Chanyeol's Epic Fail (not mine)

It Happened

“I don’t believe any of you,” I say with a growl.

I don't.

I can’t.

No.

Nope.

No way.

“Chanyeol ple-”

“SHUT UP KAI!”

I storm off, my arms clenched. I don’t believe this for a second. Who would want to hurt MY Byun Baekhyun?

Once I get to the cabin I slam the door shut behind me, muttering obscenities under my breath. Baekhyun’s sitting on the edge of his bed, crying.

Again.

“Please stop crying,” I tell him.

“Chanyeol, what did Kai say?” Baekhyun asks, voice shaky.

I laugh.

My long, stupid, goofy laugh.

“Kai’s an idiot.”

Baekhyun stares at me as I do an almost triumphant backflip onto the edge of my bed. Of course, with my lack of body-space coordination, I end up hitting my head on the bedside table as I flip over and pretty much break the window on the other side of the room with a loud THUMP.

And there go half my brain cells.

Wait, you had brain cells?

SHUT UP BRAIN!

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asks.

“Mmmf.” I grumble. My ears are stuck in the bed sheets and I can’t move my head.

“Here,” Baekhyun says, untangling me. Our eyes meet, and I am quick to look down.

“Thanks,” I flash him a toothy smile, and he gives me a grin.

“Kai said something really dumb,” I tell him, my eyes running over his arms, legs, hands, feet.

There’s no scars. No scars that I can see, at least; none that I’ve ever noticed before.

Maybe I’m too self-centered.

Maybe I was always too preoccupied with myself to ever notice he had problems.

“What did Kai say?” Baekhyun asks quietly, taking my hand, tracing it with his fingers.

I stare at him, long and hard.

“It’s not true,” I tell him with authority.

“I know it’s not true.”

“But what?”

“Don’t even worry about it.”

Baekhyun pouts, and I wrap my arms around him. Even if it is true, he’s always been so straightforward about this sort of thing with me. Being a couple.

I suppose I was always the awkward one. If what Kai said was true, then maybe it’s time for me to take control.

“Baek,” I begin, pulling him onto my bed.

“I love you…”

He sighs, breathing in and out slow and steady breaths. I pull him up over me so his head is resting on my chest, feeling my heartbeat.

I drag the sheet from around our ankles, making sure to cover him completely. Once I’m convinced we’re a nice warm cocoon, I rest my head back, lying on the pillow.

He tries to ask again what Kai said, but I ignore him, instead pressing my chin onto his forehead.

The next day, everyone eats their cereal in silence. I see the others throw worried glances his way, and I glare at each of them in return, from my spot next to Baekhyun.

The air feels tense, but I try my best to ignore it. Instead, I wrap an arm over his shoulder possessively, wiggling my chair even closer than is physically possible, until I’m half sitting on top of him.

“Chanyeol?”

I throw him a small smile, turning my cereal around in my bowl, hearing the ‘slosh slosh’ of the mush in milk.

I frown.

I hate powdered milk.

I wish Kyungsoo had actually bothered cooking something nice for us this morning, but no. He and Kai went on a sex rampage last night, leaving most of us scarred for life.

“What are you all looking at?” Baekhyun finally breaks the silence, glancing at the ten faces before him. Xiumin nudges Chen, and Chen gets up, carrying his bowl across to us.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Chen says apologetically.

“Sometimes I go too far… and I didn’t know about your past.”

“What past?” Baekhyun asks, glancing across at Kai, who looks down, intent on stabbing whatever corm flakes he’s got left with his spoon.

“Kai said that you were abused as a kid,” Chen says loudly, for all to hear. Baekhyun visibly flinches. He turns to me, a look of confusion in his eyes.

“Chanyeol, you said it was nothing to worry about. You said it was untrue and you didn’t believe Kai.”

I nod.

“I still don’t.”

Stony silence.

“Maybe you should…” Kai speaks up.

“What?”

Baekhyun drops his spoon, standing up in his spot, pushing away from me so he stands in the centre of the group.

“I know you all want the truth,” Baekhyun says, staring at the floor.

“And all I can tell you is yes, Kai told you the truth.” Baekhyun turns to me now, his eyes darkened. He stares me dead in the eye, and I exhale.

“Tell me it’s not true…”

The words come out of my mouth, more of a whine than an actual request. Baekhyun just stands there, staring at me.

“Chanyeol. Why didn’t you believe it?” he asks. I shrug.

“I… I suppose… don’t want… I… can’t.” I splutter.

Brilliant Korean, Chanyeol.

Fucking brain.

“It happened,” Baekhyun says, louder still.

“It happened. My uncle, he began showing me things, when I was seven. Only showing at first. Not touching. But then it got worse. Then he started touching me… when my parents were away, of course… but my mum caught him. It ruined our family. It ruined my life.”

He inhales sharply.

“I get uncomfortable when people touch me, unless I trust them fully. Even you guys, I have trouble…” He glances around, turning back to me.

“I thought we had something special,” he whispers, staring at me with hurt in his eyes.

“I thought I could trust you, I thought you were different! But you’re just like the rest of them! You don’t want to believe because it makes me disgusting! It makes me broken and impure and a hideous human being! And to think you laughed it off!” His voice rises, with each syllable.

“No, Baekhyun, I-”

“I don’t even want to hear it from you!” he screams at me, walking over to the cabins. I watch from my seat, flabbergasted, as he pulls all of my stuff out of the room, sitting it on the side wall until it’s all out in the open.

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

And that’s when I break down into an ugly, sobbing mess, deciding to run off into the bushes without a flashlight or food or… anything.

It’s at about six thirty that evening, when the sun sets and I’m left freezing in the snow, in the middle of a fucking forest, that I realise my mistake.

My epic fail.