Baekhyun's eyes were attentively staring at his reflection in the mirror, mouth parted in awe while he took in al the new details. His hair felt shiny and silky smooth when he ran his fingers through it. He couldn't help but admit to himself that he was looking so much better. The cheeks looked sharper, his gaze more intense, more mature. This time he had done the effort to tuck his shirt into the pants, a thing that he had never bothered to do. He looked fit, slim, and the view of himself made for the first time a triumphant smile grow on his face. It was odd, but he actually felt like he was now somewhere comparable to Jongin. Just a few days ago he had been PinkiePie. And now? He looked like someone girls would give an extra glance at. 

Baekhyun slid the round glasses on the bridge of his nose and started posing in front of the mirror, sending himself smoldering gazes; parting his lips ever so slightly to see if it would make him look any hotter.

The boy had never imagined that he could look so great, ever. He was having a hard time recognizing himself. Maybe it had been the pink hair giving a childish look all along. Or maybe it was the fact that he had never paid much attention to his looks until now that there was someone he actually wanted to impress. Before he could think twice, his hand had already reached out for his phone, dialing Jongdae's number. Only a couple of rings passed before the grumpy and sleepy friend spat out a "What." Usually, Baekhyun would have shot something of the kind back, but the excitement was too much for him to care that his friend was being rude.

"Jongdae, I actually look hot right now," Baekhyun muttered, his voice fazed as he hadn't been able to stop himself from staring into the mirror again, fascinated by his own reflection.

Baekhyun experienced the longest ten seconds of his whole life when all he got was an icy silence.

"Are you high?" Was the first thing Jongdae said and Baekhyun scowled heavily, cursing himself for having expected anything different from his best friend.

"No," He sighed, "I'm as sober as I can be at seven in the morning" he grit through his teeth only to have the other mate groan tiredly.

"Seven!? Bro, why'd you wake me up so early, seriously get a life." That sentence hadn't made much sense since in that case; it was Jongdae who needed a life outside his bed. Baekhyun just sighed again and ran an absentminded hand through his freshly dyed dark hair.

"Jongdae, it's Thursday. You should have been up an hour ago." 

"Fuck you, Baekhyun." Baekhyun only smiled at that.

"Good morning!" He lovingly sing-sang into the speaker before ending the call and proceeded to get his bag from his room, heading to the kitchen right after where his mother was currently making tea. The scent of wild berries lingered in the room as the walked towards his parent, leaning over her shoulder to bid a greeting. "Bye mom, thank you for helping me dye my hair." He murmured and pressed his lips to her temple, having her smiling widely.

"Go now or you'll be late," The lady said in a mock- stern voice as she eyed her son with twinkling, affectionate eyes. Baekhyun heartedly grinned back and rushed outside before he would actually miss the school bus. He was slightly sweaty when he sat down against the clothed seat, his heart thumping nervously inside of his chest. Today was going to be different, he wanted to see your reaction to his changes. He did this only for you, after all, he hoped it would make you see him differently.

Baekhyun had to force himself from being so self-conscious because the throbbing heartbeat against his ribcage was making him extremely nervous and insecure, he was thinking way too much about the way he was dressed differently and how weird it felt, did he look weird as well? A deep sigh left his lips as he pushed the glasses further up, a little gesture he'd always do when he was nervous or shy.

It was only when he stood in front of the classroom door that he realized how right Jongdae had been every time he'd told him to get himself back together. It was only a hair color and a minor fix to his clothes, it wasn't a dramatic change. Yet it felt so different, he felt different. The last time he had black hair had been years ago.

Worry overtook him, what if he didn't actually look good in black hair? What if he looked weird with his uniform worn tightly, were his legs fine? Baekhyun shook the thoughts away and opened the door, telling himself that he would never know if he didn't show himself up first. He had hoped that you weren't there already, but he was only to be disappointed. Because when he entered, your eyes were already on him. You were dressed in a tight white t-shirt with a high waisted floral skirt. He swallowed the dry lump in his throat wondering if you were even human, how could anybody possibly look so effortlessly beautiful? You were so unfair to him. He had planned to act more mature today, braver, but how was he supposed to that when you were making his heart stutter.

You hadn't recognized him at first, in fact, you had to squint your eyes to make out who the black-haired male was. When you caught on the very familiar traits, you felt your eyes grow wider.

"Baek?" The named had come out a bit louder than you had intended, causing a few heads to turn into yours and Baekhyun's direction. You could already sense them starting to discuss the boy's new changes behind his back. On the other side was Baekhyun shyly scratching his neck, his head hanging low so that his bangs could cover his face. But it was useless because you had already seen the blush on his shiny cheeks.

Soon, he was seated next to you and you took advantage of the situation to take in every new detail, not thinking about the shameless way you were staring at him, making him feel incredibly small under your gaze. He found it so unmanly that his hands felt so clammed and sweaty, his legs were weak and his heart was beating way too fast for his own comfort.

Your eyes traveled his facial features, noticing how noticeably sharp his jaw was, his cheekbones were high with a natural glow enlighting the skin. Now that you looked more carefully, his body was fit, in fact, slimmer than you had ever expected, you had never considered him as the sportive type. The most truthful conclusion you could come up with was that he probably was naturally slim. You couldn't believe that you had never noticed these things about him... They were so obvious, why where you seeing this only when he had dyed his hair and put more effort into his clothes? You felt almost bad for having underestimated him. Until now you had found him absolutely adorable, but never had you thought that you would have to consider him handsome.

His hand went to rake through his hair and later on pushed his glasses up his nose again. He probably had no idea of how breathtaking he was looking and for some reason you were having a really hard time taking your eyes off him. It was just so hard to get used to this new image of him, with his pants folded neatly at the ends, his shirt tucked inside.

The specs on his nose gave him a really raffinate and professional look, although you would always think that the round glasses were what made Baekhyun, Baekhyun. It was what softened his features.

Regardless, you couldn't help but wonder why he would have dyed his hair, he had never really looked unsatisfied in your eyes when he had it pink, as a matter of fact, he had looked very happy when you had complimented it. Nor had it seemed like he minded wearing his uniform loose with those oversized hoodies over it. Expect for when Jongin was around, you could admit that he acted slightly odd when he was present.

After another while, you loosened your gaze from him and stared outside the window instead. And Baekhyun felt like he could finally breathe again. Behind, you could hear some of your female classmates discussing vividly Baekhyun's new style. Whispers repeating how cute he looked, most of all, different. One of them, Minji you thought it was, said something that triggered you more than it should have. Her high pitched whisper suggesting her friends that the theory that perhaps he liked someone and so changed for her. It sounded extremely cheesy but not entirely impossible either.

You sucked on your lip thoughtfully as you processed the words. For some reason, your heart felt like it was trembling In your chest as your brows formed a crease on your forehead. Suddenly you felt uneasy with the fact that he had changed. Was he going to get masses of students buzzing around him like those popular guys? Was he... Going to change, completely?

You almost jumped out of your seat when you felt a hand on your shoulder, but visibly relaxed when you saw it was only Baekhyun, your heart skipped a beat without your consent.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked you, his hand was incredibly hot and somehow you felt your skin burn under the fabric, hesitantly, you nodded at him.

A shy smile of relief appeared on his lips, "That's great then," he murmured, you looked down in your lap and wordlessly nodded, wondering why in the world you were feeling so shy all of sudden.

"So..What made you dye your hair?" You asked out of genuine curiosity, and Baekhyun seemed taken aback for a moment as if he hadn't been expecting that question from you. Still, he gave a sheepish smile as his cheeks came to life. His fingers were playing with some strands of his locks.

"Secret." He replied, his eyes sliding slowly from the hair between his fingers to your own eyes, and you didn't know if you were imagining it, but there was the slightest hint of a smirk on Baekhyun's lips and you felt a shiver run down your spine. A smirk? is this even the same Byun Baekhyun from yesterday?

Feeling a little disappointed you muttered, "Oh, okay.." For some reason, his grin widened and it stirred something inside of you, something that you couldn't describe. But it wasn't pleasant.

"What do you think?" You were puzzled by his question, Baekhyun was everything but a bold guy, but this time he was proving you wrong and it was making you feel confused. Had he really changed in the span of a day? Why was it bothering you so much?

Tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear you directed your eyes elsewhere.

"You look really nice actually, but I didn't mind your pink hair." You said honestly, feeling the urge to say the last part. And the smile that spread on Baekhyun's face made you forget about how confusing your heart was being. You figured that it would be worth doing anything as long as you'd get to see that smile. You couldn't help your twitching lips.

His cheeks were so red and you wondered if they were on their verge of exploding while he kept glancing at you from under his lashes.

"You also, look really pretty today- well you always do and-" Was that your heart-melting? There was a wave of relief crashing over you, this was the only Baekhyun you wanted. The shy Baekhyun that blushed while talking to you, the Baekhyun that couldn't look at you for too long without feeling shy. You didn't need him to change for anything. You didn't want him to change.

A chuckle escaped from your lips and he realized that he was rambling nervously again.

"Thank you," You said, placing your cheek on your palm as you graced him with a big smile.

                                                                                       ***

The teacher's voice had become a blur in the background of your thoughts, for the first time ever you were having trouble listening to what was being said. Even though you had never been great with maths; you had always found it important to at least try to understand when the teacher was explaining. But this time, there was a certain person occupying your thoughts and for a matter of fact, he was sitting right next to you. His smirk kept replaying in your head and it was starting to plague you because occasionally you would wander back to him without even realizing it. It was like you had been put under a spell, feeling all too conscious about every little thing. You weren't sitting all too close to each other, but you still felt the need to shift your chair closer to his. To feel his shoulder brush against yours, to have a better feel of his faint scent.

The math book laid open in front of you and your notebook was indeed blank. You didn't understand this, not a single bit. With your lip caught in your teeth, you read the question and explanation all over again, however, it wouldn't matter how many times you read it, it just wouldn't make any sense. But right when you were ready to give up; you heard Baekhyun's chair scrape closer.

"Need help?" There was a knowing grin on his face that made you lift an eyebrow at him.

"Are you mocking me?" A giggle escaped his lips and you wished you could replay it all over again, everything he was doing, the smallest things were starting to have an effect on you and you didn't know what to do about it. It made your heart swell, the way he was getting more comfortable around you.

"Of course not, I just find it cute." He said and started scribbling explanations into your notebook. Instead of looking attentively at what he was writing as you normally would, your eyes pulled themselves like magnets to his face. His side profile so undeniably perfect, his scent wasn't strong like many guys would prefer to have it, furthermore, it was something between sweet and delicate.

Only when he leaned away, you realized that you had been staring at him so shamelessly, you could only hope for yourself that he hadn't noticed. Thanking him you picked up your pen, inwardly trying to get yourself together.. Stop thinking about Baekhyun, stop creeping.

"Baekhyun," someone called, your brows furrowed at the familiar voice, your teeth dug deep into your lip when you saw Minji and her friend showing their math book to Baekhyun, asking him for help.

"Could you help us here?" The girl said while pointing at one of the math problems, which happened to be the one you had been stuck on as well. You could only stare at the surprised reaction of the boy as a bitter taste spread in your mouth when his cheeks tinted with pink. 

"I- uh," he hesitated, and for a moment you felt the urge to call out for him just to avoid seeing him talk to the two girls.

"Of cours—" He continued and straightened himself in his seat, the girls gave him expectant looks.

"Baekhyun!" Your lips moved before you had the time to think through what you were going to do, you inwardly screamed at yourself for having said his name so loudly. Baekhyun turned to you with big questioning eyes and the worst part of this matter was that you didn't really have an excuse to save yourself with. No matter how lame it was, it was your only option and so you pointed at your notebook, quietly asking him to explain it once again. His face softened when he saw the troubled look on your face, at that point he turned to face the girls again and apologized to them.

"Sorry- I was actually helping Y/n, please come back in a few," In the end, he declined kindly, and despite your actions; you couldn't even say that you were feeling better, your face was burning up and your heart was slamming against your ribs. You had just interrupted Baekhyun because you hadn't wanted to see him interact with other girls, and he had chosen you over them although he had already helped you. Shame and guilt filled you when you realized how childish you were being.

To not say less, you felt really embarrassed of yourself that day, you were always such a composed and calm person, most of the time you could control your feelings without any problems. But right now, you felt so confused, confused about the reason why your heart was hurting so badly at the fact that he was getting more attention from other classmates. Confused about the fact that it bothered you that he had changed looks. Confused about the fact that you were feeling so... Jealous?

You had no reason to feel such a strong thing, yet there you were, completely unable to help it. You hated it, the painful throb in your chest. The fear, the fear that he would change and eventually feel like hanging with you wouldn't be worth it- and realize that it's probably nicer to be around prettier girls and popular boys.

"Y/n," his soft voice called your name and you immediately snapped out of your thoughts, there was a glint of worry in his eyes when he faced you.

"Are you sure you are okay? You are spacing out a lot," Baekhyun pointed out and your heart betrayed you once again with a sweet flutter at the care dripping off his words.

" I'm fine, sorry,"

Acting normal had been a real task that day, you were feeling somewhat down, with your feelings all over the place, it was exhausting. You had never been the loud kind of girl, but it was noticeable when something was off with you because you would unintentionally stop talking.  Apparently, you were acting way odder than you were imagining, because even Jongdae eyed you with a worried frown, probably wondering why you hadn't touched your lunch that day. After all, you would always gush about how important it was to eat and nitrate oneself.

But now, you couldn't really say that you felt like talking, in fact, all you wanted to do was forget about the fact that you had feelings, and hide under the warm blankets of your bed.

                                                                                             ***

Jongdae was casually scrolling on his phone while Baekhyun laid sprawled on his bed, occasionally kicking the air when he felt frustrated with himself. He was trying to sort out his thoughts but they ended up confusing even more. A groan escaped his lips and Jongdae snapped his gaze to the other male, eyes big and startled.

"What the hell-" he kicked Baekhyun's leg.

"Jongdae, Y/n has been so distant, I feel worried." He sounded cheesy but he couldn't find it in himself to care, his chest was tightening at the memory of your worried frown and pursed lips. He swore that he could've done anything to see you smile, but at the same time, he was afraid that you didn't want to open up to him. It was all new to him, he had no idea how to act, how to comfort someone.

"Well, try asking her what the problem is, maybe she's sad," Jongdae muttered absentmindedly with his eyes still attached to the screen, and Baekhyun considered his words, he wasn't wrong after all. It was very probable that you weren't going to start talking about your problems on your own.

He wanted you to feel like you could tell him what was on your mind, if he could help you, he would do it wholeheartedly. He wanted to take it further than just helping you with the math equations.

"How do I comfort her though?" Now was the hardest question, Jongdae was at least as inexperienced as Baekhyun, but thanks to the good read he'd had some days ago, he had a brighter idea of something that could work.

"Dunno man, hug her or something." Baekhyun blushed at the suggestion, screw that, the bare thought made his heart race. Hug you? No way he could never do that, could he? What if you didn't want him to touch you?

Baekhyun rolled onto his stomach, leaning his head onto Jongdae's pillow.

The male friend slapped his ass, "If you fall asleep here again I swear Baekhyun-"

The next day was though for Baekhyun, the two of you didn't share any classes and it frustrated him as much as it worried him. He knew that the way you were acting the past days could have been something temporary and that perhaps today, you were already feeling better. But he needed to make sure that you were okay. It was hard for him to admit it to himself. That he wanted to be the one to make you feel better, and a little part of him feared that maybe someone had already done that. The thought made his heart squeeze. Maybe Jongin had been faster even in this case. Teeth digging into his lip, he asked himself why he always had to compare himself and make things harder than they already were, he just couldn't escape the insecurities.

The clock seemed to go three times slower now that his legs were itching to get out of that classroom. Baekhyun had already checked your schedule beforehand just so that he could see you when you finished your class. His foot was tapping continuingly on the ground while he tried to make time go by faster by doing the assigned exercises.

It felt like it had been forever before the bell finally rang, the loud noise of scraping chairs against the ground filled the room and Baekhyun left as soon as his back-pack was slung around his shoulder, not bothering to wait for Jongdae, the said male knew exactly where Baekhyun was heading, so he didn't bother to follow him either.

He was waiting outside of your current classroom, for a moment he considered peering through the glass window but he figured he would just make a fool out of himself if anyone saw him. Instead, he went with leaning patiently against the wall, fished out his phone to check the time. 5 minutes left, he thought to himself, taking deep breaths. Great, he thought, his face was heating up and as much as he didn't want it to, there was nothing he could do about it. It was only natural, he didn't know what to expect, were you going to be okay? What was he going to do if you were already fine? Had he been here in vain? Probably wasting your time.

Just when the worries started kicking in, the door slid open and he almost jumped at the sudden noise. Students were rushing their way out, many of them probably had a bus to catch up to. Baekhyun's eyes traveled onto every face, trying to find yours in the mess. But you didn't appear until the crowd was gone, in fact, he was only relieved that you were the last one to exit, that meant that the two of you would be able to be alone. Well, to be frank, the thought of being alone with you wasn't completely reassuring him either, but for today; he was going to forget about every single insecurity because your well being mattered more than him not making a fool out of himself.

Baekhyun had expected you to at least approach him, he was standing in front of the door and he thought that you couldn't possibly not see him. What made him confused though, was the way you met his gaze for the briefest of moments, lips slightly agape before you turned away and started walking in the other direction. A crease appeared on his forehead.

The boy was surprised by the way that he rushed after you without hesitating, grabbing your wrist, gently turning you around so that you could look at him. But you let him down when you seemed to feel like staring at the ground instead. Fingers were squeezing his heart painfully, but this was no time to be emotional. The sole fact that you hadn't left his grip was a sign for him to go on.

"What's wrong, Y/n?" His voice came out soft and low, barely a whisper. He could see the way your jaw clenched ever so slightly. Thinking through your actions, if you were going to tell him or not. Did you really not trust him enough to speak about these things? Or maybe he was just imagining it, maybe you weren't that far in a friendship yet. But you proved him wrong when a sigh left your lips and leaned your head against his chest. He felt his eyes grow wider, the heart picked up its beat again, extremely loud and painful against his ribs.

Y/n was leaning her head on his chest and it was a miracle that he was keeping cool for even a second.

"I don't know what's happening to me," You started sincerely with a long exhale, "I don't even feel like myself anymore." The words were very abstract and no matter how badly he wanted to know what was causing you to feel this way, he was happy with the fact that you were telling him. It was fine with him that you didn't want to say more than that. No matter the fast heartbeat of his, he could still make out through throbs that it swelled with affection.

He didn't know what came over him when his hand dared to leave your wrist to curl his arm around your shoulder with the other. Carefully drawing you slightly closer to him and you sighed pleasantly with your cheek pressed against his shirt. His face was hidden your hair, and he couldn't help but take notice of the fresh scent of your shampoo, the softness of your hair when it brushed his face. While you couldn't do anything else but love the way Baekhyun was so comfortingly warm and soft. You figured at that moment than an embrace wouldn't have been the same if it hadn't been from him.

You were glad that it was him hugging you, glad that for another time, you had him all for yourself. Selfish, yes you were aware of that, but it was so nice.

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hihi yes, this story still exists and so do I cx I hope you enjoyed it! It's been so long and I'm really sorry but there have been many things going on in my life so I had to yk, get away a lil.

Also, I thought that it was time to know what was going through Oc's mind, no? Did you like the chapter? Please tell me in the comments, it's always nice with motivations! Have a wonderful day loves, P.🌸✨💖