EXO || November drabble 'week' (day one)
i don't know much about love songs but i can sort of rap
Kris/Chanyeol (ambiguous gay chicken??)
G, ~1.7k wc.
prompt from one_if_by_land: "Krisyeol rapping together and Chanyeol delicately trying to give Kris tips while fanning his vanity at the same time" (spoiler: the prompt is more exciting than the drabble)
Chanyeol has a missed call when they arrive at the practice rooms. Strictly speaking they're not allowed to be on their phones during training hours, but the instructor isn't here yet so he keeps one eye on the door and dials back. He plops himself down on the hardwood floor while the other members stretch or refill their water bottles, wedging the phone between his shoulder and ear and bending forward to retie his shoelaces. As soon as Kris picks up, he asks, "Did you listen to my mix?"
There's a beat of silence, and then the static of a sudden exhale.
Chanyeol makes a low, frustrated noise in the back of his throat.
"Chanye-"
Chanyeol raises his voice until he drowns Kris out and Kyungsoo gives him a quick, startled look. He only stops when his groan sounds more like the squeezed whine of a dying animal and he runs out of breath.
"Are you done."
"That depends." Chanyeol takes the phone from his ear and hits speaker phone so he can scowl at it properly, scrunching up his face like Kris can see him. "Are you going to listen to it tonight?"
"I'll try," Kris says. "Did you put me on speaker phone?"
Out of the corner of his eye Joonmyun raises his eyebrows at him. Chanyeol ignores him. "No," he lies. "And you say that every time. I don't make these mixtapes for my health, you know."
"Some say you can die of second-hand embarrassment," Jongdae's tinny voice pipes in.
"Why am I on speaker phone?" Chanyeol demands, now ignoring Joonmyun's amusement even harder than he'd ignored Joonmyun's concern.
"More convenient." Kris's voice sounds distant. "Also you did it first."
"You're a man baby," Chanyeol informs him. "Listen to the mix. Especially track four, the rapper sort of sounds like you." Baekhyun sticks his head out the practice room, and taps a warning on Chanyeol's shoulder. "I gotta go man, but I'll see you tomorrow. Please listen to the goddamn mix or I'll replace you with Kyungsoo. At least he appreciates me."
"Who's the man baby now?" Kris shoots back, right before the line disconnects.
"You're almost as much of a hardass as Yixing is during dance practice." Baekhyun shakes his head.
Chanyeol stares at him, dumbfounded. "That's a gross exaggeration, and you know it."
"Yeah," Baekhyun admits. "But I figure it balances out since you're not as good at rap as Yixing is at dancing. Gentler taskmaster, but also shittier-ow!" Baekhyun hunches his shoulders, away from Chanyeol's vengeful fingers on his neck.
"You already spent forty minutes yesterday practicing 'Two Moons' over the phone," Sehun interjects. "At like, 3AM. I dunno how hyung puts up with you."
"Thank god you'll never have to find out," Chanyeol snipes back, but he means it wholeheartedly. Kris is on the lower rungs of the talent ladder in SME, but there's no one else he'd rather be paired with.
Every time EXO-M returns to Korea and stays for more than two days, management shuffles them into group practice. They start with the twelve-member routines for MAMA and History to warm up and refresh their memories, but the main focus is on the choreography of their comeback. Outside of the dance room, Jongdae and Lu Han disappear with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun ("Dates!" says Jongdae), Jongin and Yixing fall back into their late-night practice sessions ("Dates," says Lu Han), and when Kris isn't busy with Joonmyun, he and Chanyeol meet up in whichever dorm has less people.
They both need work. Chanyeol has a tendency to bellow the lyrics and flatten the beat, but a person's potential lies in their taste. That's his advantage over Kris. The first time, five minutes after their first test run-through in the recording studio, Chanyeol had grabbed Kris's elbow and asked without thinking, a little too quickly, hyung, do you ever, have you listened to rap?
Of course, Kris replied, slowly, and Chanyeol had spent the next three minutes trying to get his foot out of his mouth.
That's the first time Chanyeol promises to make Kris a mix though, and now he's fallen into the habit every time M comes back. New releases, vintage favourites, Chanyeol throws together ten or twelve songs and sends Kris off with a pat on the back. Occasionally he forwards the playlist to Kyungsoo, and once, to Zitao.
Kris shows up after lunch, still dressed in his airport clothes.
"If you didn't listen to my mix I swear to god just leave right now," Chanyeol warns, eyes fixed on the television screen where Jongin is beating him to a pulp. "Nice ascot, by the way."
"I listened to it on the plane," Kris reassures him, taking the seat next to Chanyeol on the couch. "And thanks."
"He'll be done in a sec, hyung." Jongin is cross-legged on the floor, tongue poking out of his mouth. Chanyeol shoves Jongin's shoulder with one socked foot, but the screen is already flashing 'GAME OVER' in block letters.
"Let's go," Chanyeol announces and stands up. "Nothing to see here, let's move on."
"You should encourage your dongsaeng's achievements," Kris says. "It builds self-esteem."
"Joonmyun-hyung's job," Chanyeol reminds him, and wraps his hand around the back of Kris's neck, fingers pressing into the hollow behind his ear. Kris lets himself be dragged upright. "Not my responsibility."
"Shit, wait, where the fuck are the earplugs." Jongin rolls onto his stomach and makes grabby motions. Sehun, working on a rare math worksheet at the kitchen table, laughs into his textbook.
Kris half-grins too, but it's stiff with the slightest hint of real exasperation.
"Did you just make fun of someone else's rapping?" Baekhyun peers out of the kitchen and raises his eyebrows. Chanyeol snickers, sending Baekhyun a grateful look, and pushes Kris out of the living room and down the hall to his bedroom, still steering with a hand at his nape.
The thing about rap, Chanyeol thinks as he closes the door behind them and bounces onto Baekhyun's bed, is that confidence is half the battle. Technique, rhythm, those can be trained. But if you feel stupid, you're going to look stupid. Kris is like a boy riding a bike down a steep hill for the first time, working up the courage to let himself coast in intervals but still pressing on the handle breaks too quickly and too often, uncomfortable with the idea of letting go. "Jongin's an idiot, but he didn't mean it like that."
"I know." Kris looks rueful. "It's fine."
"So long as, you know." Chanyeol says lamely. "It's cool."
"I got what you said about track four." Kris moves briskly, opening up Chanyeol's laptop and keying in the password. "He does sound like me. Obviously better-than me, but I see what you mean."
"I think you drag out the last syllables longer." Chanyeol offers, leaning over to rest his chin on Kris's shoulder. Kris's back pressed against his chest is one long swath of body heat. He slides one arm around Kris's waist and wordlessly directs him through his music folders.
"Yeah, I've been working on that since you mentioned it last time." Kris frowns.
"I saw your last lives," Chanyeol says into Kris's neck, and Kris wriggles a little. "You do your lines great in MAMA and History."
"Oh, thanks." Kris sounds pleased and a little surprised, and Chanyeol presses his nose deeper into the curve of his neck, curling closer as if to compress and contain the sudden swell of affection in his chest. "Do you mind if we run this track? I kinda want to try the way he does it."
"Sure, look up the lyrics," Chanyeol mumbles. "Hey."
"Hmm." Kris taps away at the keyboard.
"Are the playlists too long? Also. Sorry for nagging."
Kris pauses and looks down at where Chanyeol has now looped both arms around his waist, hugging his back like a koala bear. He covers one of Chanyeol's hands with his own. "You know I always listen to them," he says carefully.
"Yeah." There's a beat of silence and then Chanyeol laughs, a hot puff that bursts through Kris's sweater and makes him shiver. "Sometimes I think about if I had to cajole Jongin or Sehunnie into all the shit I loop you into and I get cold sweats."
"Stop thinking about being unfaithful." Kris pats his hand. "Look only at me for post-midnight rap dates."
"I'm going to throw up."
"Not on my sponsored clothes," Kris says. "Really Chanyeol, thank you. You give good advice and I've improved a lot because of it. The mixtapes too. They're very considerate." He stops and twists his body around, sliding his hands up Chanyeol's arms to brace him by the shoulders. When Chanyeol meets his eyes, Kris actually looks a little embarrassed. "I wish I could be as helpful."
Chanyeol bites his bottom lip, tipping his head so their foreheads bump together. He's close enough to see the traces of mascara left on Kris's lashes. It's so sweet his cheeks are warming up, but also kind of awkward and he finds himself self-consciously holding his breath. "Are you kidding," he manages. "You're always agreeing to practice whenever and however I want." Kris closes the last inch to press their noses together, and Chanyeol goes a little cross-eyed. "This is really romantic, hyung."
"We should take a selca," Kris breathes, his eyes lowered to Chanyeol's mouth. "I'll upload it to weibo."
Chanyeol tries not to laugh and racks his brains for a comeback, but he's also trying not to breathe on Kris and trying to ignore the sudden flutter in his stomach, not to mention his waist is starting to hurt. Kris's eyes lift to his and one impressive brow quirks, daring him. "I-can't reach my phone and my back is cramping," Chanyeol admits, dropping his head in defeat.
Kris immediately sits back with a loud exhale, rolling his neck. "Thank god you gave in first."
"Best out of three."
Kris waves a hand at him and turns back to the laptop, drawing up a web page of lyrics. "Practice first, then we can make out."
Chanyeol scoots up next to him and adjusts the laptop screen until he has a comfortable view. Kris slides a soothing hand over the small of his back, rubbing gently, and Chanyeol clicks play on the mp3 track. He doesn't manage to finish saying, "Only if we do it on Baekhyun's pillow," before the music cuts him off, but Kris is already nodding, already agreeing.
A/N:
- I GIVE UP
- (trying to 'celebrate' 'krisyeol month' by doing a drabble 'week' to break myself out of this writing rut. let's see how that goes...)
Kris/Chanyeol (ambiguous gay chicken??)
G, ~1.7k wc.
prompt from one_if_by_land: "Krisyeol rapping together and Chanyeol delicately trying to give Kris tips while fanning his vanity at the same time" (spoiler: the prompt is more exciting than the drabble)
Chanyeol has a missed call when they arrive at the practice rooms. Strictly speaking they're not allowed to be on their phones during training hours, but the instructor isn't here yet so he keeps one eye on the door and dials back. He plops himself down on the hardwood floor while the other members stretch or refill their water bottles, wedging the phone between his shoulder and ear and bending forward to retie his shoelaces. As soon as Kris picks up, he asks, "Did you listen to my mix?"
There's a beat of silence, and then the static of a sudden exhale.
Chanyeol makes a low, frustrated noise in the back of his throat.
"Chanye-"
Chanyeol raises his voice until he drowns Kris out and Kyungsoo gives him a quick, startled look. He only stops when his groan sounds more like the squeezed whine of a dying animal and he runs out of breath.
"Are you done."
"That depends." Chanyeol takes the phone from his ear and hits speaker phone so he can scowl at it properly, scrunching up his face like Kris can see him. "Are you going to listen to it tonight?"
"I'll try," Kris says. "Did you put me on speaker phone?"
Out of the corner of his eye Joonmyun raises his eyebrows at him. Chanyeol ignores him. "No," he lies. "And you say that every time. I don't make these mixtapes for my health, you know."
"Some say you can die of second-hand embarrassment," Jongdae's tinny voice pipes in.
"Why am I on speaker phone?" Chanyeol demands, now ignoring Joonmyun's amusement even harder than he'd ignored Joonmyun's concern.
"More convenient." Kris's voice sounds distant. "Also you did it first."
"You're a man baby," Chanyeol informs him. "Listen to the mix. Especially track four, the rapper sort of sounds like you." Baekhyun sticks his head out the practice room, and taps a warning on Chanyeol's shoulder. "I gotta go man, but I'll see you tomorrow. Please listen to the goddamn mix or I'll replace you with Kyungsoo. At least he appreciates me."
"Who's the man baby now?" Kris shoots back, right before the line disconnects.
"You're almost as much of a hardass as Yixing is during dance practice." Baekhyun shakes his head.
Chanyeol stares at him, dumbfounded. "That's a gross exaggeration, and you know it."
"Yeah," Baekhyun admits. "But I figure it balances out since you're not as good at rap as Yixing is at dancing. Gentler taskmaster, but also shittier-ow!" Baekhyun hunches his shoulders, away from Chanyeol's vengeful fingers on his neck.
"You already spent forty minutes yesterday practicing 'Two Moons' over the phone," Sehun interjects. "At like, 3AM. I dunno how hyung puts up with you."
"Thank god you'll never have to find out," Chanyeol snipes back, but he means it wholeheartedly. Kris is on the lower rungs of the talent ladder in SME, but there's no one else he'd rather be paired with.
Every time EXO-M returns to Korea and stays for more than two days, management shuffles them into group practice. They start with the twelve-member routines for MAMA and History to warm up and refresh their memories, but the main focus is on the choreography of their comeback. Outside of the dance room, Jongdae and Lu Han disappear with Kyungsoo and Baekhyun ("Dates!" says Jongdae), Jongin and Yixing fall back into their late-night practice sessions ("Dates," says Lu Han), and when Kris isn't busy with Joonmyun, he and Chanyeol meet up in whichever dorm has less people.
They both need work. Chanyeol has a tendency to bellow the lyrics and flatten the beat, but a person's potential lies in their taste. That's his advantage over Kris. The first time, five minutes after their first test run-through in the recording studio, Chanyeol had grabbed Kris's elbow and asked without thinking, a little too quickly, hyung, do you ever, have you listened to rap?
Of course, Kris replied, slowly, and Chanyeol had spent the next three minutes trying to get his foot out of his mouth.
That's the first time Chanyeol promises to make Kris a mix though, and now he's fallen into the habit every time M comes back. New releases, vintage favourites, Chanyeol throws together ten or twelve songs and sends Kris off with a pat on the back. Occasionally he forwards the playlist to Kyungsoo, and once, to Zitao.
Kris shows up after lunch, still dressed in his airport clothes.
"If you didn't listen to my mix I swear to god just leave right now," Chanyeol warns, eyes fixed on the television screen where Jongin is beating him to a pulp. "Nice ascot, by the way."
"I listened to it on the plane," Kris reassures him, taking the seat next to Chanyeol on the couch. "And thanks."
"He'll be done in a sec, hyung." Jongin is cross-legged on the floor, tongue poking out of his mouth. Chanyeol shoves Jongin's shoulder with one socked foot, but the screen is already flashing 'GAME OVER' in block letters.
"Let's go," Chanyeol announces and stands up. "Nothing to see here, let's move on."
"You should encourage your dongsaeng's achievements," Kris says. "It builds self-esteem."
"Joonmyun-hyung's job," Chanyeol reminds him, and wraps his hand around the back of Kris's neck, fingers pressing into the hollow behind his ear. Kris lets himself be dragged upright. "Not my responsibility."
"Shit, wait, where the fuck are the earplugs." Jongin rolls onto his stomach and makes grabby motions. Sehun, working on a rare math worksheet at the kitchen table, laughs into his textbook.
Kris half-grins too, but it's stiff with the slightest hint of real exasperation.
"Did you just make fun of someone else's rapping?" Baekhyun peers out of the kitchen and raises his eyebrows. Chanyeol snickers, sending Baekhyun a grateful look, and pushes Kris out of the living room and down the hall to his bedroom, still steering with a hand at his nape.
The thing about rap, Chanyeol thinks as he closes the door behind them and bounces onto Baekhyun's bed, is that confidence is half the battle. Technique, rhythm, those can be trained. But if you feel stupid, you're going to look stupid. Kris is like a boy riding a bike down a steep hill for the first time, working up the courage to let himself coast in intervals but still pressing on the handle breaks too quickly and too often, uncomfortable with the idea of letting go. "Jongin's an idiot, but he didn't mean it like that."
"I know." Kris looks rueful. "It's fine."
"So long as, you know." Chanyeol says lamely. "It's cool."
"I got what you said about track four." Kris moves briskly, opening up Chanyeol's laptop and keying in the password. "He does sound like me. Obviously better-than me, but I see what you mean."
"I think you drag out the last syllables longer." Chanyeol offers, leaning over to rest his chin on Kris's shoulder. Kris's back pressed against his chest is one long swath of body heat. He slides one arm around Kris's waist and wordlessly directs him through his music folders.
"Yeah, I've been working on that since you mentioned it last time." Kris frowns.
"I saw your last lives," Chanyeol says into Kris's neck, and Kris wriggles a little. "You do your lines great in MAMA and History."
"Oh, thanks." Kris sounds pleased and a little surprised, and Chanyeol presses his nose deeper into the curve of his neck, curling closer as if to compress and contain the sudden swell of affection in his chest. "Do you mind if we run this track? I kinda want to try the way he does it."
"Sure, look up the lyrics," Chanyeol mumbles. "Hey."
"Hmm." Kris taps away at the keyboard.
"Are the playlists too long? Also. Sorry for nagging."
Kris pauses and looks down at where Chanyeol has now looped both arms around his waist, hugging his back like a koala bear. He covers one of Chanyeol's hands with his own. "You know I always listen to them," he says carefully.
"Yeah." There's a beat of silence and then Chanyeol laughs, a hot puff that bursts through Kris's sweater and makes him shiver. "Sometimes I think about if I had to cajole Jongin or Sehunnie into all the shit I loop you into and I get cold sweats."
"Stop thinking about being unfaithful." Kris pats his hand. "Look only at me for post-midnight rap dates."
"I'm going to throw up."
"Not on my sponsored clothes," Kris says. "Really Chanyeol, thank you. You give good advice and I've improved a lot because of it. The mixtapes too. They're very considerate." He stops and twists his body around, sliding his hands up Chanyeol's arms to brace him by the shoulders. When Chanyeol meets his eyes, Kris actually looks a little embarrassed. "I wish I could be as helpful."
Chanyeol bites his bottom lip, tipping his head so their foreheads bump together. He's close enough to see the traces of mascara left on Kris's lashes. It's so sweet his cheeks are warming up, but also kind of awkward and he finds himself self-consciously holding his breath. "Are you kidding," he manages. "You're always agreeing to practice whenever and however I want." Kris closes the last inch to press their noses together, and Chanyeol goes a little cross-eyed. "This is really romantic, hyung."
"We should take a selca," Kris breathes, his eyes lowered to Chanyeol's mouth. "I'll upload it to weibo."
Chanyeol tries not to laugh and racks his brains for a comeback, but he's also trying not to breathe on Kris and trying to ignore the sudden flutter in his stomach, not to mention his waist is starting to hurt. Kris's eyes lift to his and one impressive brow quirks, daring him. "I-can't reach my phone and my back is cramping," Chanyeol admits, dropping his head in defeat.
Kris immediately sits back with a loud exhale, rolling his neck. "Thank god you gave in first."
"Best out of three."
Kris waves a hand at him and turns back to the laptop, drawing up a web page of lyrics. "Practice first, then we can make out."
Chanyeol scoots up next to him and adjusts the laptop screen until he has a comfortable view. Kris slides a soothing hand over the small of his back, rubbing gently, and Chanyeol clicks play on the mp3 track. He doesn't manage to finish saying, "Only if we do it on Baekhyun's pillow," before the music cuts him off, but Kris is already nodding, already agreeing.
A/N:
- I GIVE UP
- (trying to 'celebrate' 'krisyeol month' by doing a drabble 'week' to break myself out of this writing rut. let's see how that goes...)