that song we know
Pairing: Chanyeol/D.O.
Rating: G
Word count: 3k
A/N: for the prompt "first fight"
Looking back on it now, Kyungsoo probably should’ve known something was up the moment he saw the impossible knots tangled into his earbud cords on Sunday. He had been pulling out his chair from under his work desk when he froze at the sight of the black mass sitting on his desk. Without his contacts in, he couldn’t be sure if it was a giant mass of hair or a pile of spiders, but after leaning in closely and squinting, he was able to identify the tangle as the pair of dollar-store earbuds he used to listen to music while he worked.
He remained squinting at the pile with one hand on the back of his chair before letting out a long sigh. Earbuds in hand, he walked to the door of his and Chanyeol’s room and knocked.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol said after a few seconds, voice a little too loud.
Kyungsoo pushed the door open to find Chanyeol sitting on their bed with his laptop in his lap and his headphones hanging off one ear. He clicked something and placed his headphones on his shoulders before looking up at the giant knot Kyungsoo was dangling in front of him.
“Have you been using my earbuds?”
Chanyeol winced in apology. “Yeah, about that. I couldn’t find my headphones earlier today so…”
Kyungsoo shook his head and dropped the mess into Chanyeol’s hands. “Whatever. Just untangle them for me.” Kyungsoo would’ve done it himself but ever since the time he tried to organize the mess of wires behind the TV and ended up further tangling them so bad they couldn’t even plug the cable box into the wall, Kyungsoo had decided to leave all knot-untying business to Chanyeol.
Chanyeol patted the bed to his side, gesturing for Kyungsoo to sit while he worked on it. Kyungsoo complied and sat with his back against the headboard and his eyes closed, listening to Chanyeol hum some tune he’d been obsessed with last week.
He waited there for what felt like forever before Chanyeol said, “Done!” and handed him the earbuds, neatly rolled up.
“Thanks,” he said as he got up. “Next time, could you maybe untangle them after you’re done using them?”
“Sure thing. And oh, Kyungsoo?”
Kyungsoo had one hand on the doorknob but he turned around.
“Good luck on that manuscript.” Chanyeol gave him a small smile. Kyungsoo nodded, turned, and walked out of their room. He closed the door behind him and got back to work.
---
The moment Kyungsoo opens his eyes on Tuesday morning, he’s sure something’s not right. He sits upright and scrambles for his alarm clock. Its face is black, so he gets out of bed and presses the home button on his phone. When it lights up, Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. Fuck.
Despite how lightning-fast he is when it comes to getting his clothes on and brushing his teeth, when he checks his phone again, he knows it’s too late. He’s missed his train.
Kyungsoo drops onto the sofa in the living room as he considers his options. He’s so preoccupied with trying to figure out how his alarm clock ran out of battery that he doesn’t notice the smell of food until Chanyeol’s plopping down right beside him with two plates of omurice. He puts one plate in Kyungsoo’s lap before taking a bite of his own serving.
“What’s up?” he says with his mouth half-full. He swallows. “You look frazzled.”
Kyungsoo runs his hands down his face and looks down at the omurice. “My alarm somehow ran out of battery even though I changed it last week and I missed my train into the city.” He cuts up the omelette into smaller pieces but doesn’t eat yet. “I’m going to miss my meeting.”
“You have to be in for a meeting today? You’re normally free today.”
“I know, but today was the only day the author was free to meet up to talk about how the manuscript’s doing so far." He runs his hands down his face again and notices he definitely should’ve shaved this morning. "I’m screwed.”
Chanyeol swallows another bite. He’s already finished half his plate. “I’ll drive you in, it’s no big deal.” He shrugs.
Kyungsoo sits up. “Are you sure? I thought you had to take the car to go to Jongdae’s today to work on the film.”
“Nah, we rescheduled last minute. Turns out today is his and Liyin’s anniversary and he had completely forgotten until like, two days ago.” He smiles. “I’m free as the wind blows. When’s the meeting?”
“Ten.”
“Perfect! We’ve got plenty of time. Now eat up, your breakfast is getting cold.” With that, Chanyeol gets up to put his plate in the kitchen sink.
Kyungsoo still feels unsettled even as he eats, but when he and Chanyeol drive into the city, Chanyeol lets him choose the radio station and doesn’t complain even once that Kyungsoo chooses the smooth jazz station to calm his nerves.
Kyungsoo closes his eyes and gets sleepier as the car ride goes on until Chanyeol begins imitating one of the saxophone solos. Kyungsoo opens one eye and glares at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Chanyeol notices and quiets. He’s holding back a smile, but he stays quiet for the rest of the car ride.
---
The apartment Chanyeol and Kyungsoo share isn’t a very big one. It’s got a bedroom, a small bathroom, a kitchen that’s big enough to fit three people snugly, and a living room. It’s never been a problem for them. When Kyungsoo needs to work, he comes out to the desk he has set up in a corner of the living room and toils away quietly.
The problem arises when the lightbulb in the living room lamp flickers and burns out on Thursday just as he’s got a stack of pages in front of him and a red pen in hand. He looks up and just stares at the lamp as if expecting it to come back on by itself. He is eventually forced to acknowledge that yes, he does in fact need to get up and replace the lightbulb in order for the light to work.
Kyungsoo opens the hall closet and several cabinets in the kitchen before he comes to their bedroom door and knocks.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol looks up from the book he’s reading. He’s got his glasses on and Kyungsoo knows he’s headed to sleep.
Still, Kyungsoo really needs to work and his patience for this week has been running thin. “Do you know where one might find lightbulbs in this household?”
“Did you check the bottom cabinet in the kitchen?”
“I checked all the cabinets, and the closet. Weren’t you supposed to buy some lightbulbs when you went to the hardware store last week?”
Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, right… I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry?”
“I have to have this section of the manuscript done by tomorrow and there’s no light in the living room.” Kyungsoo sighs and rubs his temples. “Can we go buy some right now?”
“Uh, I don’t think so. It’s,” Chanyeol looks over at the alarm clock on Kyungsoo’s bedside table, “almost one AM. The only place that might have some is the CVS that’s open twenty-four hours but that’s a half-hour drive from here.” He pauses. “You could work in here?”
“In the bedroom? But there’s nowhere to spread my pages out here.”
“Put them on the bed! There’s more than enough space.” Chanyeol scooches over and waves his arm over Kyungsoo’s side of the bed to make his point.
Kyungsoo thinks it over. “Won’t the light keep you up?”
Chanyeol scoffs lightly. “As if. I’ll be fine. Come work in here.”
Despite the fact that Kyungsoo’s pretty particular about his work space, he goes to pick up his pages. He doesn’t really have much of a choice here. When he comes back, Chanyeol is already lying down in bed with his eyes closed. Kyungsoo carefully makes a space for himself and lays out his pages.
“Goodnight, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says, but when Kyungsoo looks over his eyes are still closed.
“Goodnight.”
---
While Kyungsoo often ends up making his own breakfast or skipping breakfast entirely on weekdays since he’s out earlier than Chanyeol, on Saturdays he sleeps in and lets Chanyeol cook them both a big breakfast. If left to his own devices, Kyungsoo would sleep in until two in the afternoon every day. Today, however, he has yet another meeting with someone from the publishing house, and has to get up at eleven on his only free day.
Not even the smell of pancakes overwhelming him as soon as he steps into the kitchen is enough to cheer him up, though it definitely doesn’t hurt either. He yawns and leans against the counter.
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Chanyeol says while concentrating on the pan in front of him. “I’m making eggs too, how do you want them?”
“Scrambled is fine,” Kyungsoo says through a yawn. He walks out into the living room and makes to gather his things when he freezes. His desk has been cleared of everything save for the stapler.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I told the guys we’d head over today,” Chanyeol calls out from the kitchen. “It’s been a while since they’ve seen you and--”
“Chanyeol?” He checks his desk drawers and underneath the desk. “Where’s my manuscript?” Kyungsoo’s voice gets louder as he continues. “And my work bag?” He runs to the bedroom to check if he left it there and finds that his phone’s not on his bedside table either. “Chanyeol?” He comes out of the bedroom while Chanyeol’s in the middle of saying something.
“...which is why I put them away. Now, were you even listening? I just said the guys want to see you--”
“I really couldn’t care less about seeing Baekhyun and Jongdae today when I have important things to do.” Kyungsoo runs his fingers through his hair until the ends stick up. His nostrils flare as he lets out an exasperated breath. “Why is it that you’re the one who can’t remember anything yet I’m the one who suffers for it?”
Chanyeol comes out of the kitchen with a spatula in his hand. “What’s that supposed to mean?” His eyebrows are furrowed.
“This week has been setback after setback, all thanks to you.” Kyungsoo’s probably not even speaking loud enough for their neighbors to hear through the paper-thin walls but Chanyeol knows he never raises his voice even this much. “You tangled my headphones when you know I need those to work, you forgot to buy lightbulbs, and I’m pretty damn sure the alarm clock running out of battery was your fault too.” He drops onto the couch and sighs. “Why do I have to be the one who does everything in this house?”
“That would kind of require you to be in this house in the first place, which it never feels like you are.” Chanyeol says it quietly but Kyungsoo turns around.
“What?”
“Forget it,” Chanyeol sighs. “Forget I said anything.” He goes back into the kitchen and Kyungsoo follows him. When he gets there he sees Chanyeol flipping the pancakes with his head hung low, staring at them as if they’d offended him.
“What are you trying to tell me right now?”
“Ah, so now you’re all ears.”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Chanyeol, don’t do this. We’re not five.”
“I’m sorry being around me feels like babysitting for you. Is that why you’ve been avoiding me for the past month?”
“Avoiding you?” Kyungsoo’s voice cracks a bit from how high it goes in disbelief. “What in the world makes you think I’m avoiding you?”
Chanyeol plates the pancakes and sets them on the counter. He turns to look at Kyungsoo. “Think about it. This week we spent a total of three hours together in the car and maybe five hours together total if you count the hours you spent working on your manuscript in the bedroom. When was the last time we’ve spent that much time together?”
Kyungsoo opens his mouth but closes it immediately. Nothing comes to mind. Has he really been that busy? His eyes follow Chanyeol as he takes off the apron he likes to wear when he cooks and sets it harshly over the oven handle. His hands stay on the handle.
“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo tries again a bit more softly, “You know I’ve been busy with this manuscript.”
“I know that, but you know what Baek said the other day? ‘I rarely see you and Kyungsoo together; it’s like you’re roommates, not boyfriends.’ And man do I hate admitting that Baekhyun is right, but--” Chanyeol pauses as if he plans to continue but doesn’t.
Kyungsoo comes closer and places his hand on Chanyeol’s arm. “Yeol, come on. You know that’s not true. And if you wanted to spend more time together, you could’ve just asked--”
“See, that’s the thing. I did.” Chanyeol slips away from Kyungsoo's touch. “Remember when I took a day off from working because you were unexpectedly free but then you spent the whole day working anyway? What about when I invited you to see me play at that coffee house?”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. “That was--”
“Last week. Everyone was there, even Yura, and you know how far she lives.” Chanyeol closes his mouth tightly so that his dimple appears, but it’s not because he’s smiling. “Everyone but you, I guess.”
Kyungsoo stays silent and Chanyeol continues. “It kind of sucks that I have to be a distraction from your work before you’ll spend time with me.” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow in question. “The tangled earbuds were on purpose. I kept the lightbulbs I bought last week in the trunk of the car. And yeah, the alarm clock was me. I replaced the batteries in it with the old ones in the remote.”
“Why would you...”
“It was a stupid idea, I know." Chanyeol looks at the ground. "But I didn’t know what else to try.”
They stay frozen like that for a long moment. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to say.
After a while of frowning at some spot on the kitchen tile, Chanyeol abruptly turns on his heel and heads into the bedroom. Kyungsoo follows but he closes the door behind him. In less than a minute he’s back out with a hoodie on and his wallet in hand.
“Chanyeol? Where are you going?” Kyungsoo says as Chanyeol bends over to put his shoes on at the door. “Yeol?”
“You got a call this morning from Wilkins’s secretary. I picked it up since you were asleep.” He finishes tying his shoelaces and stands up. “She said he’s not free to meet today so he’ll call back to reschedule.” He nudges towards the hall closet. “All your things are in your work bag, and I put your work bag in there.” He opens the front door.
“Chanyeol, wait a se--”
“Baekhyun and Jongdae are expecting me,” Chanyeol says firmly. He looks over his shoulder. “Well, I guess they’re expecting us, but since you really couldn’t care less about hanging out with them.” He steps out of the doorway and closes the door behind him before Kyungsoo can answer.
Kyungsoo walks back into the kitchen and notices how clean it is despite the fact that Chanyeol was just recently in there. He has a habit of making messes when he cooks.
The next thing he notices, though, are the two plates stacked with pancakes still sitting on the counter. Kyungsoo silently slides them all onto one plate, wraps them in plastic wrap and puts them in the fridge. He goes back to bed, but doesn’t sleep.
After a few hours of trying to convince his brain to shut off, Kyungsoo gets up and decides to takes the train into the city despite his free schedule. He doesn’t take his work bag with him, just his wallet. He wanders around aimlessly in hopes of tiring himself out, but it’s no use.
He’s in a little souvenir store that smells like old wood and spices when he comes across a bin of stuffed animals. The very first one that catches his eye is a giraffe sitting on top of the pile. He picks it up and plays with its legs.
“Stupid Chanyeol,” he mutters. “Always driving me insane.” He turns the giraffe around and looks it in the eye. “When did I sign up for this? Huh?”
The stuffed giraffe, of course, has no response. It just keeps wearing its wide closed-mouth grin. Its eyes are two little stitched crescents and it looks kind of dumb, but in a cute way. Kind of like Chanyeol--
Kyungsoo scoffs at that thought as soon as it shows up. But then he freezes. It reminds him of Chanyeol. Maybe…
After heading up to the cash register and denying the cashier’s offer of a bigger bag, he walks out of the store with a small gift bag in his hand. The giraffe’s head sticks out of the top, and the tag hanging near his head reads, Saw this and thought of you. Kinda cute, isn’t he?
When he gets home in the evening and unlocks the door, he notices the pair of shoes Chanyeol had left with earlier today are now back in their spot near the doorway. He slips off his shoes and hears the sound of guitar strumming coming from the living room. He walks up to the edge of the sofa and stops. Chanyeol doesn’t look up at him, but he stops playing.
“Mind if I join you?” Kyungsoo says, pointing to the empty spot on the sofa. Chanyeol nods while he tunes his guitar, still refusing to look up. Kyungsoo sits and places the bag right next to Chanyeol.
“What’s this?”
“I got it for you.” That makes Chanyeol look up. He reaches down for the bag and pulls out the giraffe. “Read the note on the tag.” Chanyeol takes the bag and opens up the little tag hanging from the handle.
Kyungsoo forgets he’s holding his breath until a small smile appears on Chanyeol’s face. He exhales and feels like he’s been standing at the ledge of a rooftop and just stepped down.
“Could you play something I know?” Kyungsoo asks. Chanyeol looks up at him almost in disbelief, but he begins strumming a song he knows Kyungsoo likes. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and sings along. When he opens them, Chanyeol is looking at him-- eyes wide, and smile wider.
Rating: G
Word count: 3k
A/N: for the prompt "first fight"
Looking back on it now, Kyungsoo probably should’ve known something was up the moment he saw the impossible knots tangled into his earbud cords on Sunday. He had been pulling out his chair from under his work desk when he froze at the sight of the black mass sitting on his desk. Without his contacts in, he couldn’t be sure if it was a giant mass of hair or a pile of spiders, but after leaning in closely and squinting, he was able to identify the tangle as the pair of dollar-store earbuds he used to listen to music while he worked.
He remained squinting at the pile with one hand on the back of his chair before letting out a long sigh. Earbuds in hand, he walked to the door of his and Chanyeol’s room and knocked.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol said after a few seconds, voice a little too loud.
Kyungsoo pushed the door open to find Chanyeol sitting on their bed with his laptop in his lap and his headphones hanging off one ear. He clicked something and placed his headphones on his shoulders before looking up at the giant knot Kyungsoo was dangling in front of him.
“Have you been using my earbuds?”
Chanyeol winced in apology. “Yeah, about that. I couldn’t find my headphones earlier today so…”
Kyungsoo shook his head and dropped the mess into Chanyeol’s hands. “Whatever. Just untangle them for me.” Kyungsoo would’ve done it himself but ever since the time he tried to organize the mess of wires behind the TV and ended up further tangling them so bad they couldn’t even plug the cable box into the wall, Kyungsoo had decided to leave all knot-untying business to Chanyeol.
Chanyeol patted the bed to his side, gesturing for Kyungsoo to sit while he worked on it. Kyungsoo complied and sat with his back against the headboard and his eyes closed, listening to Chanyeol hum some tune he’d been obsessed with last week.
He waited there for what felt like forever before Chanyeol said, “Done!” and handed him the earbuds, neatly rolled up.
“Thanks,” he said as he got up. “Next time, could you maybe untangle them after you’re done using them?”
“Sure thing. And oh, Kyungsoo?”
Kyungsoo had one hand on the doorknob but he turned around.
“Good luck on that manuscript.” Chanyeol gave him a small smile. Kyungsoo nodded, turned, and walked out of their room. He closed the door behind him and got back to work.
---
The moment Kyungsoo opens his eyes on Tuesday morning, he’s sure something’s not right. He sits upright and scrambles for his alarm clock. Its face is black, so he gets out of bed and presses the home button on his phone. When it lights up, Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. Fuck.
Despite how lightning-fast he is when it comes to getting his clothes on and brushing his teeth, when he checks his phone again, he knows it’s too late. He’s missed his train.
Kyungsoo drops onto the sofa in the living room as he considers his options. He’s so preoccupied with trying to figure out how his alarm clock ran out of battery that he doesn’t notice the smell of food until Chanyeol’s plopping down right beside him with two plates of omurice. He puts one plate in Kyungsoo’s lap before taking a bite of his own serving.
“What’s up?” he says with his mouth half-full. He swallows. “You look frazzled.”
Kyungsoo runs his hands down his face and looks down at the omurice. “My alarm somehow ran out of battery even though I changed it last week and I missed my train into the city.” He cuts up the omelette into smaller pieces but doesn’t eat yet. “I’m going to miss my meeting.”
“You have to be in for a meeting today? You’re normally free today.”
“I know, but today was the only day the author was free to meet up to talk about how the manuscript’s doing so far." He runs his hands down his face again and notices he definitely should’ve shaved this morning. "I’m screwed.”
Chanyeol swallows another bite. He’s already finished half his plate. “I’ll drive you in, it’s no big deal.” He shrugs.
Kyungsoo sits up. “Are you sure? I thought you had to take the car to go to Jongdae’s today to work on the film.”
“Nah, we rescheduled last minute. Turns out today is his and Liyin’s anniversary and he had completely forgotten until like, two days ago.” He smiles. “I’m free as the wind blows. When’s the meeting?”
“Ten.”
“Perfect! We’ve got plenty of time. Now eat up, your breakfast is getting cold.” With that, Chanyeol gets up to put his plate in the kitchen sink.
Kyungsoo still feels unsettled even as he eats, but when he and Chanyeol drive into the city, Chanyeol lets him choose the radio station and doesn’t complain even once that Kyungsoo chooses the smooth jazz station to calm his nerves.
Kyungsoo closes his eyes and gets sleepier as the car ride goes on until Chanyeol begins imitating one of the saxophone solos. Kyungsoo opens one eye and glares at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Chanyeol notices and quiets. He’s holding back a smile, but he stays quiet for the rest of the car ride.
---
The apartment Chanyeol and Kyungsoo share isn’t a very big one. It’s got a bedroom, a small bathroom, a kitchen that’s big enough to fit three people snugly, and a living room. It’s never been a problem for them. When Kyungsoo needs to work, he comes out to the desk he has set up in a corner of the living room and toils away quietly.
The problem arises when the lightbulb in the living room lamp flickers and burns out on Thursday just as he’s got a stack of pages in front of him and a red pen in hand. He looks up and just stares at the lamp as if expecting it to come back on by itself. He is eventually forced to acknowledge that yes, he does in fact need to get up and replace the lightbulb in order for the light to work.
Kyungsoo opens the hall closet and several cabinets in the kitchen before he comes to their bedroom door and knocks.
“Yeah?” Chanyeol looks up from the book he’s reading. He’s got his glasses on and Kyungsoo knows he’s headed to sleep.
Still, Kyungsoo really needs to work and his patience for this week has been running thin. “Do you know where one might find lightbulbs in this household?”
“Did you check the bottom cabinet in the kitchen?”
“I checked all the cabinets, and the closet. Weren’t you supposed to buy some lightbulbs when you went to the hardware store last week?”
Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, right… I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry?”
“I have to have this section of the manuscript done by tomorrow and there’s no light in the living room.” Kyungsoo sighs and rubs his temples. “Can we go buy some right now?”
“Uh, I don’t think so. It’s,” Chanyeol looks over at the alarm clock on Kyungsoo’s bedside table, “almost one AM. The only place that might have some is the CVS that’s open twenty-four hours but that’s a half-hour drive from here.” He pauses. “You could work in here?”
“In the bedroom? But there’s nowhere to spread my pages out here.”
“Put them on the bed! There’s more than enough space.” Chanyeol scooches over and waves his arm over Kyungsoo’s side of the bed to make his point.
Kyungsoo thinks it over. “Won’t the light keep you up?”
Chanyeol scoffs lightly. “As if. I’ll be fine. Come work in here.”
Despite the fact that Kyungsoo’s pretty particular about his work space, he goes to pick up his pages. He doesn’t really have much of a choice here. When he comes back, Chanyeol is already lying down in bed with his eyes closed. Kyungsoo carefully makes a space for himself and lays out his pages.
“Goodnight, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol says, but when Kyungsoo looks over his eyes are still closed.
“Goodnight.”
---
While Kyungsoo often ends up making his own breakfast or skipping breakfast entirely on weekdays since he’s out earlier than Chanyeol, on Saturdays he sleeps in and lets Chanyeol cook them both a big breakfast. If left to his own devices, Kyungsoo would sleep in until two in the afternoon every day. Today, however, he has yet another meeting with someone from the publishing house, and has to get up at eleven on his only free day.
Not even the smell of pancakes overwhelming him as soon as he steps into the kitchen is enough to cheer him up, though it definitely doesn’t hurt either. He yawns and leans against the counter.
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Chanyeol says while concentrating on the pan in front of him. “I’m making eggs too, how do you want them?”
“Scrambled is fine,” Kyungsoo says through a yawn. He walks out into the living room and makes to gather his things when he freezes. His desk has been cleared of everything save for the stapler.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind but I told the guys we’d head over today,” Chanyeol calls out from the kitchen. “It’s been a while since they’ve seen you and--”
“Chanyeol?” He checks his desk drawers and underneath the desk. “Where’s my manuscript?” Kyungsoo’s voice gets louder as he continues. “And my work bag?” He runs to the bedroom to check if he left it there and finds that his phone’s not on his bedside table either. “Chanyeol?” He comes out of the bedroom while Chanyeol’s in the middle of saying something.
“...which is why I put them away. Now, were you even listening? I just said the guys want to see you--”
“I really couldn’t care less about seeing Baekhyun and Jongdae today when I have important things to do.” Kyungsoo runs his fingers through his hair until the ends stick up. His nostrils flare as he lets out an exasperated breath. “Why is it that you’re the one who can’t remember anything yet I’m the one who suffers for it?”
Chanyeol comes out of the kitchen with a spatula in his hand. “What’s that supposed to mean?” His eyebrows are furrowed.
“This week has been setback after setback, all thanks to you.” Kyungsoo’s probably not even speaking loud enough for their neighbors to hear through the paper-thin walls but Chanyeol knows he never raises his voice even this much. “You tangled my headphones when you know I need those to work, you forgot to buy lightbulbs, and I’m pretty damn sure the alarm clock running out of battery was your fault too.” He drops onto the couch and sighs. “Why do I have to be the one who does everything in this house?”
“That would kind of require you to be in this house in the first place, which it never feels like you are.” Chanyeol says it quietly but Kyungsoo turns around.
“What?”
“Forget it,” Chanyeol sighs. “Forget I said anything.” He goes back into the kitchen and Kyungsoo follows him. When he gets there he sees Chanyeol flipping the pancakes with his head hung low, staring at them as if they’d offended him.
“What are you trying to tell me right now?”
“Ah, so now you’re all ears.”
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Chanyeol, don’t do this. We’re not five.”
“I’m sorry being around me feels like babysitting for you. Is that why you’ve been avoiding me for the past month?”
“Avoiding you?” Kyungsoo’s voice cracks a bit from how high it goes in disbelief. “What in the world makes you think I’m avoiding you?”
Chanyeol plates the pancakes and sets them on the counter. He turns to look at Kyungsoo. “Think about it. This week we spent a total of three hours together in the car and maybe five hours together total if you count the hours you spent working on your manuscript in the bedroom. When was the last time we’ve spent that much time together?”
Kyungsoo opens his mouth but closes it immediately. Nothing comes to mind. Has he really been that busy? His eyes follow Chanyeol as he takes off the apron he likes to wear when he cooks and sets it harshly over the oven handle. His hands stay on the handle.
“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo tries again a bit more softly, “You know I’ve been busy with this manuscript.”
“I know that, but you know what Baek said the other day? ‘I rarely see you and Kyungsoo together; it’s like you’re roommates, not boyfriends.’ And man do I hate admitting that Baekhyun is right, but--” Chanyeol pauses as if he plans to continue but doesn’t.
Kyungsoo comes closer and places his hand on Chanyeol’s arm. “Yeol, come on. You know that’s not true. And if you wanted to spend more time together, you could’ve just asked--”
“See, that’s the thing. I did.” Chanyeol slips away from Kyungsoo's touch. “Remember when I took a day off from working because you were unexpectedly free but then you spent the whole day working anyway? What about when I invited you to see me play at that coffee house?”
Kyungsoo’s eyes widen. “That was--”
“Last week. Everyone was there, even Yura, and you know how far she lives.” Chanyeol closes his mouth tightly so that his dimple appears, but it’s not because he’s smiling. “Everyone but you, I guess.”
Kyungsoo stays silent and Chanyeol continues. “It kind of sucks that I have to be a distraction from your work before you’ll spend time with me.” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow in question. “The tangled earbuds were on purpose. I kept the lightbulbs I bought last week in the trunk of the car. And yeah, the alarm clock was me. I replaced the batteries in it with the old ones in the remote.”
“Why would you...”
“It was a stupid idea, I know." Chanyeol looks at the ground. "But I didn’t know what else to try.”
They stay frozen like that for a long moment. Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to say.
After a while of frowning at some spot on the kitchen tile, Chanyeol abruptly turns on his heel and heads into the bedroom. Kyungsoo follows but he closes the door behind him. In less than a minute he’s back out with a hoodie on and his wallet in hand.
“Chanyeol? Where are you going?” Kyungsoo says as Chanyeol bends over to put his shoes on at the door. “Yeol?”
“You got a call this morning from Wilkins’s secretary. I picked it up since you were asleep.” He finishes tying his shoelaces and stands up. “She said he’s not free to meet today so he’ll call back to reschedule.” He nudges towards the hall closet. “All your things are in your work bag, and I put your work bag in there.” He opens the front door.
“Chanyeol, wait a se--”
“Baekhyun and Jongdae are expecting me,” Chanyeol says firmly. He looks over his shoulder. “Well, I guess they’re expecting us, but since you really couldn’t care less about hanging out with them.” He steps out of the doorway and closes the door behind him before Kyungsoo can answer.
Kyungsoo walks back into the kitchen and notices how clean it is despite the fact that Chanyeol was just recently in there. He has a habit of making messes when he cooks.
The next thing he notices, though, are the two plates stacked with pancakes still sitting on the counter. Kyungsoo silently slides them all onto one plate, wraps them in plastic wrap and puts them in the fridge. He goes back to bed, but doesn’t sleep.
After a few hours of trying to convince his brain to shut off, Kyungsoo gets up and decides to takes the train into the city despite his free schedule. He doesn’t take his work bag with him, just his wallet. He wanders around aimlessly in hopes of tiring himself out, but it’s no use.
He’s in a little souvenir store that smells like old wood and spices when he comes across a bin of stuffed animals. The very first one that catches his eye is a giraffe sitting on top of the pile. He picks it up and plays with its legs.
“Stupid Chanyeol,” he mutters. “Always driving me insane.” He turns the giraffe around and looks it in the eye. “When did I sign up for this? Huh?”
The stuffed giraffe, of course, has no response. It just keeps wearing its wide closed-mouth grin. Its eyes are two little stitched crescents and it looks kind of dumb, but in a cute way. Kind of like Chanyeol--
Kyungsoo scoffs at that thought as soon as it shows up. But then he freezes. It reminds him of Chanyeol. Maybe…
After heading up to the cash register and denying the cashier’s offer of a bigger bag, he walks out of the store with a small gift bag in his hand. The giraffe’s head sticks out of the top, and the tag hanging near his head reads, Saw this and thought of you. Kinda cute, isn’t he?
When he gets home in the evening and unlocks the door, he notices the pair of shoes Chanyeol had left with earlier today are now back in their spot near the doorway. He slips off his shoes and hears the sound of guitar strumming coming from the living room. He walks up to the edge of the sofa and stops. Chanyeol doesn’t look up at him, but he stops playing.
“Mind if I join you?” Kyungsoo says, pointing to the empty spot on the sofa. Chanyeol nods while he tunes his guitar, still refusing to look up. Kyungsoo sits and places the bag right next to Chanyeol.
“What’s this?”
“I got it for you.” That makes Chanyeol look up. He reaches down for the bag and pulls out the giraffe. “Read the note on the tag.” Chanyeol takes the bag and opens up the little tag hanging from the handle.
Kyungsoo forgets he’s holding his breath until a small smile appears on Chanyeol’s face. He exhales and feels like he’s been standing at the ledge of a rooftop and just stepped down.
“Could you play something I know?” Kyungsoo asks. Chanyeol looks up at him almost in disbelief, but he begins strumming a song he knows Kyungsoo likes. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and sings along. When he opens them, Chanyeol is looking at him-- eyes wide, and smile wider.