Like Night and Day

From the Horizon

Questions roamed the empty, echoing caves of Baekhyun's mind as to what it meant to love someone as genuinely as he loved the last. Warm, soft, and gentle, the boy who unrelentingly held his embrace throughout the night was far more than he deserved—an opinion dark, but true, shared by the masses that pinned the basketball player on the top of their most wanted list. The soft breathing gracing the back of his neck brought comfort, but a dragging feeling to his chest knowing a possibility existed in the universe that perhaps all that was reality could be proven false with time.

Life was like a hurricane, unpredictable in its damaged and unpredictable in existence. In that moment, as Baekhyun lied with Chanyeol's arms wrapped around his aching body, he realized that what they had was more than just a slight storm with a flicker of rain. It was a hurricane, strong in its approach and terrifying in its life, but he knew that he was no longer hiding behind his sand-stacked walls, praying to weather it through without feeling one drop of water. Instead, he was out of his walls, from the safety of his house, his barrier and protection, and was standing on the beaches surrounded by crashing waves, anticipating the dark clouds in the horizon.

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As predicted by Kyungsoo's series of unhindered texts and private proclamations, the weekend passed with a feeling of relief, but not so much a feeling of unity. A decision had been made on Baekhyun's part; one that he knew would cause a split in the relationship he treasured the most. In the decisive moment when Kyungsoo reached out to him, an indication for the brunet to follow the student body president to the second bus, the latter had chosen to take a hold of Chanyeol's hand. As an act to confirm his decision, Baekhyun drew his eyes to the ground as if refusing to watch himself fall from Kyungsoo's grace through the reflection of the president's dark, broken eyes.

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Still feeling slightly weak over his recent sickness, Baekhyun made no move to fall in his usual routine of losing himself in his music as he watched the scenery pass in a blur manner. Understandingly, Chanyeol reached down to his backpack set on the bus floor and pulled out his own cellphone and a pair of earbuds. Then, without needing to ask for permission, he slipped one of the buds in Baekhyun's ear, earning him a curious glance as he put the other in his own.

"I thought that you might want to listen to something," Chanyeol said, smiling softly as he opened his phone's playlist. "I should've charged your phone last night, but I forgot. Good news, though, I took some mental notes about the type of music that you like, so I have some on here that I think you'll be familiar with. Well, I hope."

The player was too busy rambling to see the way Baekhyun watched him as he diligently scrolled through a variety of songs. Biting the inside of his cheek, Baekhyun closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cold window to his left, drowning in thoughts that zipped to and fro between Chanyeol's goodness and Kyungsoo's presence. It was far too much to think about the other when the man beside him went through every precaution to make sure he had a blanket for the early morning air. It hurt for one reason or another to be treated so closely and warm, but Baekhyun was selfish, coming to the acceptance that he knew he liked the way Chanyeol held him like a delicate rose, a breath away from losing all its petals.

His eyes wandered from the basketball player's lips to his cheek to the corner of his brow. Perfection was too much of a word to describe a human flawed by nature, but there was a resistance the brunet felt when the desire to trace the sharp lines of Chanyeol's jaw arose from the vast infinite of his universe. The sound of Chanyeol's soft hum was louder than the music itself, and leaning against his seat, Baekhyun found the urge to give himself the pleasure of humming along with the song, because the giant had been right. He did like that song. Possibly just as he liked...