SWEET • chanbeak ✔️

2.3

Chanyeol knew in his heart that there was no guarantee that Baekhyun would still be there when he returned home, but nothing prepared him for the pain of entering his apartment and finding it dark, quiet, and empty.

He wanted his boy to be there. To be here with him. Hi wanted to see him and know that he was safe. During all those months in prison, Baekhyun had been his constant shadow, always by his side. It wasn't that he was a big shadow because there was nothing dark about him. It was like a little sun, all warm and shiny and radiant and laughing. He was always happy, even in the worst circumstances.

Chanyeol had been spoiled, accustomed to the boy's presence and the luxury that at any moment he wanted, he could see, hear, reach out and touch him. I had taken that for a bit for granted.

When he was released from prison, he had felt as if he were leaving a part of himself behind. It was the hardest thing he had ever had to do, but he knew he could help Baekhyun better from outside than from behind bars. And as much as Baekhyun hated being in jail without him, at least when he needed to check it out, he could scratch that itch, taking advantage of the prison videos during the day. Ok, maybe more like every minute of every day, but no one needed to know how strong their harassing tendencies really could be.

Baekhyun was free now. And that was good. But that meant that Chanyeol was going to nohave to accept that he could no longer protect him. When the boy had been in prison, without knowing it, he had been in a world that he controlled completely.

Now he was there alone and he couldn't intervene with a simple phone call to the guards. There were no guards anymore. Baekhyun was alone, somewhere, and in many ways the real world was much more dangerous than prison.

Chanyeol's heart was racing in his chest. Anxiety began to settle in his veins like ice water as he pondered the possibility that perhaps Baekhyun would not return. Maybe it was gone forever.

Chanyeol didn't even take off his coat or put down the briefcase before going to check Baekhyun's room. The lights were off and it was quiet. The bed was unmade, with scattered clothes, boxes in the middle of being unpacked, but what made Chanyeol's heart race was the sight of the boy's cameras lined up in an orderly row on his desk.

He would not leave them behind. Baekhyun could leave him, but he wouldn't leave his beloved cameras. He sat on his bed and sighed, turning one of them over in his hands. He raised the viewfinder to his eye and pressed the button. The flash filled the room with bright white light for a second, but then it was gone and Chanyeol was left alone in the dark again. Without his bright and handsome boy.

He ran a hand over his eyes and his dark hair fell onto his forehead as he sighed. Maybe it was his fault, for falling so hard for a boy half his age.

Chanyeol was practically old enough to be his father. And that was probably how Baekhyun saw it, like a father or a brother, a friend or a mentor. Not as a lover. Not as he saw it.

He had never seen himself as someone who cared about sweet things. But how could he not love Baekhyun? The innocent boy was the sweetest of all.

Since he was released from prison, he found sugary things that never interested him before. He had sugar in coffee, honey in tea, cakes, and candy hidden in his work drawer... anything that sent that sweet, familiar flavor running through his veins, something that reminded him of his sweet boy, whose lips always tasted like sugar, no matter how many times Chanyeol told him to brush his teeth. It made him addicted.

He never wanted to kiss him, but he tries to tell a hungry man not to touch the banquet in front of him and see how far he goes.

His love for Baekhyun was not something he could crush and ignore. That just broke in, titled, established membership, pushing away Chanyeol's best judgment.