Like Night and Day

Night of Wonders

The most dangerous thing an individual can ever do is to stop caring. It can render them numb and callous to anything and everything around them. But to Baekhyun, it was the only defense mechanism he had and the only thing he knew would keep the pain away.

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Baekhyun didn't know if the feeling he had in his chest was due to the fact that he was standing in front of his mirror fixing a bow tie, preparing for an event that meant nothing to him or that he was doing it so ghostly passive because, in the back of his mind, he knew Chanyeol wouldn't be the one he'd be opening his front door to. Prom night was as bleak as he imagined, but there was a dryness in his throat that he couldn't quench. His cell phone remained silent the entire time he was preparing, and with a sad thought, Baekhyun knew that if things were slightly different in the universe, the small device would ring every so often, notifying him of text messages sent by his eager boyfriend...

Boyfriend... Baekhyun locked his jaw. He had avoided thinking of the word--him--for the last week and a half, even making sure they rarely ever crossed paths. And when they did... he began to notice how it was always his eyes looking at the giant, never the other way around. For the first time since they met, it was him who was staring.

Adjusting the bow tie around his neck, Baekhyun frowned at his reflection before looking away. He felt disgusted and burdened by his own image, but it was something that he was quick to push back in an attempt to forget and bury it somewhere within his mind. After finishing to what he found was satisfactory, Baekhyun moved aside and walked toward his bedside table, picking up the two prom tickets and his phone.

The LCD screen showed him nothing except a single message from his prom date. No texts from Chanyeol and no calls. It had been that way since that night, and yet, Baekhyun couldn't fathom why in the world his heart felt like it always hoped that the giant's name would somehow appear...

It was undeniable that he missed him... There were shadows underneath his eyes, proof of the fact that sleep was a rare occasion. Although during the day it was easy and effortless to forget the boy he loved, it was always during the night when the longing would sometimes get too unbearable, resulting in the brunet walking out of his house in the dark for a quick walk.

[ Jihoon ]

I'm coming by to pick you up in fifteen minutes.

Simple and curt. If Chanyeol had been his date, for sure there would've been more to the message than just some type of notification. It would've been more sweeter, perhaps with a touch of the giant's clumsy humor within the message and--

Shaking his head, Baekhyun put the phone away in his front pocket, looked at himself one more time before heading downstairs to sit on the porch, waiting for his prom date to arrive.

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He wasn't one to romanticize prom entirely, but there was something about it that was special. Ideally, that is, prom was supposed to be memorable in the right way.

That night was supposed to make him feel happy, but he felt weighed down. Smiling was also supposed to be effortless, but that was more of a struggle than he originally thought it'd be.

The cameras flashing in front of his eyes were beginning to hurt his eyes, but his parents, as well as Nana's, wanted an entire photo album of the two before they left.

"One more picture, Chanyeol. We promise!"

The coddling tones never seemed to end with the false promises of just one more, but with his head high and arms wrapped around Nana's waist, Chanyeol grinned, showing the cameras what they asked for.