Ⓣhis morning when the petite male woke up, his eyes were red and swollen; he was slightly startled as he viewed his own reflection in the bathroom, trying to decide whether going to school was worth it.

"You look horrible," his father commented as he stood by the door frame. "You're still going to school though." 

Baekhyun sighed as he nodded. "I know." 

After getting the morning out of his way, he walked quite slowly towards school. There was no reason to be speeding, not until he heard his name being called from behind, and he recognised the voice immediately.

"Byun Baekhyun!" the high pitched voice screeched after him. "Stop right this instant!"

Baekhyun ignored Jongdae and tried to outrun him, though he had caught up with him and grabbed his hood to stop him.

"What's up with you?" his friend demanded. "Whoa, your eyes," he commented surprised as he finally saw his friend's face, "mate, you've been crying all night or what?" Jongdae realised his joke wasn't as much of a joke after all. "Wait, did you?"

Baekhyun nodded - barely.

"Why? Did something happen?" he asked, now worried.

"Chanyeol," Baekhyun whispered.

"Oh," Jongdae realised. "I'm sorry mate. I know this stuff is hard to deal with."

Baekhyun looked up at him amazed. "Wait, you know how I feel about him?"

Jongdae hesitated slightly. "Well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it? Your feelings, I mean. At one point you hate him with your soul, but now you're all squishy and cosy with him? It kinda adds up, don't you think?" he explained to the smaller one.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Baekhyun mumbled defeated. "How do you reckon he's feeling about me?"

"Honestly Baek, I don't know. He either sincerely care about you or he just wants to get down in your pants. I hope for your sake it isn't the latter. You just have to talk to him, yeah?"

Baekhyun snorted loudly on purpose. They had arrived at the school grounds now, though they still hadn't entered the school building. "Yeah, and say what exactly?" he asked sarcastically. "'Hey Chanyeol. Oh, and by the way, I'm in love with you. I don't really like it when you act like an ass to me, but I do like it when you're telling me how much I mean to you, though I have absolutely no idea whether you mean it or not. You confuse my feelings, but hey, I don't control them, so yeah, there you go.' Brilliant idea Jongdae."

His friend stared in horror behind him, and as Baekhyun spotted his horrified eyes, he guessed the worst case immediately.

"Let's chat later," Jongdae whispered to him before he ran out of sight, leaving Baekhyun nearly to tears, too afraid to turn around.

"Baekhyun," said the same deep voice Baekhyun feared to hear, "was all of that true?"

"What?" Baekhyun said as he put on his tough act the best he could. "Oh, what I just said? Nah, I was just roleplaying with Jongdae," he lied, though the taller student saw through his act, and Baekhyun knew well he did. "Let's talk later, the first period will start soon," he said immediately as he felt the tense air between them and fled right away before the younger male could stop him.

Luckily they didn't share the same classes and Baekhyun had successfully avoided the giant throughout the whole day, though Jongdae kept on telling how much of a pussy he was being. He said to him repeatedly, "you won't know how he's feeling until you actually talk to him, you bloody idiot!" 

Baekhyun knew his friend was right: he couldn't avoid Chanyeol for the rest of his life. Neither would that work nor did he want to. He had to approach him and tell him exactly how he felt and just hope for the best.

As the petite male ran through the corridors to find Chanyeol by his classroom, he nearly head-butted the same person he was looking for as he turned just around the corner.

"Chanyeol," he whispered as he panted slightly.

"Running to avoid me again, like you've done all day?" he asked as he narrowed his eyebrows in annoyance.

The elder felt guilty immediately. "Actually, I was running to find you," he said, "meet me at the playground in ten minutes. We'll talk."

The smaller boy quickly turned around to walk back to his locker, trying to ignore the temptation to glance back to see whether the other was looking his way or not.

Chanyeol had a choice: he could join him at the playground and listen to him or he wouldn't come and leave the elder to himself. It would be obvious he didn't care for him, but if he did decide to appear, at least Baekhyun would know he cared for him at least as a friend.

The senior student sat on the swing on the playground that wasn't too far away from Marble Hills High School. The chilly breeze made goosebumps appear on his skin, though he ignored the feeling. He had been waiting for the guy he had a crush on. It had gone fifteen minutes already. 

Of course, he suspected Chanyeol wouldn't appear. He could be thinking the elder was being ridiculous and being stupid for having feelings for a bad-boy like himself. He had a reputation to hold after all, and who was Byun Baekhyun to ruin that?

"Baekhyun!"

His name being called snapped him out of his thoughts that were turning dark after being alone for too long. His heart speeded up immediately as he spotted the giant running closer towards him with his hands waving violently in every direction.

"God, I was worried you had left already," he panted out of breath. "I'm sorry, the principal held me up as I met him coincidentally in the hallways on my way here. I'm glad you didn't leave."

Baekhyun couldn't help but let tears stream down his cheeks at the sight of Park Chanyeol right in front of him.

"Aw, Baekhyun," Chanyeol hummed softly as he walked closer to him and pulled him into a big, warm hug.

"You came," he whispered with a whimper as he let his tears out in relief. He cared for me after all, he kept thinking to himself. He didn't lie.

"Of course I came," Chanyeol said as he stroke him on the back affectionately. "I care for you Baekhyun. Ever since I got to know the real you, I cared for you."

Baekhyun just wanted it to be silent for a moment. He just had to calm down and get ready to tell the younger one how he felt about him.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol finally spoke after they had been hugging in silence for about some time now. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Chanyeol," Baekhyun said. "I just needed a minute." He finally took a step back and looked up and into the taller male's almond big eyes that made the petite boy's heart flutter. "What you heard me saying," he started, "it's true. All of it."

Chanyeol didn't speak for a second. He seemed to had to let it process into his head. "You think I'm an ass to you?"

Baekhyun let out a light giggle. "That's not the point here, you idiot."

Chanyeol didn't care. He just wanted the elder to smile, even if it was a serious moment. He realised Baekhyun loved him.

"Since when?" he asked, rather stupidly.

Baekhyun was a bit taken aback and flustered by his question. "Since when?" he repeated. "Uhm... I don't know, after spending more time with you? Honestly, is that important?" he asked impatiently.

"No," he replied in a whisper.

"You don't have to say anything, if you're trying to delay it," Baekhyun spoke up as he suspected by Chanyeol's silence was because he didn't know what to say. "I don't really expect an answer. And if you need time to think, you'll, of course, get all the time you need."

Chanyeol seemed frozen by the elder's words. "I don't need time," he said. "I just... when I heard what you said, I don't know how I feel about it. I care about you a lot, and I find you really attractive, but what you want from me is a relationship."

He fell silent for a moment; Baekhyun didn't know whether he was supposed to wait for him or to speak up himself. He was about to say something until the giant spoke up again.

"I'm not good at relationships. I don't treat people good. I don't like following rules, whether it's when I'm at school or when I'm somewhere else. I don't always think about what I do and just rush to things because that's what I want. I'm not a gentle person. My love could be blinded by something else. I could even like another person and abandon the relationship I'm currently in."

Chanyeol had started crying. He kept on and on about bad things about himself, which made Baekhyun tear up as well. He just kept on trying to convince Baekhyun to change his feelings, though he didn't realise he couldn't do that.

"Chanyeol, listen to me. You're not a bad person. You care for people you're close with. Even if that isn't many, you still care with all of your heart. Your habits have nothing to do whether you're good or bad. Your heart is good and pure, which is good enough for me to love it. And even if you don't love me back, I still can't change how I feel about you - "

Just as Baekhyun was about to finish his last sentence, Chanyeol had reached for his hips and pulled him closer to him to kiss him.