Oh. Well, here I am again. Seems like I'll have to have more than twenty chapters *shrugs* this story is nearly finished (170708, I lied it has lots of chapters)... My writer's block was cured by Infinite's Going To You... Crying, because Infinite's Back is SO GOOD...
How do you guys think Chanyeol is going to solve this? Well... Read on hahaha ^.~ Ouhhh... This chapter hmmmmmmmmmm questionable.
Enjoy this chapter!
~
It wasn't hard for Chanyeol to act like himself, but it was also hard at the same time.
The reason it wasn't hard for him was because—obviously—he was just acting like he truly desired to all this time. It was hard, though, because he was scared of the outcome, wondering if Baekhyun would simply push him away further.
He was hoping that somewhere along the way, he'd prove it to Baekhyun that he wasn't who Baekhyun made him out to be.
Chanyeol sat down at the lunch table and everyone quieted down, eating their food instead of talking.
Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at Jongdae who was- for some reason—sitting at the table and grinning at him. "When did he join us?" Chanyeol questioned as he pointed in Jongdae's direction.
"Oh, we just needed him for our next basketball game. Sehun and I couldn't make it and you can't even play, so we needed more people," Mingyu explained and Chanyeol frowned.
"So you decided on Jongdae?" He asked incredulously and the rest of them shrugged, going back to eating their food.
Silence draped over the table once again and Chanyeol tried not to let it get to his mind, even if it was already slipping inside.
"So, how's your leg?" Sehun spoke up and Chanyeol looked up, not expecting it to be Sehun who broke the silence.
"Oh, it's alright. I hope it heals soon so that I can play basketball..."
"I hope so too," someone completely different answered.
Chanyeol briefly looked to his side and made eye contact with Baekhyun who gave him a tight smile.
The silence—once again—filled the spaces in between the air and Chanyeol couldn't shake the feeling of unease off of him.
He tapped his finger on the table as he stared off at anything but Baekhyun's face.
He felt jittery, like he couldn't stop moving.
Maybe it was because of the awkward feeling surrounding the table, or maybe it was because he couldn't bring himself to whisk Baekhyun away and talk to him like he wanted to.
Chanyeol sighed to himself and he realized that he wasn't even eating—yet he didn't even bother going to get something because he had long lost his appetite.
Chanyeol couldn't stand the ungainly atmosphere anymore so he stood up, breaking it like glass.
"I'm just going to leave..." He awkwardly mentioned and moved away, shuffling out of his spot.
He couldn't wrap his mind around it... Why was everyone so quiet? It was never like that at the table, even that one time where Chanyeol had accidentally kicked Sehun in the crotch during soccer...
What was wrong with everyone?
Chanyeol walked in the hallways with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the familiar dull floor. He kicked a pencil on his way, talking to himself in his thoughts.
What was he supposed to be doing?
He had said that he was going to prove Dara wrong, but here he was, running away from his problems—running away from Baekhyun.
He stood outside of the empty classroom: the place where a lot of his memories were held, and he thought about it. How was he going to solve this?
What exactly was the Chanyeol way? How was he going to get Baekhyun back?
Chanyeol pondered on the thought before making up his mind, going back to the cafeteria before it was too late.
Again, he didn't know what 'too late' meant. Did it mean until it was too late and lunch was over? Or did it mean it was too late and Baekhyun was swept up by someone else?
Chanyeol went into the short lunch line and checked the menu board, seeing the big words: Cake Day!
He read the other words and figured out that there was free cake in the cafeteria that day, made by none other than the baking club which Kyungsoo was in.
His eyes flitted over to Baekhyun's direction, seeing him laughing with the others about some joke.
He shook his thoughts away and grabbed one of the plastic plates, thanking Kyungsoo who was at the counter.
Before he could leave, though, he felt an arm grab his wrist.
"Whatever you're about to do... Don't mess it up," Kyungsoo warned and Chanyeol gave him a light smile.
"Yes sir, I'll try my hardest," Chanyeol replied jokingly and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, letting go of Chanyeol and allowing him to go towards Baekhyun.
Chanyeol walked up to Baekhyun from behind, making sure that the midget didn't see him.
Junmyeon looked at Chanyeol and raised an eyebrow curiously, in which Chanyeol replied with a nonchalant shrug.
He tried to not let it get to his head, tried to remind himself to remain calm...
But fuck was he nervous.
He didn't know how everything would go; didn't know if Baekhyun would push him away or allow him to stay; didn't know if he'd have the courage to do whatever he wanted to or run from his problems.
Chanyeol knew he was standing there for a bit too long and he closed his eyes, sending a prayer to the heavens before saying his last goodbyes.
I'm sorry I had to do this, Baekhyun.
Well, not really.
He opened his eyes and with one last breath and swing of his arm, his plan commenced—
His plan of giving Baekhyun a face full of cake.
Everyone at the table gasped when Chanyeol smushed the plate against his face, and he vaguely recalled hearing Baekhyun's squeak before he was silenced by the sweet food.
The whole cafeteria's eyes were on them: the captain of the basketball team and the small rookie who was, by the way, shocked into complete and utter silence.
It was like in one of those movies where the crow would fly by and qwack, and the place would have tumbleweeds passing by casually, the sound of the wind overpowering everything else.
The silence didn't last that long, however, as two more long seconds passed and Baekhyun almost violently wiped the cake off of his face, standing up and turning around in fury.
"Park Chanyeol!" Baekhyun screamed and Chanyeol would have found the situation funny if not for Baekhyun diving towards him with the plate in his hand, practically slamming the remnants onto Chanyeol's face.
Chanyeol fell backward and he was already on the ground faster than anyone could yell 'Chanbaek'. Baekhyun trapped Chanyeol in between his legs and began attacking him with the same tactic Chanyeol had used before.
His butt slightly hurt, but he didn't mind in the least when he saw Baekhyun's completely normal face, red with embarrassment and anger. (And that was not because of the strawberries on the cake)
At least, it was normal to Chanyeol.
He didn't like seeing Baekhyun acting like everything was alright, or Baekhyun when he was oddly silent.
He'd rather have it as Baekhyun punching and kicking him, hell, he'd even let Baekhyun hit his face with a basketball again if that was what it took for Baekhyun to come back to him.
That plan that he had going on, was his sorry excuse of an apology: letting Baekhyun have his way with him and get mad at him, maybe even letting out some of his anger as he slathered the cake on the taller's face.
This is what's normal, and Chanyeol didn't know how far he'd go to get it to go completely back to what it was before.
Chanyeol couldn't keep in his laughter when Baekhyun even went as far as scraping the cake off of his face, placing it onto Chanyeol's.
"Stop laughing!" Baekhyun complained and made sure to rub the dessert on his features thoroughly, causing Chanyeol to close his eyes just in case any of it got into his eyes and permanently blinded him. "Is this not enough to make you stop laughing?" Baekhyun whined and Chanyeol just laughed harder, not keeping any restraints on his voice. "Fine!" Baekhyun yelled and got off of Chanyeol, running to where Kyungsoo was handing out the cakes.
Chanyeol knew he couldn't stay on the ground, or else his plan would be messed up with everyone's presence there.
He wiped the cake off from his eyes and stood up, limping out of the cafeteria.
He heard Baekhyun's yells, telling him that he was a 'cowardly limping fool' and about how he should 'get his ass back over here'.
He ignored them all and continued down his path, going to the designated room.
He pushed open the door and dropped inside, rolling onto the ground and onto his back like some sort of sacrifice.
He heard Baekhyun's quick footsteps down the hall and soon Baekhyun was looming over him with two plates sporting larger-than-usual cake slices.
"What, you gave up so soon?" Baekhyun asked mockingly.
"No," Chanyeol began. "I'm only letting you take a few hits at me because you couldn't handle it if I didn't," Chanyeol teased and Baekhyun scowled.
"Oh really?" Baekhyun questioned and Chanyeol remained silent.
Baekhyun went back into his position in the cafeteria, silencing Chanyeol with the cake he had in hand.
He made sure Chanyeol couldn't even speak one word, let alone breathe.
"It's only what you get for being such an asshole," Baekhyun spoke as he continued his onslaught. "You hurt me a lot, did you know that?"
He didn't really realize he was saying those words like that as he ruined Chanyeol's face even further, long forgetting that this was only playing.
"What did I ever do to you?" He questioned, letting the words slide out of his mouth like water from a waterfall. "What am I supposed to do to make you realize that I—"
Baekhyun couldn't react quickly enough when the other plate he possessed was swiped from him, turning towards him and going onto the side of his head.
Baekhyun let out a squeak when Chanyeol grabbed his arms and pulled him further down, causing Baekhyun to land onto his chest with an 'oomph'.
"Yah, you cheeky bastard, let go of me!" Baekhyun tried to wrench himself out of Chanyeol's grasp, but it was tight and strong.
Chanyeol's arms suddenly found refuge around Baekhyun's waist, keeping him there in his hold... Or should it have been described as a hug?
"Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asked when he realized that something changed in the atmosphere, and it wasn't the weird playing they were doing earlier.
He didn't bother struggling anymore, only registering that Chanyeol's face was in the crook of his neck.
Of course, it was messy and pretty gross, but Baekhyun couldn't find one inch in himself that wanted to move.
"I'm sorry."
It was quiet and muffled by his position, but they both heard it loud and clear as if it was announced on the speakers.
"I—"
"It's you boys again!" They heard a female voice and they pulled away lightning quick, finding principal Chaji standing at the door. "Didn't you guys do this last time? Did you not learn your lesson?!" She exclaimed and Baekhyun winced at her tone.
"He started it!" Baekhyun pointed an accusing finger at Chanyeol.
Chanyeol just shrugged as he sat cross-legged, rocking back and forth like a child. "In my defense, you hit me with a basketball."
Chanyeol didn't really know what he was doing at the moment, or what the plan was anymore. The principal was never supposed to find them, so now he was just winging it all.
"Excuse me?" Baekhyun asked conceitedly, scoffing. "Let me remind you that you're the one who called me a useless nobody behind my back!" Baekhyun yelled and his hand immediately shot up, going over his mouth to shut himself up.
Chanyeol would have been surprised if he hadn't already suspected it, and so he just replied with another shrug.
The nervousness that Baekhyun felt from spilling what he heard was completely replaced with anger when he saw that Chanyeol didn't really care that he had heard. "You say all that stuff, and then you—"
"Enough!" Chaji yelled and Baekhyun stopped, turning to her. "I was originally going to make you apologize again, but you decide to fight in front of my face?!" She screamed and now Chanyeol was wincing. "You two are going to clean this entire school from top to bottom, because I'm sure you've already messed something up in all the rooms!"
The two both gaped at her and she huffed. "And if I don't see you two doing it," she pointed a finger at both of them slowly, threatening them. "Expect not being able to play in your game this Thursday."
Chanyeol didn't really mind the punishment because he couldn't play anyway, but he knew he'd have to clean the school.
After all, he couldn't let Baekhyun not play in the game, and he couldn't leave Baekhyun to clean the school himself.
"Understand?" She asked and Baekhyun shot Chanyeol a glare.
"Yes ma'am," they both answered and she walked away.
"And don't forget to clean yourselves up!" She called and when she was out the door, Baekhyun fell backward.
"Oh my god," he groaned and Chanyeol turned to look at him.
Things really didn't go as planned, but 'oh my god' indeed...
Because everything just got better.
~
"This is all your fault," Baekhyun grumbled as he swept the floor, taking some pencils with him on the way.
"You were the one who was fighting with me in front of the principal..."
Currently, they had finished the top floor and was on the main one, starting from the left side of the building and going to the right.
It had been around two hours and a half from when they had started, and they were happy to say they were almost done. It took really long because they had to clean all the washrooms also, and that was the moment Baekhyun decided he had an annoying tendency to make everything perfect, and was a neat freak.
The entire time, Baekhyun would mumble and mutter to himself about how Chanyeol started it and how he should be watching Netflix in the comfort of his home.
They had skipped basketball practice just to finish cleaning not too late into the afternoon, but obviously, it was already getting late.
They finally made it to the one classroom which held all of their memories, and when they both entered it, something twisted in the mood.
Baekhyun tried to push it aside and he continued to sweep, not uttering a single word.
Chanyeol, on the other hand, was thinking with thoughts racing 100 miles per hour.
Something caught his eye and he temporarily dropped his broom, walking over to it.
It was in the corner of the room, and he didn't notice until now. He picked it up and examined it...
It was a picture of him and Baekhyun.
He remembered that day so well, and he figured that the picture was from Jongdae. But if it was from Jongdae, what was it doing here? And in the dusty corner also?
Chanyeol turned around to look at Baekhyun who was suddenly looking at Chanyeol also, his eyes flicking from the picture to Chanyeol's face.
"Why is this—"
"I don't want to talk about it," Baekhyun mentioned and ripped his eyes away from Chanyeol, forcing himself to go back to cleaning.
Chanyeol walked over to Baekhyun and Baekhyun tried to pretend he wasn't there.
"Baekhyun, why is this here?" Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun kept his lips shut. "Please, please tell me." Chanyeol pleaded but Baekhyun remained silent, like he usually was these days unless Chanyeol pushed him.
Chanyeol felt unbelievably hurt, and he didn't know why. He felt that maybe it was because he was trying, trying so hard to get Baekhyun, and Baekhyun wasn't doing anything at all. He wasn't replying to Chanyeol, and he wasn't rejecting him either, he was just... Just pretending. Chanyeol had already hated that word before, but it was even worse now that Baekhyun was just faking, lying that nothing was happening.
Chanyeol hated it.
He despised it.
"Is it really that hard to talk?" Chanyeol asked with gritted teeth and when Baekhyun didn't reply, Chanyeol grabbed the broom out of his hand, throwing it onto the ground and hearing the noise echo throughout the room and hallways.
Baekhyun flinched from the noise but kept his eyes cast on the ground, his hand turning into a fist.
"What's happening, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol took in a shaky breath. "What's going on in between us? Why don't you... Why don't you try to do something? Why do you just stay there unmoving like a statue?"
Silence covered the room again and Chanyeol got sick of it. He wanted to leave, but he wasn't going to until he got some answers.
Chanyeol felt a sudden pang of guilt for his outburst when he saw Baekhyun's wet eyes, still looking at the ground.
"Baekhyun..." He trailed off, feeling that familiar gut-wrenching feeling. "I'm sorry," he apologized, genuinely feeling terrible. "Baekhyun—"
Baekhyun finally looked up at him and Baekhyun looked so angry, and hurt and just—just everything that Chanyeol didn't want to see. "Do you want to know why I haven't been doing anything?" Baekhyun finally asked and now Chanyeol couldn't speak. "You. You made me feel this way, you know that? You make me so frustrated, you make me so angry, you make me so jealous, you make me so depressed, and I'm sad to say that you also make me so fucking happy!" Baekhyun closed his eyes and felt the tears sliding down his cheeks and god, he really didn't want to cry but he couldn't stop. He shook his head slowly and reopened his eyes, seeing Chanyeol's worried face that he so wanted to believe was true. But he knew he couldn't. "So I decided to give up."
"No—no, Baekhyun," Chanyeol reached his hand out to cup Baekhyun's cheek, wanting to wipe the tears away. "I want—"
He was just about to make contact with Baekhyun before the smaller raised his arm and slapped Chanyeol's hand away.
"Don't touch me," he snapped and Chanyeol pulled back quickly, feeling his own tears rising. "You wanted to know what our relationship is?" Baekhyun asked, his voice wavering. He stole the picture out of Chanyeol's hand, lifting it up. "It's nothing, Chanyeol." Baekhyun held the picture with both of his hands and Chanyeol stared at him pleadingly.
"Baekhyun, don't do this—"
"It's too late, Channie. You're just making this harder for us," Baekhyun cut him off. Every cell in Chanyeol's body was telling him to just stop Baekhyun, and everything in Baekhyun told himself not to do what he was about to but... "It's way too late," he finished and ripped the picture in half, watching as it split the Chanyeol and the Baekhyun in the picture apart perfectly, just like he wanted it to be.
He dropped the pieces and some of his teardrops fell onto it once it was on the ground. He ignored whatever was around him, even the Chanyeol who was crying right in front of him, and he walked out of the room, stepping onto the halves of the picture on the way.
The moment Baekhyun left, Chanyeol's knees buckled and he fell, his hands landing in front of him.
Everything passed by so fast, and Chanyeol couldn't believe it had really happened. He was hoping, wishing with all his might that this was just some sick dream, but after moments of praying, nothing happened. The tears were flowing freely now, and his heart was filled with so much grief that he felt as if it would explode.
So many things changed,
and now nothing was changing.
Baekhyun was right...
It was way too late.
Baekhyun left, and Chanyeol was left behind.
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Sorry for not updating in so long because of my writer's block. Typos, yeah I get it. Well, this was this chapter and yeah. I hope you enjoyed this- maybe -heart-wrenching chapter.
Ah... The end of Chanbaek, ey? So... What's gonna happen? What do you guys think? Leave me some feedback my PB and L's (random Parkbacon fandom name that I made up lol)
I'll C you guys later! Hope you didn't cry too much huhuhu ; )