments that he claimed were "jokes", even if everyone knew he was saying his honest opinion.

"No—god, no."

"Describe them, then. You have to, because I won fair and square."

Chanyeol grunted. "Well, if I really have to then..."

He wasn't lying when he said that he didn't really have a love interest, though there was someone interesting... Someone who had been taking up more and more of his time—more and more of his thoughts.

That person was sitting in front of him.

"Good at singing," Chanyeol started off, the shorter nodding as he listened intently. "Shorter than me—cute." He unknowingly started listing off the things he found in Baekhyun. "Has the same humour as me, which is definitely the best humour; sometimes sarcastic but knows when to take things seriously... A bright smile, and a cute—a really cute laugh." Chanyeol was about to continue on and explain how morning hair always somehow looked adorable on this mysterious person, how this person ate food in a strange but endearing way, how radiance basically shone off of this person and how when he tried imitating English words this person sounded absolutely lovable... but he stopped when he saw Baekhyun's downcast look. "Baek?"

Baekhyun snapped out of it and looked back into Chanyeol's eyes. "Huh?"

"Uh... Is that all you wanted to know?"

The brunet smiled, "Yeah. Let's go to the music game show now."

◦•◦✾◦•◦

It was safe to say that both Chanyeol and Baekhyun were experts at this game.

It was a couple game—for friends, families or lovers, and the two had paired together. They were being filmed along with five other couples, all answering music questions thrown at them. It felt like they were in some sort of sitcom, with how much the crowd was laughing whenever someone got a question so wrong.

The two of them were used to the camera filming them, and the host reassured them that the footage was only going to be shown to passengers of the boat for one week, just as some sort of entertainment on their TVs back in the sleeping rooms.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun answered each question correctly, using white boards to write and answer everything. They were very obviously in the lead, and Baekhyun was hyped up for every question.

At first, he was reluctant to do this because of his little motto thing. The one where people wouldn't remember if he messed up, anyway. Because people would remember if it was on a game show and recorded and played for one week, but he eventually dismissed the thoughts when Chanyeol calmed him down. After all, the prize for winning this was a bottle of wine and $200 to spend on board. Baekhyun could finally get himself some wifi and some fancy sushi.

The host mentioned earlier how it was cute that Chanyeol had to repeat the question to Baekhyun in Korean (and Chanyeol even had to explain the host's words to Baekhyun) and the shorter had only ducked his head and blushed, hoping that the camera didn't catch the colour on his face. He wanted to protest that it wasn't his fault he was Korean, but instead the crowd just laughed and cooed at his reaction.

"What a lovely couple we have," the host had said, again in words that Baekhyun couldn't understand. He stared at Chanyeol for the translation but Chanyeol didn't say anything, only smiling.

The next question seemed to be confusing even for Chanyeol, who repeated it in a weird phrase to Baekhyun. The shorter frowned for a few seconds, watching as the little timer counted down. There were only two more groups to eliminate before they'd be the only group left, and Baekhyun knew they couldn't get this wrong. He thought about the question for a few seconds—some question about folk music that he really didn't listen to—but he stopped trying when Chanyeol suddenly frantically wrote something on the board, a few seconds before the time was up.

When he lifted the board up and they got the answer right, as well as one other group, Baekhyun stared at Chanyeol questioningly. "Sehun listens to that weird music sometimes and I remembered him talking about this specific artist..."

The next question was something that Baekhyun answered easily, even if the couple on the other side seemed to be struggling. He was glad that he studied old artists before he became an idol. Something about knowing music's history.

When the group was buzzed out, Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol with a wide smile on his face, his hands held up for Chanyeol to high five. Chanyeol did, but the two of them ended up holding hands after the impact of the high five, excited about their prize.

"Now," the host suddenly spoke up, "The final round."

Chanyeol stopped his little celebration with Baekhyun and stared confusedly at the host, thinking that the two would simply get the prize and move on with their life. Instead, the guy just had to make this harder.

"The two finalists will go against each other! Let's see who truly has music knowledge!"

The crowd cheered as Chanyeol frowned while Baekhyun just stood there confusedly. After whispering the newfound information to Baekhyun, he too was frowning. They both didn't want to compete against each other.

Of course, they had just done that with Jenga, but this was different. They actually had a prize to win and their pride on the line, and their feelings for the other was conflicting any rational thought.

"Please go on opposite side and pick up a white board. We have one final question!"

Chanyeol told Baekhyun the instructions and sent him an encouraging smile, as if telling him to trust him. Baekhyun did, going to the other side and picking up a whiteboard and marker. He didn't know what he'd do without his personal translator. What if he just didn't understand the question, period? He wouldn't lose that way.

The host spoke some gibberish and Baekhyun caught some words like "question" and "ready". And then, someone from the crowd was walking up to him with their phone, google translate in hand. It seemed they didn't trust Chanyeol to translate the right question to Baekhyun in hopes that he would get the answer wrong.

The translated words on the screen read: "When is Ella Fitzgerald's birthday?"

When he saw the question he felt his heart rate speed up, because the two of them knew the answer to this. He glanced up and saw Chanyeol staring at him for a period of time, seeming to be thinking, before the giant looked back down and wrote an answer on his board.

Baekhyun knew that Chanyeol knew the answer, and though he was itching to win; put the right answer on his board, he didn't.

Because Chanyeol helped him all the time.

Chanyeol translated words for him, made him feel a little safer, lead him around the cities of Europe, bought him things that he really didn't need, kept him company, laughed with him—and he just... made Baekhyun happy.

So he was going to put the wrong answer on purpose.

Of course, a bottle of wine and $200 couldn't possibly repay Chanyeol for all of the kindness that he had shown: not smacking him upside the head when he annoyed him with his singing on the plane, not reporting him for his high-key stalking at the beginning of the trip, not pushing him away even when Baekhyun knew that he was sometimes an asshole...

But he hoped that his wrong answer could show Chanyeol that he was grateful and that... he asked Chanyeol who his love interest was because Chanyeol was in fact Baekhyun's love interest, and the taller's answer earlier regarding his interest had hurt him.

Baekhyun thought Chanyeol liked Jongdae, the singer that had accomplished so much more than himself. He thought the cute and talented singer that Chanyeol was describing was Jongdae.

He shook his head, ridding himself of these thoughts.

The timer on the side had three seconds left, and Baekhyun scribbled down his own birthday instead of the Ella Fitzgerald's, feeling happy. He at least studied English months, even if his writing was probably very messy. "May 6, 1992," was his answer.

Chanyeol totally deserved the prize for this, and Baekhyun was definitely going to give it to him.

When the buzzer rang, Baekhyun lifted up his whiteboard with a grin in Chanyeol's direction, only for it to fall when he saw Chanyeol's own answer.

"November 27, 1992," the board read.

His jaw slackened and his lips parted when he saw Chanyeol's own confused face, their gazes meeting after analyzing the other's answer.

They both put the wrong answer on purpose.

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