Where We Belong

It was nearly 2 am and Chanyeol was more than absorbed in the track coming to life in front of him. Surrounded by the equipment of the home studio, he picked up his guitar and played a few chords, but scrunched up his nose at the sound and sighed. He gently sat the guitar back on the stand and turned his attention towards his computer, feeling stuck.

He took the last saved file back to the beginning and started listening back through it, he stood up and shuffled his feet, bobbing his head to the beat.

After spending a minute absorbed in the lyrics, he quickly sat back down when an idea occurred to him.

This had been a frustrating day for the man. He spent most of his time in the studio since he got home from service, hoping that the company would greenlight his first SOLO album. He just wanted to SING. Of course he would have to make the title track more poppy rap, but the rest of the songs he wanted to sing mostly. He had a catalog so long, he could release several albums. But this song was important.

He tweaked a few things using the editing software and then reclined, listening to it again, leaning his office chair back and sighing another time. He turned to the right to play a little something on keyboard but stopped dead after only a few notes, his face focused on the keys, his long fingers frozen, the sound resonating until it faded out.

A big toothy smile began to form beginning in one corner of his mouth until it spread across his whole face, for in the periphery of his vision stood a figure. He swung out of his chair faster than he thought possible, the back of it hitting the mixing table in the studio.

Baekhyun had dropped his bags as soon as he saw Chanyeol emerge from his seat, and didn't recall what happened between that moment and the next, where he was being embraced by Chanyeol who turned his head and took a deep breath in through his nose, taking in the smell of Baekyun's hair.

Chanyeol could feel moisture on his bare shoulder, uncovered by the sleeveless shirt he wore.

"Baek..." he whispered gently, savoring the feeling of the arms of the smaller wrapped around his back, fingers fisting his shirt. He heard a small sob and rocked the smaller softly back and forth where they stood.

"Baekhyun. I thought you were coming back tomorrow!" He said, a little louder, his voice cracking. "Baekhyun..." he sighed.

He backed up only slightly and moved his hands up to the other's neck and then further to cup both sides of his face, he wiped away a few tears with his thumbs, and pressed their foreheads together. Both gazed into eachother, blurry, through glossy eyes. But both were smiling from ear to ear.

"Channie..." Baekhyun sobbed, "Chanyeol! Channie! Channie, Channie, Channie..." he repeated it like a mantra. It was quiet for a moment, except the sound of heavy heartbeats, and Baekhyun whispered "Yeol..." almost inaudibly.

He pulled his head back to look up at the great love of his life, whom he hadn't seen in a little over 22 excruciating months because of their overlapping service times. His chest felt like it was exploding with pent up emotion. "I love you..." he whispered, "s-so m-much... I love you..." he spoke in a hushed tone.

Chanyeol's deep brown almond shaped eyes showed his obvious anxiety as he answered, "N-nothing has changed..." he stuttered the words out. It was both a statement and a question.

"We promised, didn't we?" Baekhyun replied with a smile, putting his delicate fingers on Chanyeol's chin, pulling his face down to meet his own, their lips ghosting against eachother's, barely touching, again and again and again. Although these weren't the feverent, desperate kisses of long lost lovers like in the movies, their lips grazed against eachother's in such an intimate way that Chanyeol felt the emotions spreading through his veins like a drug.