Cursed Freedom

Musical Dreams

(Story under construction  🏗)

   A few weeks into their new routine, Chanyeol woke up for the first time actually happy to find the other side of his bed empty.

   He had watched Baekhyun slowly adjust to not being with him every moment of the day after their talk. Eventually, he began to relax at watching Chanyeol go back to his usual awkward, endearing ways, with no warning signs of him drifting back into that dark state of mind.

   Along with their regular library time, Chanyeol also really enjoyed his new set up spending time with Baekhyun during his naps. The smaller would curl up with the throw blanket that Chanyeol had given him upon his entry into the mansion on their first day together and cuddle into it, burying his nose in the fabric, gripping it tightly against his body as if it were something special and precious.

   The giant would shamelessly stare at his sleeping angel with stars in his eyes and, occasionally, would run the back of his fingers across his cheek and watch an unconscious smile bloom on the sleeping boy's face.

   Sometimes Chanyeol would even fall asleep next to Baekhyun and wake up to kisses being planted across his face or neck, which would, more often than not, lead to them putting their hands and mouths all over eachother until they were naked, panting and sweating next to eachother with Baekhyun's bed in complete disarray.

   Chanyeol, still sleepy, smiled to himself at the memories of these last few weeks, and everything that had happened since Baekhyun's discovery of the Mansion and the curse. He was taking it well now that he's realized that his giant is recovering from his incident and was out of the danger zone.

   Chanyeol lifted his watch to see that it was 9:30am and sat up quickly, suddenly wide awake.

   It was a little late for him to be just waking up. Usually he would be done with his workout, having already come upstairs and given a sleeping Baekhyun a kiss on his cute button nose while listening to the boy groan in mock protest at being woken up. Chanyeol would just smile and laugh to himself at the cutie in his bed before hopping in the shower.

   It was adorable to Chanyeol how much the other detested mornings. His sleepy face, with his cheeks tinted pink and light brown hair askew, was one of the cutest things the taller had ever seen, and he was convinced that he would never grow tired of it. So, it was awful early for Baekhyun to have woken up by himself.

   As he slowly sat up, Chanyeol decided this blip in the system, as encouraging as it was to see Baekhyun up and about on his own, needed to be investigated.

   He rolled out of bed and padded across the room, reaching into his wardrobe to pull on a pair of jeans and throw on a t-shirt and sweater before venturing out into the hallway.

   His ears perked up right away, and he furrowed his brow in confusion. Because... he could hear... 'Was that... music?!'

   Chanyeol thought, immediately, that he was losing it again. Perhaps the Mansion was sending him on another rollercoaster tunnel ride. But he gripped the walls to either side of him to ground himself and assure his mind that this was real. He looked back and forth down the hallway, and saw... a bend at the far end and caught a slight glimpse of a couple of stairs winding their way upwards.

   Chanyeol stepped cautiously forward a few steps. Yes! He could hear it! It wasn't Baekhyun's singing. He would know if it was. He was very familiar with the other's beautiful voice after six and half months together. Baekhyun loved to sing while doing menial tasks like washing dishes, organizing his room, or just browsing the shelves of the library.

   Occasionally, Chanyeol even asked him to sing for him. Though he would blush and protest at first, Baekhyun would always give in and sing little snippets of something for his lover who would swoon and often stop everything to cut the song short by pressing their lips together.

   No. This was not Baekhyun's voice. This was music. Real, honest to God, music! So, throwing caution out the window, Chanyeol approached the end of the hallway to find another set of stairs spiraling upwards to a fourth floor.

   As he moved further up the creaking stairs, the sound of the music grew louder and louder until Chanyeol reached the top step to find a small four by four foot landing and a single door cracked open just slightly in front of him.

   The old wooden door groaned when he pushed it open, but the scene before him stopped his breath and he heard, saw, and felt nothing else except Baekhyun sitting at a black piano, his long, slender, beautiful fingers gliding effortlessly over the keys of the instrument. The smaller's eyes were squeezed shut and scrunched up, head tilted to the side, his face the very picture of pure ecstasy.

   And the music... Chanyeol had never heard anything so magical. He unconsciously walked forward until he was two feet away from Baekhyun sitting at the piano bench where the taller dropped down to his knees in complete awe. He closed his eyes and let himself float in the music flowing from the piano. He sat like this, just cocooned within the melodic magnificence until he heard it stop and a voice calling out to him from the haze.