Sanctuary | Chanbaek

Chapter Six

The week of the scavenging trip had been the longest seven days of Baekhyun's entire time at the hospital. He thought about Chanyeol from the second he woke up, aching to be near him again. It had only taken him one day after his 'intervention' to decide confidently that yes, he did want to confess to Chanyeol. As soon as he had come to terms with his feelings he didn't know how he could handle holding them in for any longer. He needed Chanyeol to be back, needed to be held by him, loved by him. He felt foolish for putting it off for this long. He was scared but he couldn't picture a world where Chanyeol wasn't with him.

He'd spent a whole hour going through the lost and found and the laundry room with Nayeon trying to find outfit options for the day of their return. Chanyeol had already seen him look his worst the day he first came to the hospital, but he wanted to dress up. There didn't have the options they would have in a store but they finally decided on a baby blue sweater that hung off his shoulder and dark jeans for contrast. Chanyeol would likely be dirty and exhausted from so much walking across such ugly dystopian landscapes. Baekhyun wanted him to have something pretty (and admittedly flirty) to come home to.

His friends did their best to distract him. He didn't tell anyone about his garden yet, he liked that to be the secret place he could go and sit and just get away from everyone except for his thoughts. There had been a long point in time when Baekhyun hated to just sit and think. When the world had gone to shit nothing hurt more than to sit and remember the things that you no longer had beside you. He used to do anything he could to keep his mind off of the people in his life that he cared about. He'd never know what happened to his parents, to his friends. Early on he dreamt that maybe he could find them, maybe they were alive and they could reunite and have a second chance at life together. He didn't think of things like that anymore, it only led to pain and disappointment.

Thinking about Chanyeol was a completely different experience. It felt liberating, almost like he was dreaming while awake. He thought about the way it felt when their hands touched, how exciting Chanyeol's racing heartbeat sounded against his ear the night before he left. Chanyeol cared for him in such obvious ways and Baekhyun had done nothing but lied to himself to try and avoid reality from sinking in. He promised to enjoy every second of it from the day Chanyeol came home to the day he died. Baekhyun swore he would never take another second around Chanyeol for granted again, he'd already done that with Jinho and he wasn't going to fall into the same trap again.

The morning of their return Baekhyun secretly snuck in a quick shower, he shampooed his hair and shaved parts of himself he had been neglecting. It wasn't shower day but he wanted to look and smell nice when Chanyeol saw him again. He wanted to be irresistible so he didn't have to wait another second without Chanyeol all over him. He had already planned out the way he was going to massage all of Chanyeol's sore muscles, dreamt of how he'd place soft kisses along his skin as he got him to relax. He planned to do everything he could to make up for the lost time.

Baekhyun made his way down to the emergency room lobby before breakfast even started, prepared to sit there all day if he had to. He settled into a cushioned waiting room chair and watched the fenceline through the large glass windows. He wasn't sure what time they were supposed to get back, but it was supposed to be today. Minseok and Kyungsoo came down that morning for food with him, teasing him for his somewhat revealing sweater and encouraging him that Chanyeol would undoubtedly accept his feelings. After they'd finished eating they had to return upstairs to do their jobs but Baekhyun didn't even consider following them. He wouldn't dare miss the second Chanyeol pried open the once automatic doors and finally stepped back into his life.