All My Tomorrows are Waiting for You
Author: ANONYMOUS
Recipient: fairyminseok
Title: All My Tomorrows are Waiting for You
Word Counts: 6,570
Side Pairing(s): Jongdae/Kyungsoo
Rating: NC-17
Warning(s): clumsy awkward sex, very brief mentions of death (in a joking/nonserious manner), too much Kyungsoo
Disclaimer:The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: (College!AU) Baekhyun and Chanyeol might have been best friends since preschool, but it’s only many years and a few strange friendships later that they finally figure out they might love each other, too.
Author's Note: So Jongdae/Kyungsoo actually aren’t that relevant to the plot but Kyungsoo takes up too much of the story anyway…I hope you don’t mind? Also, I tried for the clumsy awkward sex, but I’m not sure if it worked out or not. But regardless, I hope you will enjoy the read!
As a kid, Chanyeol’s second favorite thing about chemistry was all the cool colors mixing together in the test tubes-second, of course, next to explosions. Even now that he completely understands the science behind it all, he still thinks chemical explosions are seriously pretty sick.
Down in the chemistry lab, stoppered Erlenmeyer flasks of various sizes sit on top of the cabinets lining the walls, each filled with a vibrant red, yellow, or blue liquid. Chanyeol was the one who had filled the flasks with the colorful liquids, which was nothing other than food coloring and water, really, but he thought they looked pretty neat, and his professor had also agreed that the innovative décor added nicely to the otherwise bland university laboratory. Under the bright florescent lights, the colorful display seems almost unnaturally cheerful.
Inside each of the wooden cabinets are two rows of shelves filled with beakers, graduated cylinders, and other equipment. Below, a group of tired college students are each huddled over their stations, meticulously measuring out solutions or taking notes on whatever scientific phenomena was occurring within their test tubes.
For most students, 8 AM on a Monday is still too early to be in the chemistry lab. Yet Park Chanyeol, second year chemistry major, is found to be enthusiastically writing down observations in his notebook.
At the end of the hour, when their professor calls for them to start cleaning up their lab stations, Chanyeol carefully dumps the contents of his test tubes into the waste buckets before rinsing them out with water.
Checking that everything in his lab station is in place, Chanyeol finally hangs up his goggles and lab coat before packing up his personal belongings.
“Remember to study for your finals! Thirty-five percent of your final grade,” Professor Kim calls out as the class files out of the lab room.
Chanyeol sighs as he walks back to his dorm. His next class doesn’t start until noon, leaving him plenty of time to stress over how he would possibly survive exam week. One would think that he could at least be allowed to lament over his upcoming exams in peace, but unfortunately, such was not the case. Upon entering his room, Chanyeol finds himself met with a rather unwelcoming sight.
“Okay, I did not, need to see that,” he grumbles as Jongdae finally detaches himself from Kyungsoo. Apparently his roommate had decided to invite his boyfriend over, and the two of had been passionately making out on Jongdae’s bed. Chanyeol has never felt so disgusted in his life.
Shifting his position on Kyungsoo’s lap, Jongdae turns to look over his shoulder. “Why don’t you go find Baekhyun, then?” Chanyeol’s roommate smirks, “Now that he’s all alone in his room, he’s probably pretty lonely.” Behind him, sitting in the chair at Jongdae’s desk, Kyungsoo frowns at Chanyeol to leave.
Do Kyungsoo, Jongdae’s boyfriend and roommate to Byun Baekhyun, is one of the most intimidating people Chanyeol has ever met. He doesn’t understand how Baekhyun even managed to befriend him, let alone share a room with him. Under Kyungsoo’s intense glare, Chanyeol finds himself hurrying out of his own dorm room. Well, then. Off to Baekhyun’s room it is.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol often wonders why he and Baekhyun didn’t sign up to be roommates. Growing up as best friends and next door neighbors, they had always talked about rooming together in college, so he had been quickly disappointed when one day near high school graduation, Baekhyun suggests they each find their own roommates.
“We can both make new friends, and then you’re friends can be my friends and my friends can be your friends, because we’ll still be best friends,” he had explained, and Chanyeol had nodded in agreement. It made sense, and when he finally met his new roommate, Kim Jongdae, the two of them had gotten along right away. Besides, Baekhyun’s room was right down the hallway from his own, so Chanyeol at least knew he still had best friend right by his side.
♦♦♦
Baekhyun is in the middle of an action drama when he lets Chanyeol into his room. He makes room for Chanyeol amidst the messiness of his bed, and the two of them sit cross-legged next to each other, watching as Lee Minho jumps off across the roofs of skyscrapers on the screen of Baekhyun’s laptop.
“You’re free around seven, right?” Baekhyun suddenly says, “Let’s go get dinner together. Jongdae wants to try this new place that’s about five minutes away from campus.”
Chanyeol nods his consent. Thankfully when he gets back to his room, Jongdae and Kyungsoo are nowhere to be seen. Chanyeol grabs his backpack and spends the rest of his day in classes. At six thirty, he’s back in his room, dropping his textbooks on his desk and heading back over to Baekhyun’s room with fifteen minutes to spare.
Of course, Baekhyun is still checking his face in the mirror, hazelnut hair fluffing over his forehead. Chanyeol runs a hand through his own black hair. It’s gotten a little too scraggly over the past month, and he wonders if he should get a haircut soon. He’s never too worried about appearances, though. Baekhyun, after all, probably cares enough for both of them.
♦♦♦
“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol yells at the top of his lungs as soon as he is let into the Byuns’ apartment. Kicking off his shoes and sending a quick greeting to Baekhyun’s mother, Chanyeol immediately runs over to his Baekhyun’s bedroom. Without knocking, he barges through the door, thoroughly startling his best friend seated in front of the mirror.
“What’s up, Baek!” he holler’s loudly, beaming at the smaller boy. Upon Chanyeol’s surprise entrance, Baekhyun had dropped the pink purse he was holding in his hands, and a dozen tiny containers of various shapes now lay scattered across the floor. Chanyeol walks over to help him pick them up, examining the items closely while he does so. “What is this stuff?” he asks in confusion, looking at a rectangular shaped tube of something bright red.
“It’s my mom’s,” Baekhyun says, throwing the fallen items back into the purse and sliding back into his chair. “I was just...trying something.”
On the dresser, Chanyeol notices a black pencil, uncapped.
“But this is makeup. Makeup is for girls,” Chanyeol says.
Baekhyun looks down at the desk, fiddling with the pencil. “Guys can wear eyeliner, too,” he mumbles.
“Oh, okay,” Chanyeol says as though he understands, even though he doesn’t really. Girls wear makeup to look prettier, but Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun is already prettier than most girls he knows.
“Go on then,” he says. Through the mirror, Baekhyun looks at him questioningly. “Keep doing what you were doing before I came in,” Chanyeol clarifies.
Baekhyun gives him one last suspicious look before hesitantly facing the mirror again. He lifts the pencil toward his eye, only to bring it down again. Turning slightly away from Chanyeol, he repeats the action, and then pauses. Finally, he spins around to glare at Chanyeol.
“You keep staring at me, and it’s bothering me,” he complains. “Can’t you leave?”
Chanyeol pouts. “Let me watch!” He backs away to sit on Baekhyun’s bed, giving the other some space, but still observing. Baekhyun’s hands are jittery, and he makes weird faces trying to find the right position to apply the eyeliner. He swipes at his eyes with his fingers sometimes, and leans back once in a while to examine his work. It takes another 30 minutes before he finally stands up and turns around.
Chanyeol looks at his best friend intently. He’s always liked Baekhyun’s eyes. The droop of his upper eyelids make him look sleepy and puppylike, very fitting to his cute personality. The eyeliner, however, gives them a whole new dimension. It looks different, but not in a bad way.
“Well?” Baekhyun asks, after a few seconds of silence, “how do I look?”
The eyeliner on his left eye looks a little too blobby and thicker than the other side, a product of his shaky fingers. A streak of black has been accidentally smeared across his right cheek. Dark irises gaze up at him beneath a row of delicate eyelashes, offering an expression of anticipation, and Chanyeol knows it’s out of nervous habit that Baekhyun’s tongue swipes across his bottom lip.
Beautiful is the first word that comes to Chanyeol’s mind.
“Perfect,” he says instead, reaching out to wipe away the stray smudge with his thumb. Baekhyun beams at him, sharp puppy teeth exposed, his insecurity fading away, and Chanyeol finds himself grinning along, too.
♦♦♦
“Where’s Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asks, looking around the dorm room. Baekhyun’s bed was still cluttered with his laptop and books, blanket dangling over the edge. Kyungsoo’s side of the room, however, was neat and orderly.
“He left with Jongdae left already. They’ll meet us at the restaurant,” Baekhyun replies, never looking away from the mirror propped on his desk.
“Wait, what? Kyungsoo is coming, too? Why does he have to be there?” Chanyeol whines. He stands behind Baekhyun, watching as the brunet applies his eyeliner.
“Because he’s Jongdae’s boyfriend,” Baekhyun says. He works fast, finishing one eye in a few seconds and moving on to line the other. “Why, are you scared of him or something?”
“He’s creepy!” Chanyeol responds dramatically. “Remember when we saw him at Yixing’s party? He told me that I should stop using this brand of hair product because it smells like burnt stuffed animals. Do you know what that means, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol gasps, flailing his arms around excitedly, “KYUNGSOO BURNS HIS STUFFED ANIMALS!”
Baekhyun only hums in response, attention focused on his reflection rather than his nearly-hyperventilating best friend. “He’s just a bit eccentric. You know, one of those awkward, neurotic types who are really just big, cuddly teddy bears on the inside. Don’t worry; he’s a lot better when he’s with Jongdae.”
Baekhyun finally caps his eyeliner pencil and swivels around to face Chanyeol. “How do I look?” he asks, batting his eyelashes.
Still beautiful, Chanyeol thinks, just like always. Baekhyun’s eyes are skillfully lined and smudged purposefully near the edges, each eye an exact mirror image of the other. The shaky hands have long since replaced by steady ones, and his eyes now wear a confident, sultry gaze that practically screams “I’m hot and you know it.” He doesn’t need Chanyeol for reassurance anymore, but he still asks, anyway.
“Perfect,” Chanyeol answers, “You should model for eyeliner brands.”
Baekhyun grins, soaking up the compliment. “You want me to do your eyes, too?” he asks, gesturing at Chanyeol with the pencil, but Chanyeol shakes his head, standing up.
“C’mon, we’re gonna to be late,” he says, grabbing Baekhyun’s hand and pulling him out the door.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol has reasons to distrust Do Kyungsoo. One of these reasons includes a yet another creepy encounter with the man, in none other place but Chanyeol’s own territory-the chemistry lab. The taller male, having left his notebook behind, decides to go back to retrieve it. Making his way through the building, he opens the door to the laboratory and shuffles to the right, reaching for the light switch.
Clang! A ringing sound echoes through the dark room. Startled, Chanyeol falls backwards and hits his head on the door handle before nearly projecting himself right on top of the trash bin. Slightly disoriented, he gropes his way up to a sitting position and looks around the room wildly. Is someone else in here, too?
“HEY.”
Chanyeol screams at the sudden voice in his left ear and jerks away from the other person’s presence. When he looks over again, the face of Satan looms in front of him, and Chanyeol widens his eyes fearfully. This is it. He can imagine the news reports already, bolded words flashing across the television screen. Park Chanyeol, 20 years old, found dead inside the university chemistry lab.
“Hey,” Satan says again, and Chanyeol feels the toe of a shoe jab into his shin painfully. “Are you okay?”
The lights flicker on. Do Kyungsoo is standing up now, staring down at Chanyeol with his large owl eyes.
“What are you doing here?!” Chanyeol screeches.
Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol as if he’s the one to lose his mind. He holds up the bottle in his hand for Chanyeol to see. “Silver nitrate,” he says. When Chanyeol only keeps gaping blankly, Kyungsoo shrugs and leaves the lab.
Chanyeol’s head spins with suspicions. How on earth does Do Kyungsoo have access to the chemistry storerooms? He shakes his head, reminding himself to tell Baekhyun about his roommate’s strange actions later.
Unfortunately, Baekhyun doesn’t quite believe Chanyeol’s retelling of the story with Kyungsoo as Satan.
“He’s strange at first, but he’s a really nice person, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun had insisted.
That night, the four of them find themselves seated in a booth at an Italian restaurant, which is apparently the place that Jongdae had been dying to try.
Chanyeol sips his water and picks at his plate. Across from him, Kyungsoo expertly forks a bite of spaghetti into his mouth. Of course Baekhyun had to sit across from Jongdae and spend the majority of the evening complaining about their music theory professor, leaving Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to stare at their meals in awkward silence.
Chanyeol feels like he should start a conversation, but Kyungsoo isn’t even making eye contact, so the effort seems futile. Nevertheless, Chanyeol reaches across the table to grab a few napkins from the dispenser. “Here you go, Kyungsoo,” he says with a smile, handing the napkins to the shorter male. “You have tomato sauce on your hands.”
Kyungsoo looks down at his fingers. “Oh, that’s not tomato sauce,” he says nonchalantly. “It’s just blood. We were splattering it on the bodies earlier.”
Chanyeol chokes on his bite of pasta. “B-bodies?” He asks, eyes wide.
“Yep. It was pretty fun, even though we had to carry them all the way up from the basement.”
Chanyeol looks to his left, but Jongdae and Baekhyun are too busy laughing at some joke to notice Chanyeol’s look of distress. Chanyeol grips the side of his chair anxiously as his other hand shoves more pasta into his mouth. Should he tell them what Kyungsoo just said?
As Jongdae’s friend, he was obligated to, even if they didn’t believe him. What if Jongdae becomes one of those dead bodies? Maybe Kyungsoo is secretly some serial killer who kills all his boyfriends and--Wait. If Kyungsoo’s hands were covered in blood that looks like spaghetti sauce, then who’s to say that the tomato sauce isn’t blood? Chanyeol had thought that the sauce tasted funny. Maybe Kyungsoo had laced the sauce with blood and they were all ingesting blood instead of actual sauce--
“--what do you think, Chanyeol?”
Startled by the call of his name, Chanyeol looks up to see three pairs of eyes staring at him.
“Uh…” he says, glancing around the table. Having missed the entire conversation, he has no idea what to say, but Kyungsoo’s glare looks especially menacing, and Chanyeol feels his palms sweating nervously.
“I agree with Kyungsoo!” he finally blurts out. Maybe he could get on Kyungsoo’s good side and Kyungsoo would spare him and his family.
At his words, however, Jongdae whoops in delight and Kyungsoo smiles triumphantly. “Tiramisu for dessert!” Jongdae cheers. He and Kyungsoo smile at each other as Baekhyun groans, turning to Chanyeol.
“Why didn’t you vote to go to Häagen-Dazs? You know I like ice cream best,” he pouts sullenly.
Chanyeol rubs his neck sheepishly, suddenly feeling guilty. “Uh...I ate too much and I’m too bloated to walk to the ice cream shop,” he amends.
“Yeah, right,” Baekhyun says in disbelief, “I ate half of your pasta when you weren’t looking, and you didn’t even notice.” He scoots his chair closer and leans over towards Chanyeol. “If you didn’t enjoy the dinner, you could have just told me. We can order takeout from somewhere else when we go back to the dorm.”
“No, no!” Chanyeol panics, still feeling bad about choosing the wrong dessert. He stands up abruptly. “Let’s get ice cream,” he says, pulling Baekhyun by his arm. They manage to make it out of their seats and into the aisle before Kyungsoo stops them.
“Pay for your meals first, you idiots,” he growls angrily, and Chanyeol hastily throws down three tens for him and Baekhyun.
“Have fun,” Jongdae waves as they leave.
♦♦♦
Back when they were younger, Baekhyun would often show up at Chanyeol’s door and try to bribe the taller boy away from his studies.
“You’ve been studying for hours, Chanyeol. Let’s go play video games at my house,” Baekhyun would say.
Chanyeol was never one to abandon his studies, so he would always pull Baekhyun into his apartment instead. Baekhyun would sit on his bed, playing games on his cell phone or singing along to music while Chanyeol poured though his science textbooks.
Afterward, Chanyeol’s mother would make Baekhyun stay for dinner and if it was warm outside, they’d sit on the balcony together and eat popsicles. Baekhyun would always let Chanyeol choose his flavor from the box first, but Chanyeol knew the other liked the red ones best, so he would make sure to always save them just for him.
♦♦♦
It turns out Chanyeol has no idea where the Häagen-Dazs actually is, so Baekhyun leads him to the shop instead.
“I’m getting chocolate,” Baekhyun declares boldly once they’re inside and staring into the tubs of ice cream inside the frosted glass cases. “What do you want, Chanyeol?”
“Strawberry,” Chanyeol says because he knows that it’s Baekhyun’s second favorite flavor, and because he knows Baekhyun will try to steal bites of Chanyeol’s ice cream, and Chanyeol will let him.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol is in the lab alone this time, white lab coat over his normal clothes and safety goggles in place. Having gotten poor results in his recent experiment, the professor had agreed to let him try again.
Quickly setting up the lab, Chanyeol just manages to complete the first step in the procedure when the door opens slowly behind him. Chanyeol spins around, expecting to see another chem student. To his surprise, he finds himself looking at Baekhyun, instead.
“Baek? What are you doing here?” Chanyeol asks.
The other male walks toward him, eyeing the lab equipment curiously. “I was looking for Kyungsoo, but then I saw you in here.”
“Oh.” Chanyeol still isn’t sure why Baekhyun is here, but he turns back to his experiment attentively. The solution in the beaker is boiling now, so he can stop adding heat.
“Chanyeol,” the brunet says quietly.
Taking a pair of tongs, the chemistry major removes the beaker from the hotplate and sets it aside, then turns the appliance off.
“What is it, Baek?”
When the other male doesn’t answer, Chanyeol turns around and looks at him with concern. Setting aside his equipment and removing his safety goggles, he looks at Baekhyun carefully. “Baek, are you okay?”
There’s a strange look on Baekhyun’s face that Chanyeol can’t deduce.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, stepping forward. He’s close now, right up against the taller male, who is still looking on cluelessly.
Baekhyun’s face is getting close enough for Chanyeol to count each of his individual eyelashes now, and Chanyeol feels his breath catch in his throat. He opens his mouth to say something, but his mind goes completely blank.
“You’re look so hot,” is the last thing Baekhyun says before he tilts his head up to close the gap between their lips.
It takes a few seconds for Chanyeol to realize that he’s being kissed. Then he’s parting his lips, pressing back to Baekhyun’s mouth. Fingers reach up to tug Chanyeol’s head even closer, and the taller is glad now that he hadn’t cut his hair yet.
Leaning forward, Chanyeol deepens the kiss and wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s waist. The smaller male presses forward, causing Chanyeol to lean back.
Suddenly, a tinkling sound of shattering glass alerts both of them to their senses. They break apart from their kiss, and when Chanyeol looks behind him, he realizes that his test tube rack has tipped over into the sink. One of the test tubes had chipped off into pieces, and the others were now drained of their liquids but for a bit of residue left in each.
Baekhyun’s eyes are wide and dazed. “Sorry,” he whispers, and Chanyeol shakes his head.
“It’s okay,” he answers, but Baekhyun is looking down at his shoes now, as if embarrassed.
“Chanyeol, I…” he whispers, and the taller frowns. Bringing his fingers under Baekhyun’s chin, he tilts the other male’s head upward.
“What did you say, Baek?” he asks gently.
Baekhyun tongue darts out to lick his lips. “I like you, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol grins, taking both hands now to cup Baekhyun’s cheeks. “I like you too, Baekhyun. I’ve liked you for a long time now.”
“Same,” the shorter mumbles, still seemingly shy.
“So does this mean we can kiss again?” Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun nods. Their lips meet again, and it’s a shorter kiss this time, but even sweeter.
They stay still for a few another minute. Outside the lab, a jumble of voices floods the hallway as the area becomes filled with students. The lecture next door must have ended just now.
“I have to go to class,” Baekhyun finally says, fidgeting.
“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol forces himself to step back.
Baekhyun picks up his backpack and slings it over his shoulder, and starts to head off. Chanyeol turns around to clean up the mess he had made with his experiment. He would probably have to redo it entirely, but it would be worth it.
“Yeol?” Baekhyun is at the door when he looks back. When Chanyeol meets his eyes, he catches a glimpse of uncertainty on the other’s face, the same sort of look he used to give Chanyeol when they were younger, still trying to discover themselves.
“Are we boyfriends now?” he asks meekly, as if afraid of rejection.
The question makes Chanyeol’s heart squeeze with a flood of emotion. “Of course,” he answers, and Baekhyun’s tiny smile is the last thing Chanyeol sees before the door closes behind him.
♦♦♦
It’s been nearly a week since that day in the lab, and in a way they’re still the same; still best friends, yet at the same time, everything feels different.
Chanyeol wakes up in the morning thinking of Baekhyun. His first reaction is to send his best friend a good morning message, so he does. When he receives a selfie of Baekhyun’s head burrowed under the covers in response, sleepy puppy eyes peeking out from under the blanket, Chanyeol heart swells with warmth. It’s wonderful feeling, being able to fully express his affection.
One of his newest favorite things is also getting to see Baekhyun before going to sleep.
[From: Byun Baekhyun]
come over and say goodnight to me
Chanyeol gets the texts almost nightly, and when he does, he immediately slips on his shoes and heads down the hall.
On this particular day, Chanyeol is sitting in Baekhyun’s room while the other rummages around the minifridge. He chuckles when Baekhyun pulls out a carton of milk. Setting it down, he pulls over a small platter sitting on his desk, which Chanyeol eyes with interest.
“Are those rice cakes?” he asks. The soft sticky treats, white and round, are aligned in a neat circle on the plate.
Baekhyun nods enthusiastically. “Kyungsoo made them for me!” he exclaims happily.
Baekhyun’s roommate was currently not in the room, but at Kyungsoo’s name, alarm bells start ringing in Chanyeol’s head. He had seen Kyungsoo at the supermarket just yesterday, and what had the other man been buying? Super glue. Ten packages of super glue, to be exact.
Given his newfound relationship with Baekhyun these days, Chanyeol hadn’t thought about Kyungsoo much, but now that he does, he can’t help but wondering what the other man is up to. In his mind, he sees a split-second image of Kyungsoo mixing sticky rice flour with super glue and feeding it to innocent people.
Just as Baekhyun picks up a rice cake and brings it up to his mouth, Chanyeol bats it out of his hand.
“Don’t eat that!” he cries hysterically, “you’ll die!”
Baekhyun is looking at him, appalled, but Chanyeol keeps talking.
“He’s poisoning people, Baekhyun. With glue! He was at the supermarket yesterday and I saw him! He’s trying to kill us all,” Chanyeol gasps.”You have to move out of your dorm, and we need to get Jongdae away from him, too--’
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun interrupts, “what on earth are you talking about?”
“Do Kyungsoo is a serial killer and he’s going to kill us all. Didn’t you hear him at dinner? He had blood on his hands, and he was talking about keeping bodies in the basement!“ The taller male waves his hands frantically, wondering how Baekhyun could fail to see the urgency of the situation, but the latter only gives him an open-mouthed stare.
“Wait a minute,” Baekhyun says slowly, “don’t you know…?“
A look of understanding flashes in Baekhyun’s eyes, and Chanyeol thinks he’s finally understood his words. What he did not expect, however, was a smile to spread on Baekhyun’s face.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun explains between bouts of giggles, “Kyungsoo isn’t a serial killer. He’s a forensic science major. And he doesn’t keep dead bodies in the basement underneath the lecture hall. I’ve been down there before, and all they have are dummies. Apparently they use them when recreating crime scenes and stuff.”
Chanyeol scratches his head. It makes sense, but… “what was the super glue for, then?”
“Finger prints,” a voice behind him responds, and Chanyeol jumps. He hadn’t heard Kyungsoo enter the dorm, but there he’s standing being Chanyeol in the hallway, and hanging up his coat.
“Cyanoacrylate, or super glue, is actually used to retrieve fingerprints. So is silver nitrate.” Kyungsoo slips off his shoes before climbing up onto his bed and seating himself upon his neatly folded blankets. “Also, I’m the one who gets the supplies we need for labs, which is why I’m in the chem storage room so much.”
Baekhyun is now stuffing his face with rice cake. “I can’t believe you actually thought he was a serial killer,” he says with his mouth full of food. “Our little Kyungsoo, a murderer? Nah.” He dusts off his hands on his pants, oblivious to Kyungsoo’s frightening glare.
“What about Jongdae’s bruises?” Chanyeol finally asks. Two days ago, when his roommate was changing, Chanyeol had clearly seen a line of bruises along Jongdae’s waist, which Jongdae had explained he had fallen down some steps. Chanyeol, however, was still suspicious. Jongdae did have two left feet, but he wasn’t that clumsy.
Kyungsoo shifts his attention to Chanyeol and pauses. For some reason, the taller male feels no safer knowing that the short and aggressive male only studies murders instead of committing them.
“You don’t want to know,” Kyungsoo finally answers. Baekhyun snickers, and Chanyeol feels slightly embarrassed for even asking.
“Okay. I’ll just…leave now, I guess,” he suggests lamely. Turning around, Chanyeol heads for the door. As he tries to balance himself as while puts on his shoes, a pair of arms wrap around his waist.
“Goodnight, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, smiling, “see you tomorrow.”
Chanyeol turns around to pull his boyfriend in for a hug before pulling away and placing a kiss on his forehead. “Goodnight, Baek.”
Pausing one last time as he opens the door, Chanyeol looks back. “Goodnight, Kyungsoo,” he calls. From his bed, Baekhyun’s roommate looks up from his laptop disinterestedly.
“Bye.”
♦♦♦
On Thursday evening, Jongdae slips out of their dorm to meet up with Kyungsoo at the library. Chanyeol had sighed with relief, knowing that he would finally have the dorm to himself. Jongdae was a good roommate, but has a tendency to blast music from his speakers whenever Chanyeol needed to study. The only problem was that Jongdae had left Chanyeol a new distraction to deal with.
“Chanyeol~” a melodious voice calls out from the hallway. Jongdae had let Baekhyun in as he left the room, and Chanyeol’s best friend is now plopping himself down on Chanyeol’s bed.
The taller male, seated at his desk, looks up from his textbooks. “What is it, Baek?”
“Help me clean my room,” Baekhyun whines.
Chanyeol only scoffs at the request. Only Baekhyun would ask for help on such a task.
“I can’t. I have to study for ochem.” Chanyeol is in no mood for cleaning, and more importantly, he has a huge test tomorrow that he can’t afford to fail.
Unfortunately, Baekhyun doesn’t give up so easily. “Stop drawing hexagons and help me. Please?”
The disadvantages to being Baekhyun’s best friend lie in that the other knows exactly what his weaknesses are. When the chemistry major’s finally looks up, Baekhyun is staring at him imploringly, mouth pursed into his signature puppy pout.
Chanyeol glances back at his notes, which stare back at him unappealingly. Heaving a sigh, he pushes back his chair and stands up.
“Alright, fine,” he grumbles, and allows himself to be led down the hallway.
It turns out “cleaning his room” was actually Baekhyun’s ploy to rope Chanyeol into watching two hours of Korean dramas. Afterwards, they cuddle in Baekhyun’s bed until Kyungsoo comes back and shoos Chanyeol away.
“Make sure you tell me when you two finally plan your sleepover, and I’ll have Kyungsoo come over to our room. We can trade roommates,” Jongdae later suggests, and Chanyeol rolls his eyes.
♦♦♦
The opportunity comes faster than he thinks.
It’s the last day of exam week, and Chanyeol is planning on a fun night out. He’s sure he aced his finals, and he thinks he deserves a little celebration.
Only, it turns out that Baekhyun has other ideas, which is why Chanyeol is still in the dorm while Jongdae is off at a karaoke bar with the rest of their friends. Chanyeol walks over to Baekhyun’s room in his pajamas, hair still wet from his evening shower. The first thing Baekhyun does when Chanyeol enters the room is slip his arms beneath Chanyeol’s, prompting him to envelop Baekhyun in his warmth.
“You look so good,” the shorter male hums happily into Chanyeol’s chest, and Chanyeol feels his heard squeeze with tenderness. He loves how Baekhyun is just the right size for him to wrap his arms around, his head at the perfect height for Chanyeol to rest his chin on. Baekhyun’s hair smells sweet and tickles his nose when he inhales the scent. When Baekhyun tilts his head upward, Chanyeol leans down to capture Baekhyun’s lips with his own. He licks his way into Baekhyun’s mouth before trailing his lips along Baekhyun’s jawline and down his neck, biting gently into his shoulder. Baekhyun whimpers, pressing his body even closer, and Chanyeol runs his hand down the other boy’s back, along his waist, until he’s cupping the beautiful curve of his ass. When Baekhyun grinds onto Chanyeol’s thigh and Chanyeol pushes his knee between the other’s legs, they finally pull apart.
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers, “Do you wanna-“
Their eyes meet, and Chanyeol’s voice catches in his throat. Never before has he seen the other male’s eyes look so dark before, so full of want.
“Have sex with me,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol feels his breath leave his chest in one split second, all the blood in his body rushing south. It leaves him lightheaded and dizzy.
They maneuver their way to the bed, Chanyeol tumbling on top of Baekhyun ungracefully. He pulls his t-shirt up over his head and tries tug on Baekhyun shirt the same way, only to have his hands slapped away.
“Buttons, stupid,” Baekhyun admonishes as his slim fingers gracefully open up the garment covering his torso. He squirms, struggling to remove his arms from his sleeves, and when he finally succeeds, he immediately reaches for the button on Chanyeol’s jeans.
Trying to remove their clothes while squeezed together on the bed is not a good idea, and in the end Chanyeol has to stand up in order to slide his long legs out of pants. Then Baekhyun reaches out and tugs down Chanyeol’s boxers, and the taller male is left completely naked as he stands awkwardly beside the bed. Baekhyun is shimmying out of his own pants and underwear, all the while staring openly at Chanyeol’s crotch, and the latter can’t help but blush.
Feeling slightly uncomfortable and not quite sure about what to do next, Chanyeol decides to crawl back over Baekhyun and lean in for another kiss, sloppy and hot. This time, his boyfriend’s hand slips down between Chanyeol’s legs and palms his hardness. At Baekhyun’s touch, Chanyeol’s mouth falls wide open. The fingers start sliding up and down his length, and Chanyeol’s feels himself grow even harder. Baekhyun raises his hips so that their errections slide together, and then both of their heads are thrown back in simultaneous groans.
Suddenly, the shorter male pulls away and starts fumbling around beneath him, and Chanyeol looks at the other in confusion. Baekhyun is reaching under his pillow, searching for something. A second later, a condom and a bottle of lube are pressed into Chanyeol’s hands.
“Baek,” Chanyeol searches the other’s face earnestly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
The brunet nods. “I’ve been wanting you for a long time, Chanyeol,” he says, spreading his legs, and Chanyeol feels the spell of dizziness again.
“Me, too,” he admits. Uncapping the bottle, Chanyeol spills the slippery substance onto his fingers before gingerly bringing one to Baekhyun’s hole, watching in fascination as it flutters at his touch. The brunet gasps when Chanyeol finally inserts a finger, and arches backwards when a second finger slides in next to it.
“Chanyeol,” he whines, “Your fingers feel so good. So nice and big.”
The taller feels himself blushing at the compliment. He adds a third finger and watches Baekhyun wriggle down on it before finally pulling out. He picks up the bottle of lube again, only to have it snatched out of his hand by Baekhyun. Before he knows it, a condom is being rolled onto his cock. Chanyeol grips the sheets as those pretty fingers glide over it with more lube. He looks up at the other’s face again, and this time, it hits him. He is really about to do this with Baekhyun, his best friend. His boyfriend.
“Chanyeol?”
It’s a question this time, Baekhyun staring at him quizzically. Chanyeol can only stare back, frozen.
“Baek, I-you know I’ve never done this before, right?” He’s not sure why he feels the need to say it, but he does anyway. Heat is flowing into Chanyeol’s cheeks, and he resists the urge to hide his face when the other only chuckles.
“I know. Me, too,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol looks at him, surprised.
“Really?” It’s college, after all, and Baekhyun attends his fair share of parties all the time. Chanyeol had always assumed…
“Yes, really. Don’t you think I would have told you about it otherwise?” Baekhyun reminds him, and Chanyeol feels stupid.
“Oh. Yeah,” he breathes.
Baekhyun shifts beneath him, and Chanyeol remembers that both of them are still painfully hard. Before he can move, however, Baekhyun is sitting up and pushing Chanyeol down on his back.
The taller man looks up in surprise. “What…?”
Baekhyun shushes him with a kiss on his lips. “Let’s try it this way,” he says before positioning himself over Chanyeol’s cock. He slowly lowers himself, and Chanyeol’s length is completely enveloped.
“Baekhyun,” he moans, gripping the sheets with his hands. The brunet pants on top of him, a thin sheen of sweat glowing over his body as he stays still, adjusting to Chanyeol’s size. Baekhyun is riding him, his own member swollen and curved up to his tummy, and he’s like this just for him. The thought makes Chanyeol’s mind run wild with desire.
When Baekhyun finally moves, placing his hands on Chanyeol’s chests for leverage and lifting and lowering himself on Chanyeol’s length, the taller male gasps at the tightness. His cock pulses inside the heat, and he is no longer aware of the own sounds escaping from his mouth.
“Baekhyun,” he gasps, and the smaller male hums in response, repeating the action. It’s all too fast, too hot, and when Chanyeol’s afraid he can’t take it anymore, reaches out to grasp Baekhyun around the waist, holding him still.
“Shit, Baekhyun, I think I’m gonna come,” Chanyeol whispers, teeth clenched. He doesn’t want to come yet, they’ve barely even started and he wants Baekhyun to feel good too-
The only problem is that Baekhyun only starts fucking himself on Chanyeol’s dick even harder now.
“Baekhyun, stop,” Chanyeol whimpers pathetically.
“It’s okay, Chanyeol. You can come,” Baekhyun tells him soothingly, and Chanyeol’s voice sticks in his throat. Baekhyun gasps when the hands around his waist tighten and Chanyeol is finally snaping his hips upward, hard and fast. Only a few moments later the taller male comes, an explosion of pleasure sending tremors through his entire body. His arms drop to his sides, but he continues to thrust into Baekhyun’s ass until he’s entirely spent.
When he meets the Baekhyun’s eyes again, Chanyeol feels completely dazed. He reaches out to grab Baekhyun’s cock, and the shorter male thrusts into his hand, all the while still sitting on Chanyeol’s softened member. Baekhyun closes his eyes when Chanyeol slides his thumb roughly along the length of his dick, then thumbs over the slit, applying just the right amount of pleasure. He feels Baekhyun tighten his grip around Chanyeol’s arms, face contorted with bliss as he comes in white spurts across both their abdomens. When Baekhyun finishes, he finally pulls himself off of the taller, flopping on top him. Chanyeol grimaces at the sticky squelch of come between them, and pushes Baekhyun away to find a towel to wipe both of them off with.
When he returns, Baekhyun is splayed out on the sheets, hair fanned out on his pillow and a few strands sticking to his forehead from the sweat.
“Stay with me tonight,” he says, and Chanyeol nods. Sliding himself onto the tiny bed next to Baekhyun, he wraps his leg around the smaller boy and pulls him close.
Grabbing his phone from where it had fallen, he manages to type out one last text message with his tired fingers before he nods off to sleep.
[To: Kim Jongdae]
The roojmis all yoirs tonighjt.
When Chanyeol leaves the next morning, he shuts the door behind him softly and walks down the hallway. Today is Saturday, which means later he can take Baekhyun out for lunch, or for dinner and a movie, or else Chanyeol can bribe Jongdae out of their dorm so he can stay in with Baekhyun and order take out. And then Chanyeol can wrap Baekhyun up in his blankets and trap him under the covers and they’ll make out and maybe have sex again and fall asleep cuddling each other on their too-tiny bed.
Chanyeol smiles as rests his hand on the doorknob of his room. His heart has never felt so full before, and he can’t wait to live out today and the rest of his tomorrows with Baekhyun by his side.
Recipient: fairyminseok
Title: All My Tomorrows are Waiting for You
Word Counts: 6,570
Side Pairing(s): Jongdae/Kyungsoo
Rating: NC-17
Warning(s): clumsy awkward sex, very brief mentions of death (in a joking/nonserious manner), too much Kyungsoo
Disclaimer:The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: (College!AU) Baekhyun and Chanyeol might have been best friends since preschool, but it’s only many years and a few strange friendships later that they finally figure out they might love each other, too.
Author's Note: So Jongdae/Kyungsoo actually aren’t that relevant to the plot but Kyungsoo takes up too much of the story anyway…I hope you don’t mind? Also, I tried for the clumsy awkward sex, but I’m not sure if it worked out or not. But regardless, I hope you will enjoy the read!
As a kid, Chanyeol’s second favorite thing about chemistry was all the cool colors mixing together in the test tubes-second, of course, next to explosions. Even now that he completely understands the science behind it all, he still thinks chemical explosions are seriously pretty sick.
Down in the chemistry lab, stoppered Erlenmeyer flasks of various sizes sit on top of the cabinets lining the walls, each filled with a vibrant red, yellow, or blue liquid. Chanyeol was the one who had filled the flasks with the colorful liquids, which was nothing other than food coloring and water, really, but he thought they looked pretty neat, and his professor had also agreed that the innovative décor added nicely to the otherwise bland university laboratory. Under the bright florescent lights, the colorful display seems almost unnaturally cheerful.
Inside each of the wooden cabinets are two rows of shelves filled with beakers, graduated cylinders, and other equipment. Below, a group of tired college students are each huddled over their stations, meticulously measuring out solutions or taking notes on whatever scientific phenomena was occurring within their test tubes.
For most students, 8 AM on a Monday is still too early to be in the chemistry lab. Yet Park Chanyeol, second year chemistry major, is found to be enthusiastically writing down observations in his notebook.
At the end of the hour, when their professor calls for them to start cleaning up their lab stations, Chanyeol carefully dumps the contents of his test tubes into the waste buckets before rinsing them out with water.
Checking that everything in his lab station is in place, Chanyeol finally hangs up his goggles and lab coat before packing up his personal belongings.
“Remember to study for your finals! Thirty-five percent of your final grade,” Professor Kim calls out as the class files out of the lab room.
Chanyeol sighs as he walks back to his dorm. His next class doesn’t start until noon, leaving him plenty of time to stress over how he would possibly survive exam week. One would think that he could at least be allowed to lament over his upcoming exams in peace, but unfortunately, such was not the case. Upon entering his room, Chanyeol finds himself met with a rather unwelcoming sight.
“Okay, I did not, need to see that,” he grumbles as Jongdae finally detaches himself from Kyungsoo. Apparently his roommate had decided to invite his boyfriend over, and the two of had been passionately making out on Jongdae’s bed. Chanyeol has never felt so disgusted in his life.
Shifting his position on Kyungsoo’s lap, Jongdae turns to look over his shoulder. “Why don’t you go find Baekhyun, then?” Chanyeol’s roommate smirks, “Now that he’s all alone in his room, he’s probably pretty lonely.” Behind him, sitting in the chair at Jongdae’s desk, Kyungsoo frowns at Chanyeol to leave.
Do Kyungsoo, Jongdae’s boyfriend and roommate to Byun Baekhyun, is one of the most intimidating people Chanyeol has ever met. He doesn’t understand how Baekhyun even managed to befriend him, let alone share a room with him. Under Kyungsoo’s intense glare, Chanyeol finds himself hurrying out of his own dorm room. Well, then. Off to Baekhyun’s room it is.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol often wonders why he and Baekhyun didn’t sign up to be roommates. Growing up as best friends and next door neighbors, they had always talked about rooming together in college, so he had been quickly disappointed when one day near high school graduation, Baekhyun suggests they each find their own roommates.
“We can both make new friends, and then you’re friends can be my friends and my friends can be your friends, because we’ll still be best friends,” he had explained, and Chanyeol had nodded in agreement. It made sense, and when he finally met his new roommate, Kim Jongdae, the two of them had gotten along right away. Besides, Baekhyun’s room was right down the hallway from his own, so Chanyeol at least knew he still had best friend right by his side.
♦♦♦
Baekhyun is in the middle of an action drama when he lets Chanyeol into his room. He makes room for Chanyeol amidst the messiness of his bed, and the two of them sit cross-legged next to each other, watching as Lee Minho jumps off across the roofs of skyscrapers on the screen of Baekhyun’s laptop.
“You’re free around seven, right?” Baekhyun suddenly says, “Let’s go get dinner together. Jongdae wants to try this new place that’s about five minutes away from campus.”
Chanyeol nods his consent. Thankfully when he gets back to his room, Jongdae and Kyungsoo are nowhere to be seen. Chanyeol grabs his backpack and spends the rest of his day in classes. At six thirty, he’s back in his room, dropping his textbooks on his desk and heading back over to Baekhyun’s room with fifteen minutes to spare.
Of course, Baekhyun is still checking his face in the mirror, hazelnut hair fluffing over his forehead. Chanyeol runs a hand through his own black hair. It’s gotten a little too scraggly over the past month, and he wonders if he should get a haircut soon. He’s never too worried about appearances, though. Baekhyun, after all, probably cares enough for both of them.
♦♦♦
“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol yells at the top of his lungs as soon as he is let into the Byuns’ apartment. Kicking off his shoes and sending a quick greeting to Baekhyun’s mother, Chanyeol immediately runs over to his Baekhyun’s bedroom. Without knocking, he barges through the door, thoroughly startling his best friend seated in front of the mirror.
“What’s up, Baek!” he holler’s loudly, beaming at the smaller boy. Upon Chanyeol’s surprise entrance, Baekhyun had dropped the pink purse he was holding in his hands, and a dozen tiny containers of various shapes now lay scattered across the floor. Chanyeol walks over to help him pick them up, examining the items closely while he does so. “What is this stuff?” he asks in confusion, looking at a rectangular shaped tube of something bright red.
“It’s my mom’s,” Baekhyun says, throwing the fallen items back into the purse and sliding back into his chair. “I was just...trying something.”
On the dresser, Chanyeol notices a black pencil, uncapped.
“But this is makeup. Makeup is for girls,” Chanyeol says.
Baekhyun looks down at the desk, fiddling with the pencil. “Guys can wear eyeliner, too,” he mumbles.
“Oh, okay,” Chanyeol says as though he understands, even though he doesn’t really. Girls wear makeup to look prettier, but Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun is already prettier than most girls he knows.
“Go on then,” he says. Through the mirror, Baekhyun looks at him questioningly. “Keep doing what you were doing before I came in,” Chanyeol clarifies.
Baekhyun gives him one last suspicious look before hesitantly facing the mirror again. He lifts the pencil toward his eye, only to bring it down again. Turning slightly away from Chanyeol, he repeats the action, and then pauses. Finally, he spins around to glare at Chanyeol.
“You keep staring at me, and it’s bothering me,” he complains. “Can’t you leave?”
Chanyeol pouts. “Let me watch!” He backs away to sit on Baekhyun’s bed, giving the other some space, but still observing. Baekhyun’s hands are jittery, and he makes weird faces trying to find the right position to apply the eyeliner. He swipes at his eyes with his fingers sometimes, and leans back once in a while to examine his work. It takes another 30 minutes before he finally stands up and turns around.
Chanyeol looks at his best friend intently. He’s always liked Baekhyun’s eyes. The droop of his upper eyelids make him look sleepy and puppylike, very fitting to his cute personality. The eyeliner, however, gives them a whole new dimension. It looks different, but not in a bad way.
“Well?” Baekhyun asks, after a few seconds of silence, “how do I look?”
The eyeliner on his left eye looks a little too blobby and thicker than the other side, a product of his shaky fingers. A streak of black has been accidentally smeared across his right cheek. Dark irises gaze up at him beneath a row of delicate eyelashes, offering an expression of anticipation, and Chanyeol knows it’s out of nervous habit that Baekhyun’s tongue swipes across his bottom lip.
Beautiful is the first word that comes to Chanyeol’s mind.
“Perfect,” he says instead, reaching out to wipe away the stray smudge with his thumb. Baekhyun beams at him, sharp puppy teeth exposed, his insecurity fading away, and Chanyeol finds himself grinning along, too.
♦♦♦
“Where’s Kyungsoo?” Chanyeol asks, looking around the dorm room. Baekhyun’s bed was still cluttered with his laptop and books, blanket dangling over the edge. Kyungsoo’s side of the room, however, was neat and orderly.
“He left with Jongdae left already. They’ll meet us at the restaurant,” Baekhyun replies, never looking away from the mirror propped on his desk.
“Wait, what? Kyungsoo is coming, too? Why does he have to be there?” Chanyeol whines. He stands behind Baekhyun, watching as the brunet applies his eyeliner.
“Because he’s Jongdae’s boyfriend,” Baekhyun says. He works fast, finishing one eye in a few seconds and moving on to line the other. “Why, are you scared of him or something?”
“He’s creepy!” Chanyeol responds dramatically. “Remember when we saw him at Yixing’s party? He told me that I should stop using this brand of hair product because it smells like burnt stuffed animals. Do you know what that means, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol gasps, flailing his arms around excitedly, “KYUNGSOO BURNS HIS STUFFED ANIMALS!”
Baekhyun only hums in response, attention focused on his reflection rather than his nearly-hyperventilating best friend. “He’s just a bit eccentric. You know, one of those awkward, neurotic types who are really just big, cuddly teddy bears on the inside. Don’t worry; he’s a lot better when he’s with Jongdae.”
Baekhyun finally caps his eyeliner pencil and swivels around to face Chanyeol. “How do I look?” he asks, batting his eyelashes.
Still beautiful, Chanyeol thinks, just like always. Baekhyun’s eyes are skillfully lined and smudged purposefully near the edges, each eye an exact mirror image of the other. The shaky hands have long since replaced by steady ones, and his eyes now wear a confident, sultry gaze that practically screams “I’m hot and you know it.” He doesn’t need Chanyeol for reassurance anymore, but he still asks, anyway.
“Perfect,” Chanyeol answers, “You should model for eyeliner brands.”
Baekhyun grins, soaking up the compliment. “You want me to do your eyes, too?” he asks, gesturing at Chanyeol with the pencil, but Chanyeol shakes his head, standing up.
“C’mon, we’re gonna to be late,” he says, grabbing Baekhyun’s hand and pulling him out the door.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol has reasons to distrust Do Kyungsoo. One of these reasons includes a yet another creepy encounter with the man, in none other place but Chanyeol’s own territory-the chemistry lab. The taller male, having left his notebook behind, decides to go back to retrieve it. Making his way through the building, he opens the door to the laboratory and shuffles to the right, reaching for the light switch.
Clang! A ringing sound echoes through the dark room. Startled, Chanyeol falls backwards and hits his head on the door handle before nearly projecting himself right on top of the trash bin. Slightly disoriented, he gropes his way up to a sitting position and looks around the room wildly. Is someone else in here, too?
“HEY.”
Chanyeol screams at the sudden voice in his left ear and jerks away from the other person’s presence. When he looks over again, the face of Satan looms in front of him, and Chanyeol widens his eyes fearfully. This is it. He can imagine the news reports already, bolded words flashing across the television screen. Park Chanyeol, 20 years old, found dead inside the university chemistry lab.
“Hey,” Satan says again, and Chanyeol feels the toe of a shoe jab into his shin painfully. “Are you okay?”
The lights flicker on. Do Kyungsoo is standing up now, staring down at Chanyeol with his large owl eyes.
“What are you doing here?!” Chanyeol screeches.
Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol as if he’s the one to lose his mind. He holds up the bottle in his hand for Chanyeol to see. “Silver nitrate,” he says. When Chanyeol only keeps gaping blankly, Kyungsoo shrugs and leaves the lab.
Chanyeol’s head spins with suspicions. How on earth does Do Kyungsoo have access to the chemistry storerooms? He shakes his head, reminding himself to tell Baekhyun about his roommate’s strange actions later.
Unfortunately, Baekhyun doesn’t quite believe Chanyeol’s retelling of the story with Kyungsoo as Satan.
“He’s strange at first, but he’s a really nice person, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun had insisted.
That night, the four of them find themselves seated in a booth at an Italian restaurant, which is apparently the place that Jongdae had been dying to try.
Chanyeol sips his water and picks at his plate. Across from him, Kyungsoo expertly forks a bite of spaghetti into his mouth. Of course Baekhyun had to sit across from Jongdae and spend the majority of the evening complaining about their music theory professor, leaving Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to stare at their meals in awkward silence.
Chanyeol feels like he should start a conversation, but Kyungsoo isn’t even making eye contact, so the effort seems futile. Nevertheless, Chanyeol reaches across the table to grab a few napkins from the dispenser. “Here you go, Kyungsoo,” he says with a smile, handing the napkins to the shorter male. “You have tomato sauce on your hands.”
Kyungsoo looks down at his fingers. “Oh, that’s not tomato sauce,” he says nonchalantly. “It’s just blood. We were splattering it on the bodies earlier.”
Chanyeol chokes on his bite of pasta. “B-bodies?” He asks, eyes wide.
“Yep. It was pretty fun, even though we had to carry them all the way up from the basement.”
Chanyeol looks to his left, but Jongdae and Baekhyun are too busy laughing at some joke to notice Chanyeol’s look of distress. Chanyeol grips the side of his chair anxiously as his other hand shoves more pasta into his mouth. Should he tell them what Kyungsoo just said?
As Jongdae’s friend, he was obligated to, even if they didn’t believe him. What if Jongdae becomes one of those dead bodies? Maybe Kyungsoo is secretly some serial killer who kills all his boyfriends and--Wait. If Kyungsoo’s hands were covered in blood that looks like spaghetti sauce, then who’s to say that the tomato sauce isn’t blood? Chanyeol had thought that the sauce tasted funny. Maybe Kyungsoo had laced the sauce with blood and they were all ingesting blood instead of actual sauce--
“--what do you think, Chanyeol?”
Startled by the call of his name, Chanyeol looks up to see three pairs of eyes staring at him.
“Uh…” he says, glancing around the table. Having missed the entire conversation, he has no idea what to say, but Kyungsoo’s glare looks especially menacing, and Chanyeol feels his palms sweating nervously.
“I agree with Kyungsoo!” he finally blurts out. Maybe he could get on Kyungsoo’s good side and Kyungsoo would spare him and his family.
At his words, however, Jongdae whoops in delight and Kyungsoo smiles triumphantly. “Tiramisu for dessert!” Jongdae cheers. He and Kyungsoo smile at each other as Baekhyun groans, turning to Chanyeol.
“Why didn’t you vote to go to Häagen-Dazs? You know I like ice cream best,” he pouts sullenly.
Chanyeol rubs his neck sheepishly, suddenly feeling guilty. “Uh...I ate too much and I’m too bloated to walk to the ice cream shop,” he amends.
“Yeah, right,” Baekhyun says in disbelief, “I ate half of your pasta when you weren’t looking, and you didn’t even notice.” He scoots his chair closer and leans over towards Chanyeol. “If you didn’t enjoy the dinner, you could have just told me. We can order takeout from somewhere else when we go back to the dorm.”
“No, no!” Chanyeol panics, still feeling bad about choosing the wrong dessert. He stands up abruptly. “Let’s get ice cream,” he says, pulling Baekhyun by his arm. They manage to make it out of their seats and into the aisle before Kyungsoo stops them.
“Pay for your meals first, you idiots,” he growls angrily, and Chanyeol hastily throws down three tens for him and Baekhyun.
“Have fun,” Jongdae waves as they leave.
♦♦♦
Back when they were younger, Baekhyun would often show up at Chanyeol’s door and try to bribe the taller boy away from his studies.
“You’ve been studying for hours, Chanyeol. Let’s go play video games at my house,” Baekhyun would say.
Chanyeol was never one to abandon his studies, so he would always pull Baekhyun into his apartment instead. Baekhyun would sit on his bed, playing games on his cell phone or singing along to music while Chanyeol poured though his science textbooks.
Afterward, Chanyeol’s mother would make Baekhyun stay for dinner and if it was warm outside, they’d sit on the balcony together and eat popsicles. Baekhyun would always let Chanyeol choose his flavor from the box first, but Chanyeol knew the other liked the red ones best, so he would make sure to always save them just for him.
♦♦♦
It turns out Chanyeol has no idea where the Häagen-Dazs actually is, so Baekhyun leads him to the shop instead.
“I’m getting chocolate,” Baekhyun declares boldly once they’re inside and staring into the tubs of ice cream inside the frosted glass cases. “What do you want, Chanyeol?”
“Strawberry,” Chanyeol says because he knows that it’s Baekhyun’s second favorite flavor, and because he knows Baekhyun will try to steal bites of Chanyeol’s ice cream, and Chanyeol will let him.
♦♦♦
Chanyeol is in the lab alone this time, white lab coat over his normal clothes and safety goggles in place. Having gotten poor results in his recent experiment, the professor had agreed to let him try again.
Quickly setting up the lab, Chanyeol just manages to complete the first step in the procedure when the door opens slowly behind him. Chanyeol spins around, expecting to see another chem student. To his surprise, he finds himself looking at Baekhyun, instead.
“Baek? What are you doing here?” Chanyeol asks.
The other male walks toward him, eyeing the lab equipment curiously. “I was looking for Kyungsoo, but then I saw you in here.”
“Oh.” Chanyeol still isn’t sure why Baekhyun is here, but he turns back to his experiment attentively. The solution in the beaker is boiling now, so he can stop adding heat.
“Chanyeol,” the brunet says quietly.
Taking a pair of tongs, the chemistry major removes the beaker from the hotplate and sets it aside, then turns the appliance off.
“What is it, Baek?”
When the other male doesn’t answer, Chanyeol turns around and looks at him with concern. Setting aside his equipment and removing his safety goggles, he looks at Baekhyun carefully. “Baek, are you okay?”
There’s a strange look on Baekhyun’s face that Chanyeol can’t deduce.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, stepping forward. He’s close now, right up against the taller male, who is still looking on cluelessly.
Baekhyun’s face is getting close enough for Chanyeol to count each of his individual eyelashes now, and Chanyeol feels his breath catch in his throat. He opens his mouth to say something, but his mind goes completely blank.
“You’re look so hot,” is the last thing Baekhyun says before he tilts his head up to close the gap between their lips.
It takes a few seconds for Chanyeol to realize that he’s being kissed. Then he’s parting his lips, pressing back to Baekhyun’s mouth. Fingers reach up to tug Chanyeol’s head even closer, and the taller is glad now that he hadn’t cut his hair yet.
Leaning forward, Chanyeol deepens the kiss and wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s waist. The smaller male presses forward, causing Chanyeol to lean back.
Suddenly, a tinkling sound of shattering glass alerts both of them to their senses. They break apart from their kiss, and when Chanyeol looks behind him, he realizes that his test tube rack has tipped over into the sink. One of the test tubes had chipped off into pieces, and the others were now drained of their liquids but for a bit of residue left in each.
Baekhyun’s eyes are wide and dazed. “Sorry,” he whispers, and Chanyeol shakes his head.
“It’s okay,” he answers, but Baekhyun is looking down at his shoes now, as if embarrassed.
“Chanyeol, I…” he whispers, and the taller frowns. Bringing his fingers under Baekhyun’s chin, he tilts the other male’s head upward.
“What did you say, Baek?” he asks gently.
Baekhyun tongue darts out to lick his lips. “I like you, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol grins, taking both hands now to cup Baekhyun’s cheeks. “I like you too, Baekhyun. I’ve liked you for a long time now.”
“Same,” the shorter mumbles, still seemingly shy.
“So does this mean we can kiss again?” Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun nods. Their lips meet again, and it’s a shorter kiss this time, but even sweeter.
They stay still for a few another minute. Outside the lab, a jumble of voices floods the hallway as the area becomes filled with students. The lecture next door must have ended just now.
“I have to go to class,” Baekhyun finally says, fidgeting.
“Okay.” Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol forces himself to step back.
Baekhyun picks up his backpack and slings it over his shoulder, and starts to head off. Chanyeol turns around to clean up the mess he had made with his experiment. He would probably have to redo it entirely, but it would be worth it.
“Yeol?” Baekhyun is at the door when he looks back. When Chanyeol meets his eyes, he catches a glimpse of uncertainty on the other’s face, the same sort of look he used to give Chanyeol when they were younger, still trying to discover themselves.
“Are we boyfriends now?” he asks meekly, as if afraid of rejection.
The question makes Chanyeol’s heart squeeze with a flood of emotion. “Of course,” he answers, and Baekhyun’s tiny smile is the last thing Chanyeol sees before the door closes behind him.
♦♦♦
It’s been nearly a week since that day in the lab, and in a way they’re still the same; still best friends, yet at the same time, everything feels different.
Chanyeol wakes up in the morning thinking of Baekhyun. His first reaction is to send his best friend a good morning message, so he does. When he receives a selfie of Baekhyun’s head burrowed under the covers in response, sleepy puppy eyes peeking out from under the blanket, Chanyeol heart swells with warmth. It’s wonderful feeling, being able to fully express his affection.
One of his newest favorite things is also getting to see Baekhyun before going to sleep.
[From: Byun Baekhyun]
come over and say goodnight to me
Chanyeol gets the texts almost nightly, and when he does, he immediately slips on his shoes and heads down the hall.
On this particular day, Chanyeol is sitting in Baekhyun’s room while the other rummages around the minifridge. He chuckles when Baekhyun pulls out a carton of milk. Setting it down, he pulls over a small platter sitting on his desk, which Chanyeol eyes with interest.
“Are those rice cakes?” he asks. The soft sticky treats, white and round, are aligned in a neat circle on the plate.
Baekhyun nods enthusiastically. “Kyungsoo made them for me!” he exclaims happily.
Baekhyun’s roommate was currently not in the room, but at Kyungsoo’s name, alarm bells start ringing in Chanyeol’s head. He had seen Kyungsoo at the supermarket just yesterday, and what had the other man been buying? Super glue. Ten packages of super glue, to be exact.
Given his newfound relationship with Baekhyun these days, Chanyeol hadn’t thought about Kyungsoo much, but now that he does, he can’t help but wondering what the other man is up to. In his mind, he sees a split-second image of Kyungsoo mixing sticky rice flour with super glue and feeding it to innocent people.
Just as Baekhyun picks up a rice cake and brings it up to his mouth, Chanyeol bats it out of his hand.
“Don’t eat that!” he cries hysterically, “you’ll die!”
Baekhyun is looking at him, appalled, but Chanyeol keeps talking.
“He’s poisoning people, Baekhyun. With glue! He was at the supermarket yesterday and I saw him! He’s trying to kill us all,” Chanyeol gasps.”You have to move out of your dorm, and we need to get Jongdae away from him, too--’
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun interrupts, “what on earth are you talking about?”
“Do Kyungsoo is a serial killer and he’s going to kill us all. Didn’t you hear him at dinner? He had blood on his hands, and he was talking about keeping bodies in the basement!“ The taller male waves his hands frantically, wondering how Baekhyun could fail to see the urgency of the situation, but the latter only gives him an open-mouthed stare.
“Wait a minute,” Baekhyun says slowly, “don’t you know…?“
A look of understanding flashes in Baekhyun’s eyes, and Chanyeol thinks he’s finally understood his words. What he did not expect, however, was a smile to spread on Baekhyun’s face.
“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun explains between bouts of giggles, “Kyungsoo isn’t a serial killer. He’s a forensic science major. And he doesn’t keep dead bodies in the basement underneath the lecture hall. I’ve been down there before, and all they have are dummies. Apparently they use them when recreating crime scenes and stuff.”
Chanyeol scratches his head. It makes sense, but… “what was the super glue for, then?”
“Finger prints,” a voice behind him responds, and Chanyeol jumps. He hadn’t heard Kyungsoo enter the dorm, but there he’s standing being Chanyeol in the hallway, and hanging up his coat.
“Cyanoacrylate, or super glue, is actually used to retrieve fingerprints. So is silver nitrate.” Kyungsoo slips off his shoes before climbing up onto his bed and seating himself upon his neatly folded blankets. “Also, I’m the one who gets the supplies we need for labs, which is why I’m in the chem storage room so much.”
Baekhyun is now stuffing his face with rice cake. “I can’t believe you actually thought he was a serial killer,” he says with his mouth full of food. “Our little Kyungsoo, a murderer? Nah.” He dusts off his hands on his pants, oblivious to Kyungsoo’s frightening glare.
“What about Jongdae’s bruises?” Chanyeol finally asks. Two days ago, when his roommate was changing, Chanyeol had clearly seen a line of bruises along Jongdae’s waist, which Jongdae had explained he had fallen down some steps. Chanyeol, however, was still suspicious. Jongdae did have two left feet, but he wasn’t that clumsy.
Kyungsoo shifts his attention to Chanyeol and pauses. For some reason, the taller male feels no safer knowing that the short and aggressive male only studies murders instead of committing them.
“You don’t want to know,” Kyungsoo finally answers. Baekhyun snickers, and Chanyeol feels slightly embarrassed for even asking.
“Okay. I’ll just…leave now, I guess,” he suggests lamely. Turning around, Chanyeol heads for the door. As he tries to balance himself as while puts on his shoes, a pair of arms wrap around his waist.
“Goodnight, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, smiling, “see you tomorrow.”
Chanyeol turns around to pull his boyfriend in for a hug before pulling away and placing a kiss on his forehead. “Goodnight, Baek.”
Pausing one last time as he opens the door, Chanyeol looks back. “Goodnight, Kyungsoo,” he calls. From his bed, Baekhyun’s roommate looks up from his laptop disinterestedly.
“Bye.”
♦♦♦
On Thursday evening, Jongdae slips out of their dorm to meet up with Kyungsoo at the library. Chanyeol had sighed with relief, knowing that he would finally have the dorm to himself. Jongdae was a good roommate, but has a tendency to blast music from his speakers whenever Chanyeol needed to study. The only problem was that Jongdae had left Chanyeol a new distraction to deal with.
“Chanyeol~” a melodious voice calls out from the hallway. Jongdae had let Baekhyun in as he left the room, and Chanyeol’s best friend is now plopping himself down on Chanyeol’s bed.
The taller male, seated at his desk, looks up from his textbooks. “What is it, Baek?”
“Help me clean my room,” Baekhyun whines.
Chanyeol only scoffs at the request. Only Baekhyun would ask for help on such a task.
“I can’t. I have to study for ochem.” Chanyeol is in no mood for cleaning, and more importantly, he has a huge test tomorrow that he can’t afford to fail.
Unfortunately, Baekhyun doesn’t give up so easily. “Stop drawing hexagons and help me. Please?”
The disadvantages to being Baekhyun’s best friend lie in that the other knows exactly what his weaknesses are. When the chemistry major’s finally looks up, Baekhyun is staring at him imploringly, mouth pursed into his signature puppy pout.
Chanyeol glances back at his notes, which stare back at him unappealingly. Heaving a sigh, he pushes back his chair and stands up.
“Alright, fine,” he grumbles, and allows himself to be led down the hallway.
It turns out “cleaning his room” was actually Baekhyun’s ploy to rope Chanyeol into watching two hours of Korean dramas. Afterwards, they cuddle in Baekhyun’s bed until Kyungsoo comes back and shoos Chanyeol away.
“Make sure you tell me when you two finally plan your sleepover, and I’ll have Kyungsoo come over to our room. We can trade roommates,” Jongdae later suggests, and Chanyeol rolls his eyes.
♦♦♦
The opportunity comes faster than he thinks.
It’s the last day of exam week, and Chanyeol is planning on a fun night out. He’s sure he aced his finals, and he thinks he deserves a little celebration.
Only, it turns out that Baekhyun has other ideas, which is why Chanyeol is still in the dorm while Jongdae is off at a karaoke bar with the rest of their friends. Chanyeol walks over to Baekhyun’s room in his pajamas, hair still wet from his evening shower. The first thing Baekhyun does when Chanyeol enters the room is slip his arms beneath Chanyeol’s, prompting him to envelop Baekhyun in his warmth.
“You look so good,” the shorter male hums happily into Chanyeol’s chest, and Chanyeol feels his heard squeeze with tenderness. He loves how Baekhyun is just the right size for him to wrap his arms around, his head at the perfect height for Chanyeol to rest his chin on. Baekhyun’s hair smells sweet and tickles his nose when he inhales the scent. When Baekhyun tilts his head upward, Chanyeol leans down to capture Baekhyun’s lips with his own. He licks his way into Baekhyun’s mouth before trailing his lips along Baekhyun’s jawline and down his neck, biting gently into his shoulder. Baekhyun whimpers, pressing his body even closer, and Chanyeol runs his hand down the other boy’s back, along his waist, until he’s cupping the beautiful curve of his ass. When Baekhyun grinds onto Chanyeol’s thigh and Chanyeol pushes his knee between the other’s legs, they finally pull apart.
“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers, “Do you wanna-“
Their eyes meet, and Chanyeol’s voice catches in his throat. Never before has he seen the other male’s eyes look so dark before, so full of want.
“Have sex with me,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol feels his breath leave his chest in one split second, all the blood in his body rushing south. It leaves him lightheaded and dizzy.
They maneuver their way to the bed, Chanyeol tumbling on top of Baekhyun ungracefully. He pulls his t-shirt up over his head and tries tug on Baekhyun shirt the same way, only to have his hands slapped away.
“Buttons, stupid,” Baekhyun admonishes as his slim fingers gracefully open up the garment covering his torso. He squirms, struggling to remove his arms from his sleeves, and when he finally succeeds, he immediately reaches for the button on Chanyeol’s jeans.
Trying to remove their clothes while squeezed together on the bed is not a good idea, and in the end Chanyeol has to stand up in order to slide his long legs out of pants. Then Baekhyun reaches out and tugs down Chanyeol’s boxers, and the taller male is left completely naked as he stands awkwardly beside the bed. Baekhyun is shimmying out of his own pants and underwear, all the while staring openly at Chanyeol’s crotch, and the latter can’t help but blush.
Feeling slightly uncomfortable and not quite sure about what to do next, Chanyeol decides to crawl back over Baekhyun and lean in for another kiss, sloppy and hot. This time, his boyfriend’s hand slips down between Chanyeol’s legs and palms his hardness. At Baekhyun’s touch, Chanyeol’s mouth falls wide open. The fingers start sliding up and down his length, and Chanyeol’s feels himself grow even harder. Baekhyun raises his hips so that their errections slide together, and then both of their heads are thrown back in simultaneous groans.
Suddenly, the shorter male pulls away and starts fumbling around beneath him, and Chanyeol looks at the other in confusion. Baekhyun is reaching under his pillow, searching for something. A second later, a condom and a bottle of lube are pressed into Chanyeol’s hands.
“Baek,” Chanyeol searches the other’s face earnestly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
The brunet nods. “I’ve been wanting you for a long time, Chanyeol,” he says, spreading his legs, and Chanyeol feels the spell of dizziness again.
“Me, too,” he admits. Uncapping the bottle, Chanyeol spills the slippery substance onto his fingers before gingerly bringing one to Baekhyun’s hole, watching in fascination as it flutters at his touch. The brunet gasps when Chanyeol finally inserts a finger, and arches backwards when a second finger slides in next to it.
“Chanyeol,” he whines, “Your fingers feel so good. So nice and big.”
The taller feels himself blushing at the compliment. He adds a third finger and watches Baekhyun wriggle down on it before finally pulling out. He picks up the bottle of lube again, only to have it snatched out of his hand by Baekhyun. Before he knows it, a condom is being rolled onto his cock. Chanyeol grips the sheets as those pretty fingers glide over it with more lube. He looks up at the other’s face again, and this time, it hits him. He is really about to do this with Baekhyun, his best friend. His boyfriend.
“Chanyeol?”
It’s a question this time, Baekhyun staring at him quizzically. Chanyeol can only stare back, frozen.
“Baek, I-you know I’ve never done this before, right?” He’s not sure why he feels the need to say it, but he does anyway. Heat is flowing into Chanyeol’s cheeks, and he resists the urge to hide his face when the other only chuckles.
“I know. Me, too,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol looks at him, surprised.
“Really?” It’s college, after all, and Baekhyun attends his fair share of parties all the time. Chanyeol had always assumed…
“Yes, really. Don’t you think I would have told you about it otherwise?” Baekhyun reminds him, and Chanyeol feels stupid.
“Oh. Yeah,” he breathes.
Baekhyun shifts beneath him, and Chanyeol remembers that both of them are still painfully hard. Before he can move, however, Baekhyun is sitting up and pushing Chanyeol down on his back.
The taller man looks up in surprise. “What…?”
Baekhyun shushes him with a kiss on his lips. “Let’s try it this way,” he says before positioning himself over Chanyeol’s cock. He slowly lowers himself, and Chanyeol’s length is completely enveloped.
“Baekhyun,” he moans, gripping the sheets with his hands. The brunet pants on top of him, a thin sheen of sweat glowing over his body as he stays still, adjusting to Chanyeol’s size. Baekhyun is riding him, his own member swollen and curved up to his tummy, and he’s like this just for him. The thought makes Chanyeol’s mind run wild with desire.
When Baekhyun finally moves, placing his hands on Chanyeol’s chests for leverage and lifting and lowering himself on Chanyeol’s length, the taller male gasps at the tightness. His cock pulses inside the heat, and he is no longer aware of the own sounds escaping from his mouth.
“Baekhyun,” he gasps, and the smaller male hums in response, repeating the action. It’s all too fast, too hot, and when Chanyeol’s afraid he can’t take it anymore, reaches out to grasp Baekhyun around the waist, holding him still.
“Shit, Baekhyun, I think I’m gonna come,” Chanyeol whispers, teeth clenched. He doesn’t want to come yet, they’ve barely even started and he wants Baekhyun to feel good too-
The only problem is that Baekhyun only starts fucking himself on Chanyeol’s dick even harder now.
“Baekhyun, stop,” Chanyeol whimpers pathetically.
“It’s okay, Chanyeol. You can come,” Baekhyun tells him soothingly, and Chanyeol’s voice sticks in his throat. Baekhyun gasps when the hands around his waist tighten and Chanyeol is finally snaping his hips upward, hard and fast. Only a few moments later the taller male comes, an explosion of pleasure sending tremors through his entire body. His arms drop to his sides, but he continues to thrust into Baekhyun’s ass until he’s entirely spent.
When he meets the Baekhyun’s eyes again, Chanyeol feels completely dazed. He reaches out to grab Baekhyun’s cock, and the shorter male thrusts into his hand, all the while still sitting on Chanyeol’s softened member. Baekhyun closes his eyes when Chanyeol slides his thumb roughly along the length of his dick, then thumbs over the slit, applying just the right amount of pleasure. He feels Baekhyun tighten his grip around Chanyeol’s arms, face contorted with bliss as he comes in white spurts across both their abdomens. When Baekhyun finishes, he finally pulls himself off of the taller, flopping on top him. Chanyeol grimaces at the sticky squelch of come between them, and pushes Baekhyun away to find a towel to wipe both of them off with.
When he returns, Baekhyun is splayed out on the sheets, hair fanned out on his pillow and a few strands sticking to his forehead from the sweat.
“Stay with me tonight,” he says, and Chanyeol nods. Sliding himself onto the tiny bed next to Baekhyun, he wraps his leg around the smaller boy and pulls him close.
Grabbing his phone from where it had fallen, he manages to type out one last text message with his tired fingers before he nods off to sleep.
[To: Kim Jongdae]
The roojmis all yoirs tonighjt.
When Chanyeol leaves the next morning, he shuts the door behind him softly and walks down the hallway. Today is Saturday, which means later he can take Baekhyun out for lunch, or for dinner and a movie, or else Chanyeol can bribe Jongdae out of their dorm so he can stay in with Baekhyun and order take out. And then Chanyeol can wrap Baekhyun up in his blankets and trap him under the covers and they’ll make out and maybe have sex again and fall asleep cuddling each other on their too-tiny bed.
Chanyeol smiles as rests his hand on the doorknob of his room. His heart has never felt so full before, and he can’t wait to live out today and the rest of his tomorrows with Baekhyun by his side.