take the keys to my heart (and just drive)
pairing: baekhyun/chanyeol
length: oneshot (~3 500w)
rating: PG-13
summary: falling in love with his best friend was definitely not something on Chanyeol's bucket list
A/N: based loosely off of the manga elektel delusion/mousou elektel. title goes to The Band Perry: Don't Let Me Be Lonely.
-
Chanyeol was used to dealing with unexpected confessions. He was quite popular with the ladies, and had had quite a few girlfriends along the way. He was used to the shy expressions, the whispered declarations, the reddening complexions.
But what he wasn't prepared for was a confession from his best friend and neighbor, Byun Baekhyun.
Baekhyun stopped walking beside Chanyeol who continued on a few steps, still blabbering away about the unfair math exam Mr. Kim scheduled for that day. He almost didn't notice as the shorter fell behind, until he attempted to prop an elbow in the space where Baekhyun's shoulder was supposed to be.
When he turned around, Baekhyun's eyes were staring into his with that intense look that he always got whenever they'd face off in Mario Kart.
Chanyeol never liked this look on Baekhyun. It always made him uneasy when Baekhyun wasn't his normal mirthful self, "What is it? Hurry up, we're going to be late."
"Chanyeol."
"Yes, what?"
"I'm gay."
Whoooosh. If you listen carefully you can hear the sound of Chanyeol's comprehension flying right out of his skull.
"What are you talking about, Baek, stop kidding around."
"Do I look like I'm just kidding around?"
Chanyeol inspected the look on Baekhyun's face. His eyes were staring bullets into Chanyeol's. Yes, he's definitely serious.
Which could only mean he expected Chanyeol to give him some sort of serious answer, and Chanyeol wasn't sure if he was able to handle that.
"I, Uh.....Baek." he stumbled. How the hell was he supposed to let his best friend down easy. It's not you, it's me? Too cliche. I'm not looking for a relationship? He was complaining about his lack of a girlfriend only a week ago.
Chanyeol swallowed thickly. Though he was used to confessions, he always had a hard time dealing with them. The word "no" had always felt foreign on his tongue.
Baekhyun raised an eyebrow.
Chanyeol hesitantly placed his hands on Baekhyun's shoulders "You see, Baek, I...well....I....I only see you as a friend?" He bit the inside of his mouth, crunching his eyes shut. He absolutely did not want to see the tears that were no doubt welling up in Baekhyun's eyes.
Baekhyun laughed.
Chanyeol was in swirling in turmoil from breaking his best friends heart, and said best friend was laughing?
"Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, still chuckling to himself, "I wasn't confessing to you, stupid - well I mean I sorta was, but not in the way you think." He waved his hands in front of his face.
Chanyeol pursed his lips, feeling plenty embarrassed for misinterpreting the situation.
"I'm gay, Chanyeol, and I have a boyfriend now."
"You...what?" A bowling ball lodged itself somewhere in pit of Chanyeol's stomach, and he dropped his hands from Baekhyuns shoulders in confusion. Sure Baekhyun had plenty of male friends other than Chanyeol, but he definitely wasn't as close to any of them. If Baekhyun fell in love with anyone, it definitely should have been Chanyeol. He was quite attractive if the multiple confessions a week had any implication, and he was the perfect height too! He was just tall enough to wrap Baekhyun up in his arms and place his chin on the top of his head, isn't that supposed to be romantic or something?
"So, uh... Who is it?" Chanyeol asked, trying his best to seem not as curious as he truly was.
"Do Kyungsoo, he's in my class."
Chanyeol had never hated the class division more.
"Kyungsoo? But he's so short!"
Chanyeol received a sharp jab to gut.
"So what?" Baekhyun snapped, "so am I."
"Exactly!" Chanyeol straightened up, rubbing a hand over his abused stomach, "shouldn't you be with someone taller than you?"
This time Chanyeol's right shoulder was his target.
"What the hell?! Stop hitting me!" he whined.
Baekhyun frowned and straightened the sleeves of his uniform, "we better hurry up or we'll be late to class."
Chanyeol huffed but followed behind anyway, while chuckling to himself as Baekhyun tried to make himself look taller by walking with a straight back.
Turns out that Kyungsoo kid was actually pretty cute once Chanyeol actually took vague interest in the kid. But he still wasn't Baekhyun's type. No way. Baekhyun needed someone who could make him laugh, someone who would play video games with him on a Friday night, someone who would go out to eat fast food with him without even complaining about the way Baekhyun always ended up with more food on the table than in his mouth.
"So....You." Jongdae supplied unhelpfully, to which Chanyeol slammed his forehead into his desk.
"No. Of course not, Jongdae. Why don't you understand my problems?"
Jongdae raised an eyebrow over his half eaten lunch, "Yes. Right. Whatever you say. You are totally not secretly pinning after your best friend. Not at all."
"Exactly! I just think he would be better with someone else." Chanyeol widened his mouth and Jongdae rolled his eyes as he fed him some of his rice, "I''m worried about him. What if the little pip-squeak gets his heart broken by that owl kid? I'll have to soak up all of his tears."
"I don't know, Chanyeol" Jongdae chewed on the end of his bendy-straw, "They seem to get along pretty well," he motioned across the hall to the other classroom to where Baekhyun sat on the top of Kyungsoo's desk. Baekhyun had a huge dopey grin on his face and Chanyeol wanted to wipe it right off. He needed to make good use of all the lysol wipes his mother made him carry in his bag anyway.
But Baekhyun's head turned to meet his gaze, and he raised a hand in a small wave.
Chanyeol's heart suddenly felt all gooey, he blamed it on the fact that it the classroom was practically a sauna and he was beginning to feel nauseous. Yeah. That's it. Stupid Jongdae.
Every Friday night, Chanyeol would go over to Baekhyun's house. First they'd play a round of MarioKart, then Baekhyun would challenge Chanyeol to soul caliber (because Chanyeol almost always won Mario Kart and Baekhyun would then want to play a game that he was good at). After, they would pick out the corniest movie they could find on netflix and pop some popcorn. By the end of the movie they were typically always super tired and Chanyeol would end up sleeping over. Sometimes he'd sleep on the floor, sometimes he'd take the couch out in their living room, and sometimes when it was especially cold out (or they had just finished watching a horror movie and Baekhyun refused to let Chanyeol go) they'd each take half of Baekhyun's bed. Though more often than not they'd end up with intertwined legs and entangled arms in the morning.
Kyungsoo definitely had no place in this Friday evening ritual. No place at all. Yet Chanyeol was the one being kicked out of his neighbors house when the other boy arrived.
He wasn't going to whine about it or anything, because he was mature and reasonable, so instead he opted for holing himself up in his room in a ton of blankets eating double chocolate chip cookies while staring at his phone in hopes that it'd light up with Baekhyun's name. He definitely was not being over dramatic.
About three hours later, just as Chanyeol was beginning to drool on the opened book on his desk, his phone buzzed twice. He jolted awake, snatching at his phone and opening his inbox.
There were two messages. One from Jongdae. The other from Baekhyun.
----
To Chanyeol:
You still haven't given me my chemistry notes back yet you shitbasket
From: Jongdae
----
To Chanyeol:
Sorry about not being about to hangout today. Meet on the balcony?
From: Baekhyun
----
Ignoring Jongdae, Chanyeol slid through the porch door and into the warm night air.
"Baek?" he called, leaning over the railing that overlooked the back alleyway.
"Hey" Baekhyun's head appeared from behind the divide. His smile seemed a tad nervous, "sorry, again."
"It's no problem. No problem at all!" Chanyeol said, feigning apathy.
Baekhyun looked relieved, and Chanyeol was glad. Because when Baekhyunn was happy, Chanyeol was happy. If Baekhyun was happy with Kyungsoo, isn't that all that matters?
"I was actually wondering if you could do something for me"
"Yes?" Chanyeol was going to be helpful because Baekhyun was his friend, and Chanyeol wanted to make Baekhyun happy, and therefore he would do his best in anything Baekhyun asked him to.
"Could you...well, could you not come over to my place anymore?"
Annnndddd Chanyeol takes all of that "make his friend happy" junk back.
"What?"
"Well...you know...I have a boyfriend now and everything... and I don't want to make either of you feel uncomfortable, and Kyungsoo and I should be spending time together don't you think? Cause we're dating." The shorter boy scratched his head sheepishly, Chanyeol blinked.
So that's how it's going to be, huh?
Honestly, being told by his best friend to not be around him anymore really hurt. But he couldn't let Baekhyun know that.
If Chanyeol was full of anything, it was pride. Therefore, he would not let it show.
"Oh. Yeah, um. Okay! I understand! Okay. I, um. Okay. Goodnight!" He stumbled on the step as he rushed back in through the balcony door. Smooth as melted butter.
When Chanyeol left his apartment on Monday morning, he waited for Baekhyun for nearly fifteen minutes so they could walk to school together only to find out from Baekhyun's mother while she was taking out the trash that Baekhyun had already left for school with Kyungsoo. Chanyeol nearly popped a blood vessel.
That stupid short couple was starting to really get on his nerves.
Who does he think he is? Leaving Chanyeol to be almost late for school? The nerve.
He wasn't in much of a good mood when said couple waved him down in the hallway with a pleasant "good-morning" and "How are you, Chanyeol?" like nothing was wrong.
He waved curtly before spinning on his heel and taking the other route to class. But of course, to his dismay, not before seeing the rejected look pass Baekhyun's face as he did so.
Stupid Byun Baekhyun making him feel stupid emotions.
A hand grabbed his shoulder. Chanyeol had half a mind to think it was Baekhyun stopping him to question why he had avoided him so suddenly, but he wasn't that lucky. Instead Jongdae popped into his field of vision and stuck out a hand in front of him.
"My Chemistry notes?"
Right. Chanyeol woefully pulled Jongdae's notebook out of his bag and dropped it into his hand.
"Good." Jongdae grinned and slipped it into his own bag, he then gripped both of Chanyeol's shoulders, "Now tell me what's wrong. I'd rather hear it now than hear you whine about it later."
Chanyeol's grip tightened on the straps of his bag and he stuck out his bottom lip.
"My best friend's been taken away from me."
"And?"
Chanyeol lowered his head, feeling utterly defeated by this point, "What do you mean and? There is no and. There is no Chanyeol and Baekhyun anymore. There's only Chanyeol. There's only Baekhyun. That's it."
"I mean," Jongdae shook the tall boy by the shoulders, "what are you going to do about it? If he's your best friend, then you have to do something."
Chanyeol supposed Jongdae was right.
"I'm always right."
"Shut up."
Now he just needed to think of how he was going to get his Byun Baekhyun back.
Baekhyun liked concerts. At least Chanyeol thought he did. They went to their friend Wufan's band almost every time they played on a Saturday night. Though Usually they ended up making fun of the dramatic crying expressions the lead singer Junmyeon made whenever he got too into one of their songs.
So Chanyeol waited outside of their apartment building after school, ticket in hand, for Baekhyun to come back home.
The main problem was, Baekhyun didn't come back home until close to seven, and by that point Chanyeol had spent too much time with his disheartening thoughts.
"Chanyeol?"
"Yo,"
"What are you doing outside?"
He managed half a smile, "waiting for you?"
Baekhyun placed a hand on his forehead, "why on earth would you do that?"
Chanyeol felt kind of offended at this. It wasn't like he told Baekhyun he'd be waiting for him or anything. But Monday's were usually the days Kris would give Chanyeol two free tickets to their concert that weekend if they were having one, and they had one almost every two to three weeks so it wasn't like it should have been a huge shock.
"I have tickets" He pulled himself up and handed the tickets to Baekhyun who then looked them over.
"Oh. Thanks, Chanyeol." Baekhyun smiled. Chanyeol punched his chest a few times to get rid of the tingling feeling settling there.
"No problem! I thought we could go and-"
"I'm sure Kyungsoo would be thrilled to go."
And there was that pain again. The kind of pain that burned a hole right through the center of Chanyeol's chest and made him wish he could rewind back a few hours to not waste his time waiting for Baekhyun in the first place.
He snatched the tickets out of Baekhyun's hand, "Fine. Then get your own stupid tickets." The door to his apartment slammed sharply behind him.
Well that could have gone better.
"The plan was for you to get Baekhyun back. Not slam the door on his face."
"It's his fault." Chanyeol whined, "he was going to use the tickets to ditch me once again."
Jongdae sighed and put his text book away, helping Chanyeol took a lot more effort than he had originally thought, "why don't you just talk to him?" He offered. Chanyeol groaned and pulled on his hair in response.
"How can I talk to him now after ripping the tickets from his hand and slamming the door in his face?"
"Well you better think of something quick because he's making his way over here right now. Good luck." And with that, Jongdae was retreating to his assigned seat leaving a self loathing Chanyeol and his bowl of noodles in his wake.
The noodles between his chopsticks seemed a lot more interesting to look at when Baekhyun sat down across from him.
"Hey" Baekhyun greeted.
Chanyeol admired the way the flavor packets had just enough flavor for the entirety of the noodle bowl.
"Earth to Park Chanyeol?"
Chanyeol refused to look up from his ramyun, no way was he chancing to look in Baekhyun's eyes again. He didn't like the little wings that tormented his heart-rate and made him feel all kinds of weird feeling things.
"Yes?"
Two cold palms gripped the sides of his face and forced his head up.
When Baekhyun's hands let go, Chanyeol let his head flop back down, drawing out an irritated noise from Baekhyun.
"Will you just please tell me why you've been avoiding me for the last two days?"
"I didn't think you'd need me when you have perfect little Kyungsoo" Chanyeol mumbled through his noodles.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Baekhyun grit his teeth, "You're so frustrating!"
Frustrating? Him? Chanyeol had had just about enough.
"Well sorry I'm not perfect like Kyungsoo. What makes him so much better than me anyways? Am I too tall? Are my ears too big? Is he just that much cuter than me? Does he make you laugh more? Smile more? Does he care about you as much as I do? Why am I just not good enough? I mean seriously Baekhyun just tell me what I can do to get you to like me instead."
He was standing now, he somehow got to his feet in the midst of his almost confession. His hands were clenching the fabric of his uniform at his sides and Baekhyuns eyes were glued to his mouth, probably wondering about when Chanyeol had begun to think all of the things he had just blurted out.
His face was hot, his palms sweating, and all he wanted to do was melt into a puddle of embarrassment and never have to hear any response from Baekhyun at all because he could already feel the rejection that was about to happen.
Park Chanyeol, "any girls dream" Park Chanyeol, had fallen in love with his best friend Byun Baekhyun.
"I'm sorry" He said quickly. Baekhyun had opened his mouth to respond but Chanyeol was already on his way out.
Chanyeol reasoned that if he found a cardboard box large enough he could mail himself to Canada, change his name, and start a new life without the impending doom of having to see Baekhyun ever again.
However, while looking through his house for said box, he came across a bundle of pictures of Baekhyun and himself from last year during the closing ceremonies. He had an arm wrapped around the shorter male who was absolutely beaming. The wide grin on his face from sheer joy doing nothing to help Chanyeol from falling harder and harder in love.
And there goes Chanyeol's resolve. So much for mailing himself to Canada.
Something flew by the glass balcony door. Chanyeol curiously moved towards it, pressing his nose into the glass to get a better look.
There was a small paper plane sitting innocently on the wooden panels. Not a moment later, another paper plane flew over from Baekhyun's side of the balcony.
Chanyeol didn't want to read the notes Baekhyun was craftily sending over. He was still drowning in self pity after all, but his curiosity over-shadowed the rational side of his brain and he scampered out to collect the fallen paper aircrafts.
After waiting to see if any more would pass over, Chanyeol took the ones he collected and headed back inside, dumping all of them onto his bed.
The first one just said,
I'm sorry
The second had a poorly drawn picture of a puppy with the words,
please don't be mad at me
The third was scribbled almost entirely out, as though Baekhyun was struggling to find the proper words to say, except for a few that seemed hurriedly scrawled,
I really want to talk to you, please?
Chanyeol weighed his options:
A)He could talk to Baekhyun, be rejected, and move on with their friendship.
B)He could ignore Baekhyun for the rest of his life and be forever saddened by the loss of his most important friend
C)He could tell Baekhyun to pretend he had never said anything and congratulate him on his relationship with Kyungsoo.
He decided Option C would be the least stressful.
After pacing around his room for several minutes, he finally decided to head next door and put Option C into action.
When Baekhyun came out of his apartment, Chanyeol noted that he had already changed out of his uniform into his pair of cloud printed striped flannel pajamas. His best friends adorable state was definitely not helping the situation.
"Hey," He stammered.
"Hey"
They stood in silence.
"Did you really mean what you said?"
"I- uhm well actually," Chanyeol started, this was the perfect time to put Option C into effect, "I wanted to ask you to-"
"Because I like you. A lot."
Well that was not how Chanyeol was expecting this to go.
He shook his head, firmly believing that he had heard wrong, "you....What?"
"I like you, Park Chanyeol." a small smile parted Baekhyun's lips.
"But.........Why?"
"Because....you're the perfect height, your ears are the perfect size, you're the most adorable giant I know, you make me laugh the most, you make me smile the most, you care about me the most. And I care about you the most."
Chanyeol's face must have been a dark shade of pink by this point, "But Kyungsoo?"
"Kyungsoo actually has a huge crush on some Kim Jongin from the class below us."
Chanyeol thought he must have been missing something, "then why the hell were the two of you dating if you didn't even like each other?!"
Baekhyun chuckled and rung his fingers together, "it's not like we didn't like each other. Kyungsoo's a great guy. The school isn't flooding with guys that would actually have the same sexuality as me, Chanyeol. I knew about Kyungsoo, and he knew about me so we just wanted to give it a shot. It wasn't working very well. We kissed a few times, but it was kinda awkward and void of any strong emotion, really."
Speechless was an understatement for Chanyeol's current emotion.
"So, you, uh, but I, and you? and...huh...."
Baekhyun rolled back and forward on the balls of his feet before leaning in close to Chanyeol's ear and whispered, "this is the part when you tell me you like me too?"
Chanyeol took a step back, breathed in deeply, and grabbed onto both of Baekhyun's shoulders, "I, Park Chanyeol, really really really like you, Byun Baekhyun."
Neither of them moved, waiting for the other to move in just a little closer.
"Is this the part where we kiss? Or something? I mean, I don't want to force it on you or anything. Like, do you want to kiss me? Cause we can. I'd be cool with that. Really cool."
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, and pulled Chanyeol in.
Falling in love with Byun Baekhyun may not have been what Chanyeol had intended, but Baekhyun's feelings in return were a blessing all the same.
-
fin
length: oneshot (~3 500w)
rating: PG-13
summary: falling in love with his best friend was definitely not something on Chanyeol's bucket list
A/N: based loosely off of the manga elektel delusion/mousou elektel. title goes to The Band Perry: Don't Let Me Be Lonely.
-
Chanyeol was used to dealing with unexpected confessions. He was quite popular with the ladies, and had had quite a few girlfriends along the way. He was used to the shy expressions, the whispered declarations, the reddening complexions.
But what he wasn't prepared for was a confession from his best friend and neighbor, Byun Baekhyun.
Baekhyun stopped walking beside Chanyeol who continued on a few steps, still blabbering away about the unfair math exam Mr. Kim scheduled for that day. He almost didn't notice as the shorter fell behind, until he attempted to prop an elbow in the space where Baekhyun's shoulder was supposed to be.
When he turned around, Baekhyun's eyes were staring into his with that intense look that he always got whenever they'd face off in Mario Kart.
Chanyeol never liked this look on Baekhyun. It always made him uneasy when Baekhyun wasn't his normal mirthful self, "What is it? Hurry up, we're going to be late."
"Chanyeol."
"Yes, what?"
"I'm gay."
Whoooosh. If you listen carefully you can hear the sound of Chanyeol's comprehension flying right out of his skull.
"What are you talking about, Baek, stop kidding around."
"Do I look like I'm just kidding around?"
Chanyeol inspected the look on Baekhyun's face. His eyes were staring bullets into Chanyeol's. Yes, he's definitely serious.
Which could only mean he expected Chanyeol to give him some sort of serious answer, and Chanyeol wasn't sure if he was able to handle that.
"I, Uh.....Baek." he stumbled. How the hell was he supposed to let his best friend down easy. It's not you, it's me? Too cliche. I'm not looking for a relationship? He was complaining about his lack of a girlfriend only a week ago.
Chanyeol swallowed thickly. Though he was used to confessions, he always had a hard time dealing with them. The word "no" had always felt foreign on his tongue.
Baekhyun raised an eyebrow.
Chanyeol hesitantly placed his hands on Baekhyun's shoulders "You see, Baek, I...well....I....I only see you as a friend?" He bit the inside of his mouth, crunching his eyes shut. He absolutely did not want to see the tears that were no doubt welling up in Baekhyun's eyes.
Baekhyun laughed.
Chanyeol was in swirling in turmoil from breaking his best friends heart, and said best friend was laughing?
"Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, still chuckling to himself, "I wasn't confessing to you, stupid - well I mean I sorta was, but not in the way you think." He waved his hands in front of his face.
Chanyeol pursed his lips, feeling plenty embarrassed for misinterpreting the situation.
"I'm gay, Chanyeol, and I have a boyfriend now."
"You...what?" A bowling ball lodged itself somewhere in pit of Chanyeol's stomach, and he dropped his hands from Baekhyuns shoulders in confusion. Sure Baekhyun had plenty of male friends other than Chanyeol, but he definitely wasn't as close to any of them. If Baekhyun fell in love with anyone, it definitely should have been Chanyeol. He was quite attractive if the multiple confessions a week had any implication, and he was the perfect height too! He was just tall enough to wrap Baekhyun up in his arms and place his chin on the top of his head, isn't that supposed to be romantic or something?
"So, uh... Who is it?" Chanyeol asked, trying his best to seem not as curious as he truly was.
"Do Kyungsoo, he's in my class."
Chanyeol had never hated the class division more.
"Kyungsoo? But he's so short!"
Chanyeol received a sharp jab to gut.
"So what?" Baekhyun snapped, "so am I."
"Exactly!" Chanyeol straightened up, rubbing a hand over his abused stomach, "shouldn't you be with someone taller than you?"
This time Chanyeol's right shoulder was his target.
"What the hell?! Stop hitting me!" he whined.
Baekhyun frowned and straightened the sleeves of his uniform, "we better hurry up or we'll be late to class."
Chanyeol huffed but followed behind anyway, while chuckling to himself as Baekhyun tried to make himself look taller by walking with a straight back.
Turns out that Kyungsoo kid was actually pretty cute once Chanyeol actually took vague interest in the kid. But he still wasn't Baekhyun's type. No way. Baekhyun needed someone who could make him laugh, someone who would play video games with him on a Friday night, someone who would go out to eat fast food with him without even complaining about the way Baekhyun always ended up with more food on the table than in his mouth.
"So....You." Jongdae supplied unhelpfully, to which Chanyeol slammed his forehead into his desk.
"No. Of course not, Jongdae. Why don't you understand my problems?"
Jongdae raised an eyebrow over his half eaten lunch, "Yes. Right. Whatever you say. You are totally not secretly pinning after your best friend. Not at all."
"Exactly! I just think he would be better with someone else." Chanyeol widened his mouth and Jongdae rolled his eyes as he fed him some of his rice, "I''m worried about him. What if the little pip-squeak gets his heart broken by that owl kid? I'll have to soak up all of his tears."
"I don't know, Chanyeol" Jongdae chewed on the end of his bendy-straw, "They seem to get along pretty well," he motioned across the hall to the other classroom to where Baekhyun sat on the top of Kyungsoo's desk. Baekhyun had a huge dopey grin on his face and Chanyeol wanted to wipe it right off. He needed to make good use of all the lysol wipes his mother made him carry in his bag anyway.
But Baekhyun's head turned to meet his gaze, and he raised a hand in a small wave.
Chanyeol's heart suddenly felt all gooey, he blamed it on the fact that it the classroom was practically a sauna and he was beginning to feel nauseous. Yeah. That's it. Stupid Jongdae.
Every Friday night, Chanyeol would go over to Baekhyun's house. First they'd play a round of MarioKart, then Baekhyun would challenge Chanyeol to soul caliber (because Chanyeol almost always won Mario Kart and Baekhyun would then want to play a game that he was good at). After, they would pick out the corniest movie they could find on netflix and pop some popcorn. By the end of the movie they were typically always super tired and Chanyeol would end up sleeping over. Sometimes he'd sleep on the floor, sometimes he'd take the couch out in their living room, and sometimes when it was especially cold out (or they had just finished watching a horror movie and Baekhyun refused to let Chanyeol go) they'd each take half of Baekhyun's bed. Though more often than not they'd end up with intertwined legs and entangled arms in the morning.
Kyungsoo definitely had no place in this Friday evening ritual. No place at all. Yet Chanyeol was the one being kicked out of his neighbors house when the other boy arrived.
He wasn't going to whine about it or anything, because he was mature and reasonable, so instead he opted for holing himself up in his room in a ton of blankets eating double chocolate chip cookies while staring at his phone in hopes that it'd light up with Baekhyun's name. He definitely was not being over dramatic.
About three hours later, just as Chanyeol was beginning to drool on the opened book on his desk, his phone buzzed twice. He jolted awake, snatching at his phone and opening his inbox.
There were two messages. One from Jongdae. The other from Baekhyun.
----
To Chanyeol:
You still haven't given me my chemistry notes back yet you shitbasket
From: Jongdae
----
To Chanyeol:
Sorry about not being about to hangout today. Meet on the balcony?
From: Baekhyun
----
Ignoring Jongdae, Chanyeol slid through the porch door and into the warm night air.
"Baek?" he called, leaning over the railing that overlooked the back alleyway.
"Hey" Baekhyun's head appeared from behind the divide. His smile seemed a tad nervous, "sorry, again."
"It's no problem. No problem at all!" Chanyeol said, feigning apathy.
Baekhyun looked relieved, and Chanyeol was glad. Because when Baekhyunn was happy, Chanyeol was happy. If Baekhyun was happy with Kyungsoo, isn't that all that matters?
"I was actually wondering if you could do something for me"
"Yes?" Chanyeol was going to be helpful because Baekhyun was his friend, and Chanyeol wanted to make Baekhyun happy, and therefore he would do his best in anything Baekhyun asked him to.
"Could you...well, could you not come over to my place anymore?"
Annnndddd Chanyeol takes all of that "make his friend happy" junk back.
"What?"
"Well...you know...I have a boyfriend now and everything... and I don't want to make either of you feel uncomfortable, and Kyungsoo and I should be spending time together don't you think? Cause we're dating." The shorter boy scratched his head sheepishly, Chanyeol blinked.
So that's how it's going to be, huh?
Honestly, being told by his best friend to not be around him anymore really hurt. But he couldn't let Baekhyun know that.
If Chanyeol was full of anything, it was pride. Therefore, he would not let it show.
"Oh. Yeah, um. Okay! I understand! Okay. I, um. Okay. Goodnight!" He stumbled on the step as he rushed back in through the balcony door. Smooth as melted butter.
When Chanyeol left his apartment on Monday morning, he waited for Baekhyun for nearly fifteen minutes so they could walk to school together only to find out from Baekhyun's mother while she was taking out the trash that Baekhyun had already left for school with Kyungsoo. Chanyeol nearly popped a blood vessel.
That stupid short couple was starting to really get on his nerves.
Who does he think he is? Leaving Chanyeol to be almost late for school? The nerve.
He wasn't in much of a good mood when said couple waved him down in the hallway with a pleasant "good-morning" and "How are you, Chanyeol?" like nothing was wrong.
He waved curtly before spinning on his heel and taking the other route to class. But of course, to his dismay, not before seeing the rejected look pass Baekhyun's face as he did so.
Stupid Byun Baekhyun making him feel stupid emotions.
A hand grabbed his shoulder. Chanyeol had half a mind to think it was Baekhyun stopping him to question why he had avoided him so suddenly, but he wasn't that lucky. Instead Jongdae popped into his field of vision and stuck out a hand in front of him.
"My Chemistry notes?"
Right. Chanyeol woefully pulled Jongdae's notebook out of his bag and dropped it into his hand.
"Good." Jongdae grinned and slipped it into his own bag, he then gripped both of Chanyeol's shoulders, "Now tell me what's wrong. I'd rather hear it now than hear you whine about it later."
Chanyeol's grip tightened on the straps of his bag and he stuck out his bottom lip.
"My best friend's been taken away from me."
"And?"
Chanyeol lowered his head, feeling utterly defeated by this point, "What do you mean and? There is no and. There is no Chanyeol and Baekhyun anymore. There's only Chanyeol. There's only Baekhyun. That's it."
"I mean," Jongdae shook the tall boy by the shoulders, "what are you going to do about it? If he's your best friend, then you have to do something."
Chanyeol supposed Jongdae was right.
"I'm always right."
"Shut up."
Now he just needed to think of how he was going to get his Byun Baekhyun back.
Baekhyun liked concerts. At least Chanyeol thought he did. They went to their friend Wufan's band almost every time they played on a Saturday night. Though Usually they ended up making fun of the dramatic crying expressions the lead singer Junmyeon made whenever he got too into one of their songs.
So Chanyeol waited outside of their apartment building after school, ticket in hand, for Baekhyun to come back home.
The main problem was, Baekhyun didn't come back home until close to seven, and by that point Chanyeol had spent too much time with his disheartening thoughts.
"Chanyeol?"
"Yo,"
"What are you doing outside?"
He managed half a smile, "waiting for you?"
Baekhyun placed a hand on his forehead, "why on earth would you do that?"
Chanyeol felt kind of offended at this. It wasn't like he told Baekhyun he'd be waiting for him or anything. But Monday's were usually the days Kris would give Chanyeol two free tickets to their concert that weekend if they were having one, and they had one almost every two to three weeks so it wasn't like it should have been a huge shock.
"I have tickets" He pulled himself up and handed the tickets to Baekhyun who then looked them over.
"Oh. Thanks, Chanyeol." Baekhyun smiled. Chanyeol punched his chest a few times to get rid of the tingling feeling settling there.
"No problem! I thought we could go and-"
"I'm sure Kyungsoo would be thrilled to go."
And there was that pain again. The kind of pain that burned a hole right through the center of Chanyeol's chest and made him wish he could rewind back a few hours to not waste his time waiting for Baekhyun in the first place.
He snatched the tickets out of Baekhyun's hand, "Fine. Then get your own stupid tickets." The door to his apartment slammed sharply behind him.
Well that could have gone better.
"The plan was for you to get Baekhyun back. Not slam the door on his face."
"It's his fault." Chanyeol whined, "he was going to use the tickets to ditch me once again."
Jongdae sighed and put his text book away, helping Chanyeol took a lot more effort than he had originally thought, "why don't you just talk to him?" He offered. Chanyeol groaned and pulled on his hair in response.
"How can I talk to him now after ripping the tickets from his hand and slamming the door in his face?"
"Well you better think of something quick because he's making his way over here right now. Good luck." And with that, Jongdae was retreating to his assigned seat leaving a self loathing Chanyeol and his bowl of noodles in his wake.
The noodles between his chopsticks seemed a lot more interesting to look at when Baekhyun sat down across from him.
"Hey" Baekhyun greeted.
Chanyeol admired the way the flavor packets had just enough flavor for the entirety of the noodle bowl.
"Earth to Park Chanyeol?"
Chanyeol refused to look up from his ramyun, no way was he chancing to look in Baekhyun's eyes again. He didn't like the little wings that tormented his heart-rate and made him feel all kinds of weird feeling things.
"Yes?"
Two cold palms gripped the sides of his face and forced his head up.
When Baekhyun's hands let go, Chanyeol let his head flop back down, drawing out an irritated noise from Baekhyun.
"Will you just please tell me why you've been avoiding me for the last two days?"
"I didn't think you'd need me when you have perfect little Kyungsoo" Chanyeol mumbled through his noodles.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Baekhyun grit his teeth, "You're so frustrating!"
Frustrating? Him? Chanyeol had had just about enough.
"Well sorry I'm not perfect like Kyungsoo. What makes him so much better than me anyways? Am I too tall? Are my ears too big? Is he just that much cuter than me? Does he make you laugh more? Smile more? Does he care about you as much as I do? Why am I just not good enough? I mean seriously Baekhyun just tell me what I can do to get you to like me instead."
He was standing now, he somehow got to his feet in the midst of his almost confession. His hands were clenching the fabric of his uniform at his sides and Baekhyuns eyes were glued to his mouth, probably wondering about when Chanyeol had begun to think all of the things he had just blurted out.
His face was hot, his palms sweating, and all he wanted to do was melt into a puddle of embarrassment and never have to hear any response from Baekhyun at all because he could already feel the rejection that was about to happen.
Park Chanyeol, "any girls dream" Park Chanyeol, had fallen in love with his best friend Byun Baekhyun.
"I'm sorry" He said quickly. Baekhyun had opened his mouth to respond but Chanyeol was already on his way out.
Chanyeol reasoned that if he found a cardboard box large enough he could mail himself to Canada, change his name, and start a new life without the impending doom of having to see Baekhyun ever again.
However, while looking through his house for said box, he came across a bundle of pictures of Baekhyun and himself from last year during the closing ceremonies. He had an arm wrapped around the shorter male who was absolutely beaming. The wide grin on his face from sheer joy doing nothing to help Chanyeol from falling harder and harder in love.
And there goes Chanyeol's resolve. So much for mailing himself to Canada.
Something flew by the glass balcony door. Chanyeol curiously moved towards it, pressing his nose into the glass to get a better look.
There was a small paper plane sitting innocently on the wooden panels. Not a moment later, another paper plane flew over from Baekhyun's side of the balcony.
Chanyeol didn't want to read the notes Baekhyun was craftily sending over. He was still drowning in self pity after all, but his curiosity over-shadowed the rational side of his brain and he scampered out to collect the fallen paper aircrafts.
After waiting to see if any more would pass over, Chanyeol took the ones he collected and headed back inside, dumping all of them onto his bed.
The first one just said,
I'm sorry
The second had a poorly drawn picture of a puppy with the words,
please don't be mad at me
The third was scribbled almost entirely out, as though Baekhyun was struggling to find the proper words to say, except for a few that seemed hurriedly scrawled,
I really want to talk to you, please?
Chanyeol weighed his options:
A)He could talk to Baekhyun, be rejected, and move on with their friendship.
B)He could ignore Baekhyun for the rest of his life and be forever saddened by the loss of his most important friend
C)He could tell Baekhyun to pretend he had never said anything and congratulate him on his relationship with Kyungsoo.
He decided Option C would be the least stressful.
After pacing around his room for several minutes, he finally decided to head next door and put Option C into action.
When Baekhyun came out of his apartment, Chanyeol noted that he had already changed out of his uniform into his pair of cloud printed striped flannel pajamas. His best friends adorable state was definitely not helping the situation.
"Hey," He stammered.
"Hey"
They stood in silence.
"Did you really mean what you said?"
"I- uhm well actually," Chanyeol started, this was the perfect time to put Option C into effect, "I wanted to ask you to-"
"Because I like you. A lot."
Well that was not how Chanyeol was expecting this to go.
He shook his head, firmly believing that he had heard wrong, "you....What?"
"I like you, Park Chanyeol." a small smile parted Baekhyun's lips.
"But.........Why?"
"Because....you're the perfect height, your ears are the perfect size, you're the most adorable giant I know, you make me laugh the most, you make me smile the most, you care about me the most. And I care about you the most."
Chanyeol's face must have been a dark shade of pink by this point, "But Kyungsoo?"
"Kyungsoo actually has a huge crush on some Kim Jongin from the class below us."
Chanyeol thought he must have been missing something, "then why the hell were the two of you dating if you didn't even like each other?!"
Baekhyun chuckled and rung his fingers together, "it's not like we didn't like each other. Kyungsoo's a great guy. The school isn't flooding with guys that would actually have the same sexuality as me, Chanyeol. I knew about Kyungsoo, and he knew about me so we just wanted to give it a shot. It wasn't working very well. We kissed a few times, but it was kinda awkward and void of any strong emotion, really."
Speechless was an understatement for Chanyeol's current emotion.
"So, you, uh, but I, and you? and...huh...."
Baekhyun rolled back and forward on the balls of his feet before leaning in close to Chanyeol's ear and whispered, "this is the part when you tell me you like me too?"
Chanyeol took a step back, breathed in deeply, and grabbed onto both of Baekhyun's shoulders, "I, Park Chanyeol, really really really like you, Byun Baekhyun."
Neither of them moved, waiting for the other to move in just a little closer.
"Is this the part where we kiss? Or something? I mean, I don't want to force it on you or anything. Like, do you want to kiss me? Cause we can. I'd be cool with that. Really cool."
Baekhyun rolled his eyes, and pulled Chanyeol in.
Falling in love with Byun Baekhyun may not have been what Chanyeol had intended, but Baekhyun's feelings in return were a blessing all the same.
-
fin