Closets Are For Ghosts And Gays | Chanbaek, Chansoo

Take This To Your Grave

"Um..." His hands fidgeted in his lap as he gathered his thoughts. "We've been friends for a while now, you know?"

"Yeah..."

"And, well...we're pretty close. Like, really close."

"Okay."

"So, um..." He stopped, taking his bottom lip between his teeth. There was no way he could confess. Not after keeping this secret to himself for as long as he could remember. It was locked so deep in the depths of his heart, not even Baekhyun's constant pep talks or Kyungsoo's reassuring smile could bring it out of him.

"I just wanted to say that...you're a good friend. You've been helping me out a lot lately."

Kyungsoo snorted and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Okay, what's with all the sappiness? It's weird coming from you."

He sighed, forcing a smile onto his face. "I don't know. Just thought I should let you know."

"Well, you're a good friend too." Kyungsoo nudged him, before turning back to his homework.

👻👻👻

Chanyeol went home and screamed into his pillow. And damn did it feel good. He released all of his frustrations onto that poor pillow, thrashing it around and driving his fists into it until he wore himself out. Once he had enough, he collapsed on his bed and cried. Why? He didn't know. Because of Kyungsoo, because of Baekhyun, because he still hadn't finished his project and was running out of time, because he was hungry. It was hard to say. Whatever the reason was, he sobbed like a baby into his sheets for a solid twenty minutes, leaving a puddle in his wake.

Coming back to his senses after an emotional breakdown felt like waking up from the fattest nap of his life. He lifted his head from the soaking sheets with tears and snot on his face, seeing through his fuzzy eyelashes that almost an hour had passed in a blur. His head was stuffy and achy, his nose backed up with gunk, and his bed a complete mess. He felt gross and disoriented. Was it dinner time? Were his parents home from work already? Why did it feel like an entire day passed and he should be getting ready for school right now?

He climbed off of his bed and poked his head out to make sure he didn't miss out on too much of his life. His father was watching TV in the living room and his mother was cooking. Everything was normal. He closed his door and plopped down in his desk chair to try and get his homework done. Now would've been a perfect time considering there were no distractions, but the fact that there were no distractions was distracting.

In other words, he needed to find Baekhyun.

Pushing his homework aside, he rose from his chair and crept toward the closet. He put his ear to the door and listened for any indications of his presence. Nothing. Taking hold of the handle, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside. His clothes were put back on their hangers and folded neatly along the shelves. Even his laundry pile disappeared. With the floor clear of dirty clothes, Chanyeol noticed how decrepit the wooden boards actually looked. He remembered that the boards had been loose and made a note to himself to have his dad fix it before he stepped on one of the jagged nails.

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun magically appeared behind him with a dirty look on his face.

Chanyeol felt a chill run through his body when the ghost passed through him and settled into the corner of the closet. "I came looking for you."

"What do you want?" Baekhyun turned towards a wall, facing his back to Chanyeol.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. You kinda vanished after the incident at the mall."