The only audible sound in the library was the absent murmur of whispering voices melting with the soft ticking of the big clock hanging above of the glass doors. The sky was insured by grey clouds threatening to let down the absorbed water inside of them. You and Jongdae were concentrating on your homework with thoughtful frowns covering your faces while Baekhyun had lost all of his focus long ago. His eyes had somehow shifted from his paper to you so many times that they ended up staying on your figure. There was a slight line between his brows as he roamed your figure with his dark orbs, taking in every single detail there was, wondering how it could be possible that he couldn't find a single flaw in you no matter how much he looked.

A lazy smile crept on his lips when he let the question go, there was no use in trying to answer it.  That was just who you were. His eyes fondly shone at the sight of you as his cheek rested onto the palm of his pretty hand. Jongdae couldn't help but notice the way Baekhyun was staring at you and figured out how you would totally notice his crush on you if you were to see the adoring look he was eyeing you with. But you were completely absorbed by the math equation that you were somehow getting a hang of. Jongdae's face contorted into a heavy cringe as he continued staring at his friend that was giving everything about his crush on you away with a single look. With a huff, he stood up from his seat and both you and Baekhyun snapped out of your thoughts.

"I'm going to the restroom," Jongdae informed and you returned back to your homework while Baekhyun sent his friends a questioning look, in which Jongdae only responded with a cheesy smile before disappearing behind the shelves. Baekhyun suddenly felt embarrassed by his shameless staring and could only hope that you hadn't noticed how he had been gawking at you.

Deciding that you weren't able to solve the equation by yourself after all, you turned to Baekhyun, only to find him already looking at you. The boy visibly flinched at your sudden movement but you didn't give it much thought as you slid the paper to him and sent him a desperate look.

"I've been stuck on it for ten minutes now, please help me," You begged and Baekhyun just nodded before muttering a nervous " O-of course," and ended up mentally cursing himself a good amount of times for stuttering, imagining that you probably thought he was an idiot that couldn't even speak properly.

Unconsciously, both of you scooted closer to one another. An electric rush thundered through his body when his arm brushed against yours and his cheeks immediately called the blood to his cheeks, prompting his face to warm up against his will. A  choked cough escaped his throat, making you turn to him confusedly. Without thinking twice he did the same, regretting his actions immediately. A sharp breath was sucked in as his eyes widened at the mere distance between your faces. Teeth drilled into his lip nervously when noting on how he from the close proximity could've counted your every eyelash if he wanted to.

His mind was telling him to turn the other way for the sake of his fast-beating heart but he found himself glued on his chair, not being able to shift, not to move. His orbs observed how your very own roamed across his face with an unusually serious expression on your face. A thin line between your brows when your eyes landed on the spot above his eye. Your hand suddenly reached out for his face which sent his heart nearly bursting out of his chest. Your silky fingertips softly caressed the blue bruise forming on his brow bone, brushing away some strands of his hair in the process. 

Baekhyun's hands had begun shaking in his laps, the only thing he was able to do was abruptly stand up from his seat and mutter a weak excuse me, his body finally obeying to his brain and he quickly walked out of the library, almost bumping into Jongdae that was just returning from his suspiciously long visit at the restroom. 

Jongdae's surprised gaze switched from you to Baekhyun's disappearing figure. Deciding to follow his friend, he sprinted to your table and threw his stuff hurriedly back into his bag. He sent you an apologetic look when the bag was zipped and swung around his shoulder.

"Excuse us," He muttered before withdrawing just like his friend had done, leaving you at the table on your own with your unfinished homework, confused and worried. Why was there a bruise on his face? Had you done something wrong when you had touched him like that? You could only hope that you hadn't upset him. You found it almost ironic; when you had first met him, you had thought you could figure everything out through that flushed face of his. While now, he was just like the unsolved equation on your paper.

                                                                                                  ***

It took Jongdae about fifteen minutes to find Baekhyun, he had searched in every possible spot inside the school building, only to find him sitting on a bench outside in the school's garden. The soft breeze was sweeping his hair softly while he had his eyes tightly shut.

Jongdae didn't hesitate to approach his friend and sat next to him directly. The bench was hard and uncomfortable but he decided to ignore it and studied Baekhyun's face, reaching with his hand to give his shoulder a light shake. Baekhyun's eyes shot open only to visibly relax once seeing that it was only Jongdae. An attempt of a smile was directed at the friend, which turned out to look like a wince instead. Jongdae's hand didn't leave Baekhyun's shoulder as he parted his lips to speak.

"Are you okay?" He searched for any kind of answer in his eyes, but somehow Baekhyun had become really good at hiding his true feelings. The pink head gave him a more natural smile this time and shook his head.

"I'm fine, Dae," Was all he said as well as he directed his eyes to the sky so that he wouldn't have to look at his friend in the eyes.

"Are you sure? What's on your face?" Jongdae insisted and his index finger carefully poked the faint bruise, making Baekhyun flinch at the sudden touch. A nervous laugh choked out of his throat.

"It's nothing, I just fell down the stairs at home, you know how clumsy I can get," Baekhyun explained and shyly scratched the nape of his neck, but there was no way that Jongdae was going to buy that sort of explanation. Baekhyun was never nervous around him. Jongdae could only watch him silently as his heart dropped further down his stomach, a clenching feeling spreading in his chest. There were no stairs at Baekhyun's place. His friend wasn't opening up to him like he wished he would. Regardless, he didn't push it because he knew that he wasn't going to achieve anything with it.

The next day wasn't any better when Baekhyun was seen by Jongdae with a cut on his lip. Struggling to keep his cool, he dragged Baekhyun outside the school building, in the garden where people wouldn't be weirded out. His hand was tightly wrapped on Baekhyun's arm before he eventually yanked it away with a confused look on his face.

"What's gotten into you?" The pink-haired boy asked, bewilderment dripping off his words as he stared at his serious friend with wide eyes. Jongdae crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at Baekhyun's face.

"Baekhyun, what is going on," Jongdae started with a deep sigh, his voice a good amount softer than Baekhyun's. he hadn't intended to come off as angry but seeing his best friend in that state made him so wistful. "Why is there another cut on your face?" Jongdae almost whispered. The hurt in his eyes upon seeing his friend like that was clear, the way his arms hung helplessly at his sides and the way his eyebrows curled with worry gave it all away.

"I told you it was nothing Jongdae-"

"Stop lying to me! I'm your best friend, not a stranger." Jongdae insisted, his voice rising in volume ever so slightly. And even if Jongdae could be considered a loud person, he almost never raised his voice during arguments. And that was the last thing Baekhyun had ever wanted, he never wanted to worry his friends, and he still wasn't going to let him do that. A nerve stroke inside of him as his voice raised, an unusual thing that Baekhyun never did either. The two didn't fight often, and the fact that Baekhyun was lying to his friend made it even harder for him to keep his own cool.

"Gosh! Just leave me alone!" Baekhyun had growled, completely out of himself. Jongdae's eyes widened with shock, trying to swallow down the fact that his best friend had for the first time asked him to fuck off. And it hurt, so much. His heart ached painfully in his chest and the feeling of hurt mirrored in Jongdae's eyes, not going unnoticed by the pink-haired boy.

Realization seemed to hit him when his expression went from dark to lost. His hands slightly shaking next to his sides as he stared at his friend, taking a few steps back so that he could sit on the nearest bench, hiding his face into his hands, gripping his hair tightly.

"Jongdae," He breathed out, " I am so sorry- I didn't mean to yell at you, I-" Baekhyun urged out the words of apology and Jongdae sat next to him.

"I just don't feel like talking about it at the moment," Baekhyun finally said, face still hidden in his hands and Jongdae nodded at the more honest explanation of his state. The apologies weren't going to change the fact that he had hurt his feelings, because nonetheless, he still wasn't telling him the truth, which made him feel inferior as a friend. Jongdae eventually put his hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, patting it comfortingly, the pain in his chest still present.
 

---

Baekhyun's new injury didn't go unnoticed by you when the two of you shared another class where you were seatmates. You didn't really have the courage to directly ask him if everything was okay, there was something holding you back but you couldn't really tell what it was. Perhaps it was your fear of pulling a wrong string, maybe it was something that he'd rather avoid talking about. You didn't want to upset him.

"Baekhyun?" You started off, your voice was almost a mere whisper, but to your relief, Baekhyun heard it and so gave you his attention. You internally thanked God because you probably wouldn't have had the courage to call out for him one more time.

Your index finger pointed on the side of your lip, mirroring his injury;

"What happened here, are you okay?" You asked, genuinely worried about him. Baekhyun had an unreadable expression on his face and he blankly nodded.

"I just fell and hit myself," He explained shortly, an undertone in his sentence said that he wasn't going to elaborate on his answer. You could tell that he wasn't being sincere but you were afraid that if you would just ask one more question, his already night-dark eyes would well up with tears. Even though you couldn't help him verbally you could still comfort him in some kind of way, you didn't know why but you had the urge to show him that he could count on you whenever, and if you didn't do it now then you would regret it later.

Softly you placed your warm palm against his arm, rubbing it comfortingly. A soft smile stretched on your lips as you did so, making Baekhyun's heartbeat fasten in his chest. The touch of your skin on his made electric shivers run down his spine while his eyes looked at you with a surprised expression, a familiar, warm hue danced upon his soft cheeks.

"You know, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can count on me, I promise." You murmured meaningfully before continuing, never taking your eyes off his. 

"I know that we still have a lot to learn about each other, but just know that, when you hurt, I and Jongdae do too." You said, trying to sound as encouraging as possible, what you didn't know was how the simple word friend struck him harder than the stinging bruises on his body. He eventually kept silent for a moment, teeth diggging deeply into his lips.  Your words hung heavily in the air and you were already freaking out because of his silence, worrying that you might had said something wrong.

Though, to not make you worry further, he shot you an attempt of a smile, but much to your dislike; you could see how much he was forcing it, it didn't reach his eyes and it looked like a wince rather than a smile. 

All of this frustrated him, he just felt tired. Tired of being thrown around like a doll, tired to come off as weak to everyone. He didn't tell you or Jongdae because he didn't want to keep on hiding behind someone else's back when he could stand up for himself. He just wanted to be strong, strong.

                                                                                          ***

Baekhyun halted in his tracks at the entry of the classroom upon seeing someone sitting on his desk, next to you. The way you smiled and laughed at whatever he had said made something odd stir inside of Baekhyun. He didn't know what it was, a sudden bitterness spread on his tongue when he watched the guy flash a bright smile. Baekhyun couldn't help but compare the way his pants looked extremely fancy on him even though they were wearing the same exact uniform. His hair was luscious in a healthy shade of brown, while Baekhyun crossed his eyes upwards to see the locks falling on his forehead and bitterly huffed at his damaged pink hair.

He was tall, the opposite of him, and his skin was like brown caramelized sugar. The pink head suddenly pulled up his arm to inspect his pale skin tone, only to feel disappointed by it, very annoyed by the fact that tanned was suddenly so attractive. Though what made a vein pop was the way this guy was sitting on his desk like he was owning the place, and if that wasn't enough, you were giving in to his charms which made Baekhyun's mood become grumpy in the span of thirty seconds.

Suddenly, an elbow was shoved lightly in Baekhyun's side and the boy eyed his friend with an icy glare, Jongdae ignored the destroying look on his friend's face and whispered obviously in his ear: "Yah, someone is stealing your girl." Well, no shit,  Baekhyun bitterly thought to himself before shoving his own elbow into Jongdae's stomach, a payback for the friendly reminder that he was ultimately friend-zoned.

With a deep breath, Baekhyun decided to finally move from the entrance, trying his best to ignore the painful throb of his heart as you let out a hearty laugh at what this caramel boy had said. Without even noticing it himself, without being able to stop himself, Baekhyun found himself judging the guy too much to even be acceptable. 

Once he was behind the mystery guy, which he hadn't seen the face all too well from afar, he cleared his throat loud enough for the both of you to hear. It took ultimately all of his efforts to not look pissed and jealous when he through his gritted teeth told him that he was sitting on his desk.

"Excuse me, this actually my desk." A desk, not a chair.

The guy faced him and Baekhyun had to admit that he was even more handsome from the front, and the fact was so irritating because he couldn't deny it. He was way more good looking than him and if he was your friend then you were way too far out of his league.

Caramel boy smirked cockily and jumped off Baekhyun's desk, turned on his heels to face you and flashed one last bright smile, making the pink head cringe at the way his teeth were so pearly white and straight. The image of this guy doing a toothpaste commercial suddenly appearing in Baekhyun's head before he could stop it.

"It was really nice catching up with you, see you around, Sweetheart?" He chimed and all you could do was roll your eyes with a grin at his shameless flirting. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was staring at the boy with two owl-like eyes, the nickname he had given you was replaying in his head, imagining how he would only turn into a tomato if he ever called you something of the sort.

The taller guy chuckled at Baekhyun's silly expression and ruffled his pink and blonde hair with an infuriating smirk playing at the end of his lips.

"Nice hair, pink head." He said before leaving, making Baekhyun fume with anger and Jongdae swore to himself that he saw the steam coming out of Baekhyun's ears from where he was sitting. 

Baekhyun threw himself on the chair, angrily pouting as his hand hysterically ruffled his hair as if he was trying to remove caramel boy's doing from it. A chuckle emitted from you at the sight. He turned his face to yours, only to see you leaning with your cheek onto your palm, smiling fondly at him. A smile that made butterflies appear in his belly, and again, he found his cheeks tint with scarlet before he could even try and control it. The big, round glasses slipped down his nose bridge for the hundredth time that day.

Your hand eventually reached up to his head, patting down the mess that was his hair, making him able to feel the heat radiate from his own cheeks as he secretly enjoyed the soothing caresses you did through his hair. It was almost odd to him how he wasn't feeling as shy as he would have a couple of days ago, perhaps it was the anger that was still somehow having an impact on him. The massive rage that one single person had caused, Byun Baekhyun, the calmest person on earth.

"Don't worry, I really like your hair," You confessed with a hint of pink on your cheeks while patting down the last strands of his hair, which was softer than you had expected. Baekhyun suddenly snapped out of his daze and stared at you with big eyes.

"Really-?" He asked incredulously and you just smiled. 

"Of course," The world's most adorable smile burst on his face as the words left your lips and you would be lying if you said you didn't feel your heart flutter the least. At that moment he didn't look shy and hesitant, but carefree and happy, you liked that. You wished this look of his could last a little longer. It made you feel a bit closer to him.

"That's amazing! Thank you!"

🌸✨So how is it so far hunies? How do you like the length of the chapters? Any general thoughts or questions about the story? Ask away, don't be shy, comments are so appreciated and motivating! ✨🌸

idk, I feel like this chapter is a lil off? I'll make sure to make the third one better and more entertaining!