you're different • chanbaek

Pt. 25

Baekhyun promised Chanyeol he'd be back at school the next day, in which he stuck to.

He was now taking a few bits and bobs from his locker whilst putting some more books inside before his next class. He was off for quite a while so he had a lot to catch up on, which Chanyeol was trying his best to help with but he was doing a poor job.

Baekhyun sighed, Kyungsoo was supposed to be meeting him here but there was no sign of him yet, Chanyeol bluntly mentioned something to do with Jongin while Baekhyun was at his house yesterday but he was too engrossed in the video game they were playing to care.

And, Chanyeol wasn't in sight either so that left Baekhyun on his own until the bell went.

No one really treated Baekhyun any differently because they didn't know about his hearing aids and since he was pretty much invisible most of the time at school no one took their time to notice. The only people that knew were just his mum and Chanyeol.

He was about to shut his locker and get on with his day when he could hear people talking and by what he could hear they didn't know that he had his new hearing aids.

"Look who's back." A female voice spoke up.

"I know, where did he even go?" A different voice replied, "I really thought we'd get through to Chanyeol since he wasn't in English."

"I know right, what does he even see in him?"

Baekhyun bit his lip at those words, maybe they were right. What did Chanyeol see in him? He picked up his book for next period, soon furrowing his brows. Chanyeol seemed pretty happy with his appearance yesterday, Baekhyun shook his head, he shouldn't let other people's words get to him.

They weren't Chanyeol.

He closed his locker door, the two girls coming into view, the two girls in front of him in English.

"I guess he sees more in me than he does in the both of you combined." Baekhyun forced a polite smile, although his intentions weren't exactly polite.

He immediately turned on his heel, their shocked reactions buried in the back of his mind, he couldn't stop the racing of his heart at actually sticking up for himself for once.

He knew he shouldn't be smiling at what he just did but he couldn't stop the curling of his lips, What are you so happy about?

Baekhyun's eyes scanned over Kyungsoo, "Where were you?" He questioned, his appearance later than he expected especially by what was said over text.

I was busy. Kyungsoo signed.

Baekhyun rose a brow, not buying it, "Hm, well, I have something to tell you."

If it's about you and Park then I—

"Oh my god!" Kyungsoo's round eyes widened even more at the sight of Baekhyun's hearing aids, he knew if he had them on they weren't just for show, or a prank. Baekhyun wouldn't joke about this, "Are you serious?"

Baekhyun nodded, feeling Kyungsoo pull him into a suffocating hug, "Oh my god, Baek, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you weren't around for me to." Baekhyun replied with a chuckle, "Your voice is so different."

"Yeah, well I'm not eight years old anymore," Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, trying to sniffle away the tears.

"Are you crying?" Baekhyun pulled away looking at Kyungsoo's teary eyes.

"God, so I'm not allowed to cry over my best friend hearing again?" Kyungsoo questioned, trying to blink away his watery eyes.

"Nope, never." Baekhyun shook his head, deep down forcing his tears away because the last thing he wanted was to cry in front of everyone at school.

"Kyungsoo, is everything okay?"

Baekhyun furrowed his brows at the unfamiliar voice, his eyes soon spotted Kai making his way over, his eyes worriedly darting between them both.

"Everything's fine." Kyungsoo reassured the taller, yet he still didn't look convinced, "I'm fine, Kai."

"You called me Kai!" Jongin exclaimed, Kyungsoo never called him by his nickname because he found it unnecessary and slightly embarrassing even when Jongin would plead for him to.

"It was a slip of the tongue, it doesn't count." Kyungsoo muttered, his happy tears no longer forming since Jongin sort of ruined his mood.

Baekhyun was about to speak up when he felt arms wrap around his waist, giving him a small fright to begin with, until they felt somewhat familiar, "You scared me." Baekhyun mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Chanyeol frowned, smothering his head into Baekhyun's shoulder, not realising he'd done it a little to eagerly until he felt the smaller brush him off.

Baekhyun frowned as his ear greeted him with the familiar quietness, not like the quiet of a classroom he had been getting used to during the day.

The bittersweet reality of his new sense stinging him slightly.

At the end of the day, without the miraculous objects on his ears; he was still deaf.

"You've done something," He mumbled, running his finger to his hearing aid to readjust it back to normal.

"Wait, when the hell did you get those?" Jongin gawked, "Is that why you were crying?"

Chanyeol's eyes flashed with concern, "You were crying?" He looked down at Baekhyun, who now seemed to have fixed his hearing aid.

"I was, gosh, is everyone going to make a big deal about it?" Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

"Happy tears, Chanyeol." Baekhyun corrected, feeling slightly embarrassed that most of the times Chanyeol saw him cry was over sadness rather than being so overwhelmed with joy, like he was beginning to feel these past few days.

Chanyeol was about to say something until the ring of the school bell indicated break to be over, he looked down at the smaller beside him, "Biology, it is."

Baekhyun rolled his eyes because he already knew that, he made his way to the classroom, sitting down on his usual seat which used to be by himself up the back until Chanyeol joined the school and his biology class.

"Okay, class, I've marked your assessments from last week." The teacher spoke, Baekhyun enjoying hearing what the teachers had to say, rather than reading their lips or getting something in note form to read off of while everyone else listened, he liked feeling included now.

Chanyeol turned his head to the smaller as the teacher began to hand out the assessments, "How do you think you did?" He asked.

"I'm confident." Baekhyun smiled, his smile faltering once he looked down at the number on the sheet of paper, more specifically Chanyeol's sheet of paper.

Chanyeol mouth fell open, "Twenty seven percent?!" He groaned, "My mum is gonna kill me."

Baekhyun looked down at the number on his sheet, turning it on the back so Chanyeol didn't feel even more worse that he had passed with flying colours.

"I can help you study." Baekhyun suggested.

Chanyeol's eyes widened at the possibility of maybe spending more time with Baekhyun, "Really?"

Baekhyun nodded with an eager smile.

"We can do it at my house," Chanyeol began, "We can even play the video games again." He smiled.

"Only after studying." Baekhyun rose a brow.

"After studying." Chanyeol sighed slightly, but that wouldn't knock down his mood that he'd get to be with Baekhyun after a long, enduring week without him.