Cheater Cheater
Title: Cheater Cheater
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Rating: pg-13
Genre: comedy, fluff? college au
Summary: WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT is a thing, and Chanyeol is the best unintentional cheater ever -- until Byun Baekhyun drops by with his pretty hands and perfect teeth and beats the pants off him. Not literally. CHANYEOL IS NOT WEIRD, OKAY.
"Hit! Hit! HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME!!"
Jongin has the decency to aim for Chanyeol's arm when he punches him -- but, then again, maybe his face is just out of reach. Tall bastard. "I'm seriously going to murder you if you sing that song one more time."
"But Jongin-ahhhhh," Chanyeol said sagely, patting his dongsaeng's arm as if he were about to impart the secrets of the universe unto him. "This is blackjack. That song was practicall written or this game." And then his eyes went wide, as if this was some great discovery. "MAYBE IT WAS. MAYBE BRITNEY WAS A HARDCORE BLACKJACK PLAYER ALL ALO-ksljhhhh"
Turns out a punch to the throat was an extremely effective way to shut Chanyeol up. "You may call me god," Jongin declared, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up onto the table so that he could lounge in sexy, sexy victory.
"Please, no violence," Joonmyun sighed, patting a coughing and hacking Chanyeol on the back. "C'mon, Chanyeol, that's enough. He hit you, he didn't give you a hairball."
Chanyeol gasped and flailed onto the table, tapping on the backs of his cards feebly. "Hitttttt..."
Kyungsoo rolled his giant eyes and dealt him another card.
This was only week four of WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, which was Chanyeol's brilliant idea -- and which he insisted was only to be referred to in capital letters. Because it was just that awesome. And, to his credit, it had been a lot of fun at first! A good time for everyone to meet up, since their class schedules were all over the place, and an absolutely great time to eat and drink and talk shit about whoever wasn't there.
Things had gone downhill on the second week, though, when Sehun had brought along some Hollywood flick about blackjack with the idea that watching it all together would get them more excited about the game. And it had!
...Until Chanyeol learned to count cards from it.
Now no one stood a chance in hell, and the fun was basically destroyed and thoroughly pissed upon. Turns out Chanyeol's crazy brain was actually good for something, to Jongin's utter surprise -- and that something was cheating at card games. But there was no calling off WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Nope. Chanyeol had made them sign a contract, the clever bastard. Rule 1: Don't talk about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Rule 2: Don't talk about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Rule 3: Winner doesn't have to pay for food, drinks, or merriment. The losers split the bill evenly. Rule 5: No backing out of WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT without a note from a parent, teacher, or doctor.
...Obviously, no one had read this carefully.
Or had realized that Chanyeol left off Rule 4.
...
The fifth week, Kyungsoo tried very, very hard to get out of it (or at least get out of having it at his and Joonmyun's dorm all the time, since no one ever thought to help clean up after and he couldn't go to bed knowing there are dirty dishes or things laying out where they shouldn't be). He called Chanyeol explaining in great detail how he had an exam the next day and so one of his classmates was coming over to help study, and Chanyeol listened very patiently and then said, "Okay! Do you have a note from your professor?"
Kyungsoo did not have a note.
WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT was on.
The get-together didn't technically start until 8pm, but Chanyeol arrived, as usual, at the fashionably early time of 7:43. Fashionably early was totally a thing. He'd invented it. Therefore, it was awesome, and no one should complain about it. Sometimes Joonmyun regretted helping Chanyeol gain so much self esteem in the late middle school/early high school years. This was one of those times.
Still, Joonmyun was too nice to actually slam the door in Chanyeol's face when he knocked, though goodness knows he fantasized about it. Almost daily. Which probably said some interesting things about him, which, as a psych major, he should probably look into. Sometime. Sometime not when Chanyeol was kicking his shoes off and racing into the dorm unsupervised.
"Wait, Chanyeol -- Kyungsoo -- studying --"
"KYUNGSOO-YAHHHHH." Target spotted in .14 seconds, all wide, saucer-like eyes as Chanyeol threw open the door to his room and descended like a hurricane onto his precious study materials. "I brought you a gift to help you do well on your exam tomorrow!" Kyungsoo winced as a brown paper bag was dropped directly onto his crotch, but he opened it up anyway.
"...You got me bananas?"
"Yep! Brain food!" Chanyeol exclaimed proudly, and then he jammed a finger into the bag with a look of dead seriousness. "I read about it on the internet, so it must be true. Eat them all, and you won't even need to study because your brain will be so full of banana!"
"I, uh, don't think that's how it works--"
"Hi, I'm Park Chanyeol, who are you?"
The Kid from Kyungsoo's Class had finally been spotted. Kyungsoo tried to convey 'RUN FOR THE FUCKING HILLS' with his eyes, but they just got even wider, and he wasn't sure he'd gotten the message across. Especially when his classmate was actually accepting Chanyeol's handshake of his own free will.
Oh well. He'd learn.
"Byun Baekhyun. I'm in Kyungsoo's biology lecture." Baekhyun smiled and showed off an awful lot of perfect teeth -- almost as many as Chanyeol himself. Chanyeol was impressed. "I've actually heard a lot about you. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, right? In all capital letters?"
"Yeah, that's right! You don't need to specify the capital letters when you're talking, though. I can hear whether you're using them or not." He was being serious, but Baekhyun laughed, and for some reason he didn't mind that at all. In fact, he ended up laughing, too.
It took a good four minutes 34 seconds before Chanyeol realized that obviously Kyungsoo had violated Rules 1 and 2 of the WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT contract, but by then it was too late. He'd broken them, too.
...
About an hour or so later, Baekhyun cinched himself a permanent place at WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT.
He beat Park Chanyeol.
...
"I. JUST. DON'T. UNDERSTAND. HOW. THIS. IS. POSSIBLE."
"Dude, calm the fuck down. You don't have enough brain cells to be wasting them." Jongin rolled his eyes and kicked Chanyeol under the table, which Chanyeol was currently beating his head against.
"It must be his hands," Chanyeol said suddenly, sitting bolt upright and slamming his hands down on the tabletop. Sehun sighed as this sent his kimbap to the ground, and his chopsticks made for Chanyeol's instead. Chanyeol didn't notice. He was too busy having a moment. "His hands. Yessss, that must be it."
"Why are you still talking?" Jongin complained, snapping his chopsticks rudely in front of Chanyeol's face to get his attention. It didn't work.
"I'm being serious -- his hands. They're too pretty. He uses them as a distraction and then he makes me lose count and then he beats me and then he SMILES about it." Chanyeol was breathing heavily by the end of this spoken revelation, and he laughed up at the sky. "It's so devious! I bet no one else even realized it, but I'm onto you, Byun Baekhyun! Bwahahahaha--"
"Yes?"
Everything froze for a second in sudden awkward.
Baekhyun, who had paused near their table to say hello and had been utterly surprised to hear his own name.
Chanyeol, mouth still hanging open in the aftermath of his evil genius laughter.
Jongin and Sehun, in the midst of stuffing their faces and pretending not to know the crazy kid.
...Chanyeol decided to break the silence.
"Guh."
Baekhyun blinked in obvious confusion, but then he smiled sort of uncertainly and somehow Chanyeol found the power to go on. "You're coming to WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, right? I need a rematch."
"Hmm, I dunno..." Baekhyun pretended to think it over. Chanyeol knew he was pretending because he didn't stop smiling. So maybe he wasn't that devious. Or something. Logic. "Are you going to make me sign a contract?"
"WHY DOES NO ONE OBEY RULES 1 AND 2??!?!??!" Chanyeol shouted to the heavens, exasperated.
"You don't, either," Sehun said, helping himself to some more of Chanyeol's lunch. "You just invited him to join. Called it by name and everything."
"...Shut up." Chanyeol wanted to kick him, but Sehun was the baby maknae of their little friend group and was therefore untouchable. It was the law. So he just turned his nose up at him and the snickering Jongin and continued on with the Mature and Adult Conversation he and Baekhyun had been having, which babies like Sehun and Jongin obviously couldn't understand. All the legal speak about contracts and stuff. No wonder the kids couldn't follow what was going on. Poor things. He almost felt bad for them for like half a second, but then he realized that he was going off on a tangent.
"I don't have a contract with me right now," he said very seriously, folding his hands on the table like he'd seen lawyers do on cop shows or something, "but I'll type one up for you and have it delivered for you to sign and return back to me at the soonest possible convenience."
"Excellent. Just have it delivered to my office, and I'll take care of it right away." Chanyeol wasn't really sure why they were shaking hands or even what they were talking about anymore for sure, but it seemed official and he realized now that Baekhyun's hands were really soft but strong as well as really nice to look at, and uh yeah he wasn't weird or anything. Really.
The second Baekhyun was almost probably maybe not out of earshot, Jongin clapped Chanyeol on the back and said, "Congratulations. You've finally found someone who speaks your native tongue."
"Korean?" Chanyeol asked blankly, still halfway thinking about the way Baekhyun's hand had been perfectly cool and not at all sweaty or anything even remotely less than wonderful.
"No. Idiot."
Sehun ducked out of the way as Chanyeol lobbed a mostly full water bottle at Jongin's head and swore to himself never to sit with them ever again.
...
Chanyeol wasted absolutely no time and had the contract ready as soon as he was out of class that afternoon. Except that he temporarily forgot until he was already cradling the warm-from-the-printer contract in his arms that he didn't actually have any way to get a hold of Baekhyun.
Oops. Probably should've thought of that one earlier.
"Kyungsoo-yah!" he yelled into his phone, even though he knew that Kyungsoo turned his phone off in class and might not listen to the message until way later when he saw the message was from Chanyeol. Damn it. Should've remembered to block his number. "Call me back when you get the chance! It's about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. It's an EMERGENCY. ...'Kay bye."
He'd made that sound appropriately urgent, right? There was no way Kyungsoo wouldn't call him back immediately after he heard that message.
...
It was 7:47, and still no call back from Kyungsoo.
Chanyeol pouted and kicked at a rock he'd been playing with off and on for the past couple of hours. He hadn't managed to intercept Kyungsoo coming out of his lecture, but he'd been sure he'd find him at the library afterward. He'd tried the dorm, but no one had been home and he'd gotten tired of looking through their stuff fairly quickly, since he'd done it one or two times before. It wasn't his fault he was a genius at picking locks with paper clips. It was a gift.
"Maybe I should call again... 18 calls isn't too many in one day, right?" Chanyeol said to himself, kicking at the rock again. He missed.
"Chanyeol?"
"Guh?" What the-- How in the hell was Baekhyun so good at sneaking up on him? And why did he keep suddenly forgetting how to make words? He tried not to be distracted by the way one of those impossibly pretty hands waved at him, presumably to get his attention as Baekhyun grinned and walked right up to him. "I mean, hi! What's up?"
"Kyungsoo told me I might find you here." And yeah, that smile. It was kind of blinding.
Chanyeol found himself grinning and wondered belatedly if his face was doing that twitching thing that it usually only did when he was happy but that Jongin said was fucking weird. He hoped not. "Oh right, Kyungsoo, that bastard -- I've been calling him and leaving him messages. I even said it was an EMERGENCY and waited outside his classroom, but he must've climbed out the window again or something. His big eyes seem like they'd weigh him down, but he'd surprisingly nimble..." Chanyeol was rambling. SHUT UP, MOUTH. But Baekhyun was laughing, so he guessed it was okay. "I was going to ask him how to get in contact with you, but he never answered me."
"Well, I'm here now." Baekhyun smiled, and Chanyeol almost punched himself in the face. He made a mental note to add more bananas to his diet. "Do you have the contract for me?"
"Right, contract! Yeah, I've got it right..." Chanyeol suddenly realized that his backpack was MIA. And the contract was inside it. He reacted in the only logical way, and that was near panic. "Ah, shit -- I must've left it somewhere!" But where? It could be in the bush outside the science building where he'd laid in wait for Kyungsoo to get out of class or in the library or in the dining hall or the bathroom or -- double shit. He was pretty sure he'd left it at Joonmyun and Kyungsoo's dorm. Which meant he was going to have to go get it and listen to yet another lecture about Boundaries and Personal Space and other boring things like that.
"Give me your phone." Baekhyun held out his hand expectantly, and Chanyeol fished his precious cell out of his pocket with a pout.
"If you're going to hold it hostage, I demand that you treat it with the utmost respect. It hates water but loves long walks on the beach. Oh, and it's lactose intolerant, so make sure you don't--"
"I'm not holding it hostage, stupid." Baekhyun finished punching a couple of buttons and then handed the phone right back.
"What did you do?" Chanyeol frowned, tone dripping with suspicion as he inspected the screen and couldn't immediately find anything amiss.
"I put in my phone number. Text me when you find the contract, and we'll figure out a time to meet up, okay?"
Chanyeol didn't know why that sent a bolt of electricity down his spine -- or why he did a victory fist pump a moment later. Luckily, Baekhyun had already waved and started walking away without giving Chanyeol a chance to reply. Not that he'd say no, oh hell no. HE HAD BAEKHYUN'S NUMBER. AND BAEKHYUN HAD HANDED IT OVER OF HIS OWN FREE WILL, WITHOUT ANY KIND OF EXTORTION OR ANYTHING.
And, what the hell -- Chanyeol fist pumped again. Now all he had to do was swing by Kyungsoo and Joonmyun's dorm building and retrieve his forgotten backpack, then text Baekhyun about meeting up with him, then get him to sign the contract, and then (and here was the most important step) beat the crap out of him at the next WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT.
Except not literally, because that would be disgusting.
...
It was pretty late by the time Chanyeol got back to his own dorm room after being lectured by Joonmyun about The Importance of Personal Boundaries in Friendships, but he didn't even care because he'd been texting Baekhyun the whole way home. Which had caused a couple of minor accidents involving a mostly full trashcan and a stray cat, basically entailing full-on collisions...but whatever. It was all okay, because a conversation that had started with:
contract acquired
Awesome! :D
had evolved into plans to meet in the quad when they both had a break between their classes around noon. And then had gone on to chitchatting about their majors (Baekhyun was pre-med, Chanyeol was just getting his general electives out of the way till he figured out something he liked, though this week he was leaning towards something in math) to their roommates (Chanyeol insisted that Sehun was quite possibly from outer space [IT'S THE STARE. THE STAAAARE.]) to discussing their theories on why Kyungsoo's eyes were so impossibly large.
Then Sehun threw a pillow and hit Chanyeol right in the face.
"Go laugh at your phone somewhere else. I'm trying to sleep," he griped, and Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at him.
"Maybe I will," he huffed, and he proceeded to relocate to the couch and text Baekhyun till the oh shit moment at sunrise.
...
Chanyeol made it to his first class that morning out of sheer willpower -- and quite possibly also because Jongin had threatened to start drawing on his face if he didn't go to class with him. "YOU CAN'T, I HAVE AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING LATER!!!!" he'd shrieked, and Jongin had hit him with his own pillow.
"Then stop screaming and get some clothes on so we can go. Geez."
Chanyeol had muttered about Jongin and his teenage girl eye-rolling habit the whole time as he'd brushed his teeth and gotten changed (which probably took about 2.5 minutes total), and they'd been on their way to their painfully boring history lecture. It was a core class, but it was also about as intellectually stimulating as a heap of fresh cow dung.
Jongin made a habit of flirting with any female dumb enough to sit near him, and Chanyeol alternated between pretending to be actively engaged in the class (the key was to frown slightly and nod thoughtfully every so often), playing games on his calculator, and doodling.
Today, though, he was making the utmost use of his class time.
MISSION CODE RED EAGLE BLUE 66
AKA DEFEAT BYUN BAEKHYUN AT BLACKJACK
STEP 1: INVITE THE TARGET TO WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT
STEP 2: BEAT HIM*
*BUT DON'T MAKE HIM CRY BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE MEAN AND SAD
"What are you doing?"
"MY BATTLE PLANS!!!!" Chanyeol yelped as Jongin snatched his notebook away from him and started reading it with what looked suspiciously like Judgement Eyes. But that couldn't be right. Those plans were flawless. And also Top Secret, so yeah. Now he was going to have to kill Jongin.
...sometime when the back half of the lecture hall WASN'T staring at him because of his little outburst. Too many witnesses.
"Shut up before we get thrown out of class for the fourteenth time," Jongin complained, dropping the notebook back on Chanyeol's desk and leaning back in his chair in evident boredom.
"This would only be the thirteenth," Chanyeol sniffed, dusting off his notes and closing the cover before any other curious eyes could possibly read them. Who knew how many spies Baekhyun could have planted in this classroom? He glared at the girl next to him, who suddenly seemed very suspicious despite the fact that she was sleeping pretty obviously on her textbook. It could be a ruse. She could be a professional.
"Whatever." Jongin kicked him because he was Jongin and he could. "Aren't you taking this whole loss thing a little too seriously? It's about time someone beat you, anyway. Just take it like a man and move on."
"I would if he wasn't a cheater."
"Chanyeol. YOU're a cheater. You're a fucking card counter."
"BUT HE CHEATS TOO. HE USES A SOPHISTICATED DISTRACTION TECHNIQUE WHERE HE BLINDS YOU WITH HIS SMILE AND THEN SHOWS OFF HIS PERFECT HANDS AND THEN EXHALES PIXIE DUST AND THEN YOU FORGET EVERYTHING INCLUDING YOUR OWN NAME AND HOW TO PERFORM LIFE-SUSTAINING BODILY FUNCTIONS."
...okay, now EVERYONE was staring. "You really need to learn how to use your inside voice," Jongin hissed from where he was pretending to be anywhere but there next to the crazy kid.
"Park Chanyeol and Kim Jongin," the professor scolded, jabbing a finger toward the door. "Out. Now."
They scrambled for their belongings before they started getting things thrown at them (this professor was a surprisingly good shot, given the fact that she had probably lived through most of the history she was teaching them) and hustled out of there, Jongin whispering death threats all the while. "And all because of stupid Byun Baekhyun," he whined.
"Baekhyun's not stupid," Chanyeol protested immediately, shoving Jongin's shoulder in punishment. The kid needed to be reminded of his place every now and then. Shorty.
Jongin looked at him a little funny, then shoved him right back. "Hey, man, watch it. If you're not careful, people are going to start thinking you like him~"
"Like who?? WHAT??? No. Nonono. Baekhyun is my archenemy! My rival! My nemesis! My...uh...some other synonym for bad guy! I don't like him. You're weird, shut up."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks~"
"YOU'RE WEIRD, SHUT UP."
Stupid fucking Jongin and his stupid fucking literature major. Quoting things Chanyeol had never heard of and sounding all smart. And thinking weird things. What the hell. He didn't like Byun Baekhyun... He was really nice to text and had a really good laugh and a great smile and pretty, pretty hands, but Chanyeol didn't like him like him.
But he was really nice and fun and pretty to look at and seemed like he'd be good company on a rainy day, or better yet a sunny one where they could go for a walk or get ice cream or-
"SHUT UP SHUT UP."
"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING."
"DON'T CARE, SHUT UP."
Jongin punched him in the throat. It was super effective.
...
By half an hour later, Chanyeol had put his selective memory to good use and forgotten about his conversation with that stick in the mud Jongin. Which was good, because he was supposed to meet Baekhyun around now, and thoughts like that would just make him confused and then he'd start shouting and he was pretty sure he'd already reached his quota for Stares from Strangers Questioning His Mental Health today.
There were benches in the quad, and Chanyeol had picked one close to Baekhyun's lecture hall, since he'd arrived first. It wasn't weird that he knew where Baekhyun's class was held, anyway, since this was the one he had with Kyungsoo. Yeah. Totally not weird.
Anyway, he was barely there seventeen minutes (FASHIONABLY EARLY WAS TOTALLY A THING, DAMN IT) before Baekhyun plunked down beside him with a grin. "What's up?"
Chanyeol blinked, and he could feel his face doing its usual happy twitch. That eye-smile Baekhyun had going on was doing something weird and tickly to his stomach.
Or maybe that was hunger, since he'd slept through his usual breakfast time and hadn't eaten lunch yet.
"I remembered the contract this time!" He'd checked his backpack at least seven or eight times to make sure he had it with him, and now he handed it over with a flourish. "For you, Baekhyun-ssi."
"Hmmmm..." Baekhyun furrowed his brow and made a great show of looking over all of the rules very carefully. "Did you realize you left off number four?"
"What?? No I didn't. You're not looking close enough."
"No, I'm serious! Look!" Baekhyun pointed to the page, and Chanyeol followed the perfect line of his pretty finger to Rule 3...and then directly to Rule 5. No Rule 4 anywhere in sight.
Chanyeol stared at it for a long moment, and then he crossed his arms and turned up his nose. "Rule 4 is a secret."
"What??" And now Baekhyun was laughing and poking him with his pen right in the ribs, where it tickled the most. "What is it? I probably shouldn't sign this unless I know what I'm in for, right?"
"It's top secret. You don't have the security clearance."
Chanyeol's phone went off in his pocket at the most opportune of moments, and he cut off Baekhyun's newest wave of laughing protests with a hand. "Sorry, I have to take this. It could be important."
...except that it wasn't a phone call, it was just a text from Jongin. Which he only realized after he'd already lifted the phone to his ear and no one had started talking to him.
Oops.
He smiled sheepishly and pressed the button to read it anyway, since he already had it out.
he totally wants to kiss you
Chanyeol slammed his phone shut, eyes as wide as Kyungsoo's (well, almost) in sheer terror. He cast a semi-paranoid glance around, wondering where Jongin could be hiding to spy on them, a steady flush creeping up his neck.
"Chanyeol...? Are you okay?" Baekhyun asked, leaning into his line of vision all cute and worried. Er, wait -- not cute, but--
His phone went off again.
"Uhhhhh yeah! Totally fine, uh, one sec, sorry about this--"
HOLY SHIT YOU WANT TO KISS HIM TOO
Chanyeol let out a very unmanly shriek of pure, unadulterated panic and tried to shove his phone into his pocket so forcefully he popped the seam.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
"Uh, nothing! That was just my-" shit why did he suck at lying "-my mom! Texting because...my dog died! Yeah! Ran right out into the street and got hit by a motorcycle! Blood and guts everywhere! Died on the spot!"
Baekhyun's eyes were wide, but his hand on Chanyeol's shoulder was warm and comforting and Chanyeol wanted to punch himself in the uvula to keep himself from talking more about the guts or staring at Baekhyun's mouth because yeah, that was definitely what he was doing right then instead of thinking about his words. "I'm so sorry, Chanyeol...You should go call her."
Chanyeol felt like his brain was short-circuiting. "But -- the contract -- must --"
Baekhyun had both of his pretty little hands on his shoulders now and was looking him straight in the eyes. "I know. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Tomorrow. I'll be there, and I'll sign this and bring it. But this is more important right now, so go call your mom, okay?"
"Uhhh...yeah. Okay. I'll do that."
"Good." And then Baekhyun was leaving, hesitating just long enough to say, "Text me if you need someone to talk to, okay?" and then practically bolting out of there.
Chanyeol wanted to bang his head on the nearest hard surface until all the stupidity left him.
Instead, he made a pledge to himself to kill Kim Jongin.
...
A search of the whole campus for a certain ex best friend came up empty, and Chanyeol finally gave up and trudged back to the dorms. Stupid Jongin and his stupid texting stupid things... What the hell was up with that, anyway? How would he even know who Baekhyun wanted to kiss? -- Not that it mattered to Chanyeol. Nope. Not one bit. Because Chanyeol liked to kiss pretty girls. Uh-huh. Really pretty ones, who looked like, uh, some famous kdrama star! Yeah! Totally!
Though Baekhyun was really pretty, almost like a girl. Except for the whole being male part. But yeah. Still pretty.
CHANYEOL WASN'T WEIRD OKAY.
"Hey, buddy! What's up?" Jongin greeted him with a cheeky grin from where he was sprawled out across his bed.
"Nothing mu-- YOU." And Chanyeol all but threw himself at Jongin, brandishing his pillow as a weapon and wielding it fiercely. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?? I'M DISOWNING YOU AS MY BEST FRIEND. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE YOU SUCK. YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK." He was landing a lot of hits with the pillow, but Jongin was laughing so hard he seemed to be impervious to pain, so...this plan was not going so well. Chanyeol needed a better weapon. Like maybe his metal alarm clock.
"Put the clock down," Sehun said, without even looking up from whatever he was working on at his desk. He finished writing a line before glancing over to make sure Chanyeol had listened (which he had) and then sighed, exasperated. "What happened, anyway? All Jongin would tell me is that you and Baekhyun were on a date, and then he just kept laughing maniacally."
"There was nothing maniacal about that laughter," Jongin protested immediately. "It was a wicked chuckle."
"No. It was maniacal."
"I WASN'T ON A DATE WITH BAEKHYUN," Chanyeol interjected, because that was obviously the most important matter at hand. "WE WERE JUST TALKING. ABOUT WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT."
"That's not what it looked like in the picture..."
"Picture...? What picture??!"
Jongin grinned evilly and waved his cellphone in Chanyeol's face. "This one."
His background was a totally sketchy picture that looked like it'd been taken through a second or third floor window, but it was still clear enough to be able to make out Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the bench at about the point where Baekhyun had been poking Chanyeol and it'd been really ticklish, and it was actually really cu-- compromising. Yeah. That was what it was.
"Why the hell were you spying on me?!"
"Bored in my world religions class," Jongin said with a shrug.
"So? How was your date?" Sehun needed the scoop before he could go back to his work. He hadn't spent the better part of two hours listening to Jongin start to tell the story and then cut himself off laughing for nothing, damn it. It had better be fucking hilarious. Oh Sehun did not procrastinate.
"NOT A DATE."
"Fine Your 'business meeting', or whatever you want to call it."
"My business meeting was going very well, thanks for asking -- until SOMEONE decided to TEXT me WEIRD THINGS." Chanyeol tried to muster up a glare as good as that transfer student Wu Fan's (he failed), which he aimed right at Jongin.
"I didn't text anything weird," Jongin insisted.
"What did you say?"
"Just that Baekhyun wants to kiss him."
"SEE?? WEIRD. TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY WEIRD."
Sehun shrugged. "I don't think it's weird. I haven't been around you both that much, but it seems pretty obvious that he likes you."
Chanyeol meant to say "NO WAY IN HELL, YOU'RE BOTH WEIRD" but what came out of his mouth instead was, "Really?" His face felt kind of hot all of a sudden. It must've been the rage he felt at Jongin making him feverish. His stomach was doing that ticklish thing again, too...but he was probably just hungry again. He really needed to eat more. He was a growing boy. His goal was to reach 7 feet.
...his mind was running off somewhere on its own again, and he almost missed Sehun's "Yes, really. Are you stupid?"
Almost, but not quite.
And he didn't quite know what to say to that. Baekhyun liked him? Really, actually liked him? That definitely seemed like a good thing. And, from the look of that blurry picture on Jongin's phone, their meeting/date/whatever-it-was had gone pretty well, so...?
"So what ended up happening, anyway?" Jongin asked from where he was now lounging (seductively, he might add) on Chanyeol's bed. He was feeling safe now that Chanyeol had apparently calmed himself and realized that Jongin was actually the best friend and wingman he could ever not ask for. He deserved an award or something. One for that, and one for his sex eyes, which he was working on getting a copyright for.
"You were spying, weren't you? You saw what happened." Chanyeol was grumbling, curling up into a ball at the foot of his own bed as he suddenly remembered just why his life wasn't great at the moment. Stupid fucking Jongin.
"I was, but then I got called on, so I missed the end. You were both gone by the time I looked again." Now he leaned forward, eyes bright and eyebrows raising suggestively. "You got back here pretty late, too. Looks like things went pretty well for you, huh?"
"Whaaaaat??"
"So what happened? Did you get some?"
"Get some...what?? NO. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. I JUST MET HIM." A very scandalized Chanyeol beat Jongin with his fists this time. Pulled his hair, too, which Jongin hated and Chanyeol awarded himself extra points for.
"Okay, okay, settle down," Sehun sighed. Sometimes he felt like the oldest of their little friend group instead of like the maknae. Mostly just when these two were around. "What really did happen then, hyung? Tell the story fast, because I actually do have studying to do tonight."
"Well, uh..." Chanyeol was quickly retreating back into the fetal position. "I...um...sort of freaked out because of Jongin's texts, and uh..."
"Oh shit, did he read them??" Jongin was laughing already.
Chanyeol kicked him. "No. I'm not stupid. Geez. Have a little faith."
"Then what's the big deal?" Jongin sighed. Damn. He'd thought he'd done more damage than that. He'd have to try harder next time.
"Uhh...well...you see..." Chanyeol started getting fidgety. This was one of those Awkward Stories that he really didn't want to tell, especially to Jongin, who he was pretty sure was the spawn of Satan. It would explain the tan.
"Spit it out, Chanyeol, or I'm kicking you out of the dorm tonight. Seriously. I need to study." Sehun meant it, too. He was stronger than he looked. And if force didn't work, the combination of force + aegyo always did. Always. No one ever saw it coming.
"WELL I WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY THOSE WEIRD TEXTS, okay, so I sort of freaked out and then Baekhyun thought something was wrong and I didn't know how to explain what had happened without telling him what SOMEONE had the audacity to send me while I was busy doing Important Business, so I had to come up with something to tell him and I sort of kind of ended up telling him it was my mom calling because my dog had just gotten hit by a motorcycle and died a very graphic and bloody death."
"Oh god." Sehun facepalmed. Yes, people did do that in real life. Especially if they were friends with Park Chanyeol. "You didn't."
"Yeah..." Chanyeol buried his face in his hands. "I even mentioned the guts."
Jongin was crowing with laughter. He rolled with it (like a buffalo, Chanyeol thought) and fell right off the bed, still cackling like the evil maniac he secretly was. Chanyeol threw his pillow at him. It was not very effective.
"I hate you."
"You're an idiot."
"I KNOW OKAY GET OUT OF MY ROOM."
...
The next day was it. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Chanyeol was pretty sure he had never not looked forward to something as much as he was not looking forward to this. He actually even tried to get out of it to save himself the embarrassment of seeing Baekhyun again (and either having to go on with his stupid lie or be even MORE awkward and tell the truth. Though a part of him was hoping that Baekhyun had gotten Selective Amnesia or something and forgotten all about it. Sehun had told him that Selective Amnesia didn't exist, at least not the way he was thinking, and Chanyeol wept internally.).
He didn't have a note, though. Damn it. Evil Jongin, using his own contract against him.
So he was fashionably early, as usual, and had taken up residence on the couch so he could mope as he waited for everyone else. Of course Kyungsoo and Joonmyun had heard all about the Baekhyun Situation... They were slightly better about it than Sehun, though, who now shook his head in shame whenever he saw Chanyeol's face.
Stupid Sehun, who was also at fault. What was he talking about, saying Baekhyun liked him? That was preposterous. Baekhyun was way too smart and way too pretty and way too much fun to be interested in an awkward piece of...well, awkward, which was Chanyeol. Hell, Chanyeol didn't even know if he was SINGLE, much less into guys. Not that Chanyeol was into guys! He just liked Baekhyun, that was all.
Baekhyun, who wouldn't leave his thoughts alone lately. He was making it very difficult to plot the perfect double homicide.
"Hey."
Chanyeol jumped, visibly. "Baekhyun! Oh, uh -- hey! Glad you made it!" Oh god, he hoped Baekhyun wasn't a mind reader. Not that he'd been thinking anything weird. Nope. That didn't sound like him at all.
Baekhyun hesitated, but took the seat next to Chanyeol anyway. Those pretty fingers twitched uncertainly, and then that thin hand was resting ever so lightly on his shoulder. Chanyeol felt his face get hot.
...Okay, so Chanyeol may have had a bit of a crush on Baekhyun. He'd man up and admit it...to himself. In his own thoughts. And nowhere else.
Oh shit, Baekhyun was talking. Chanyeol had missed the beginning of it. Damn it, damn it, what was he saying now? "--dog. I almost texted you, but I didn't know if...how are you holding up?"
"Huh...?" Fuck, that was right! Here he was having a crisis over his sexuality when he was supposed to be having a crisis over his dead dog! His...nonexistent dead dog. And Baekhyun seemed legitimately worried (which Sehun had told him was a Good Sign, whatever that meant), which just made Chanyeol feel worse for lying. Was there an easy way to say 'sorry, I actually made up that horrible and graphic lie because my stupid friend was teasing me and I think I might like you'? Because if there was, Chanyeol needed to know. Right now.
But he didn't, and so he improvised. "Oh right, yeah -- turns out that was a wrong number. I don't even have a dog."
...that was quite possibly the worst lie in the history of the universe. Chanyeol almost sobbed at his own fail. He tried to make it sound like a laugh instead.
"Oh...well, that's...good?" Baekhyun looked thoroughly confused, and it was so cute that Chanyeol forgot his own idiocy completely. "Then you're okay?"
Chanyeol meant to say 'yes' but actually said, "What, were you worried about me?" Shit. He'd been spending too much time with Jongin, if that bastard's cockiness was starting to rub off on him. "I mean--"
"Yeah, I kind of was," Baekhyun admitted, looking down almost a little shyly. Then he peeked back up with a smile, though, and added, "Really glad you're okay. You're the happy virus, right? It'd be weird if you were down."
Chanyeol's heart did some sort of weird flippy thing, and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. Still, he grinned at Baekhyun, and when Baekhyun grinned back he figured there were worse ways to go.
...
Chanyeol lost every single game of blackjack that night because he kept thinking about Baekhyun's hand on his shoulder and that grin full of perfect teeth.
Also, Jongin kept giving him Suggestive Eyebrows and making lewd hand gestures whenever Baekhyun wasn't looking, and physically beating him was distracting Chanyeol from counting.
...
It wasn't weird that Chanyeol was walking Baekhyun back to his dorm. It wasn't like he just wanted to know where he lived or anything. More that he just wanted to make sure Baekhyun got there safely, since he was so pretty someone might mistake him for a girl and attack him. Better safe than sorry!
Finding out where he lived would be an added perk, though.
Silence had descended upon them, and even though it wasn't awkward it was making Chanyeol think about the last time he'd been alone with Baekhyun and Jongin's stupid texts and he found himself wondering if Sehun and Jongin were right and Baekhyun did like him, and that made him feel all tickly in his stomach and his hands feel sweaty so he blurted, "Do you cheat at cards?" to break the silence.
But then he realized that accusing the person you maybe possibly probably really liked of being a Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater was probably not the smoothest move.
Oops.
Chanyeol panicked.
"Not that I care if you do or anything! I cheat too, at least according to everyone else. It's Sehun's fault, though, for bringing that movie that one time. How was I supposed to know I'd learn to count cards just from paying attention? I don't get how they didn't learn it. They're just dumb or something. I just can't figure out how to stop now that I've started, but I do really like winning and you're the only one who can beat me, and I think it's because your hands are distracting, but then so is your face, so I--"
"Chanyeol, shut up." But Baekhyun was laughing. Chanyeol's whole face felt like it was twitching in the effort to stop the words from pouring out, but then Baekhyun pulled him down by his ears and kissed him full on the lips.
Chanyeol was pretty sure he was exploding.
Seriously, though -- his insides were all fluttery and light and warm and Baekhyun's lips were every bit as nice as they'd looked, and he had absolutely no idea what his face was doing anymore.
When he remembered how to breathe, the first thing that came out of his mouth was a very articulate "guh".
"I like you," Baekhyun said, his smile bright and sure. "And I do actually cheat at cards."
"I KNEW ITTTTT," Chanyeol crowed. He even did a victory dance. "I was right, I was right~ I KNEW you couldn't possibly beat me otherwise! I'm invincible, bwahahaha~"
...then he realized that Baekhyun was laughing at him.
And that he'd kind of missed the point.
"I mean...uh..."
"Want to have lunch in the quad together tomorrow?"
Damn, confidence was sexy. Chanyeol mourned his loss of it for about .25 seconds, and then he nodded vigorously. "Yeah, definitely! Same time and place as last week, I'll meet you there?"
Baekhyun nodded, and Chanyeol finally did what he'd been wanting to do since their first meeting and took Baekhyun's hand. "This is mine now," he said very seriously.
"You can hold it for now, but I need it back."
"Nope, I'm holding it hostage."
"What?" There it was -- that cute laugh, as Baekhyun tried (and failed) to pull his hand loose from Chanyeol's. Chanyeol secretly didn't think he was trying very hard, though. "I didn't do anything! Set it free!"
"NEVER. BWAHAHAHA." Chanyeol used their clasped hands to pull Baekhyun a little closer. "Unless~" He leaned in closer, until he was almost speaking into Baekhyun's ear. "...you tell me how you cheated to beat me."
Baekhyun laughed, but then his face suddenly got very serious. "If I told you that...I'd have to kill you."
"Oh, shut up." And it was Chanyeol's turn to lean down and kiss Baekhyun's mouth.
...he only missed by a little.
Pairing: Baekhyun/Chanyeol
Rating: pg-13
Genre: comedy, fluff? college au
Summary: WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT is a thing, and Chanyeol is the best unintentional cheater ever -- until Byun Baekhyun drops by with his pretty hands and perfect teeth and beats the pants off him. Not literally. CHANYEOL IS NOT WEIRD, OKAY.
"Hit! Hit! HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME!!"
Jongin has the decency to aim for Chanyeol's arm when he punches him -- but, then again, maybe his face is just out of reach. Tall bastard. "I'm seriously going to murder you if you sing that song one more time."
"But Jongin-ahhhhh," Chanyeol said sagely, patting his dongsaeng's arm as if he were about to impart the secrets of the universe unto him. "This is blackjack. That song was practicall written or this game." And then his eyes went wide, as if this was some great discovery. "MAYBE IT WAS. MAYBE BRITNEY WAS A HARDCORE BLACKJACK PLAYER ALL ALO-ksljhhhh"
Turns out a punch to the throat was an extremely effective way to shut Chanyeol up. "You may call me god," Jongin declared, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up onto the table so that he could lounge in sexy, sexy victory.
"Please, no violence," Joonmyun sighed, patting a coughing and hacking Chanyeol on the back. "C'mon, Chanyeol, that's enough. He hit you, he didn't give you a hairball."
Chanyeol gasped and flailed onto the table, tapping on the backs of his cards feebly. "Hitttttt..."
Kyungsoo rolled his giant eyes and dealt him another card.
This was only week four of WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, which was Chanyeol's brilliant idea -- and which he insisted was only to be referred to in capital letters. Because it was just that awesome. And, to his credit, it had been a lot of fun at first! A good time for everyone to meet up, since their class schedules were all over the place, and an absolutely great time to eat and drink and talk shit about whoever wasn't there.
Things had gone downhill on the second week, though, when Sehun had brought along some Hollywood flick about blackjack with the idea that watching it all together would get them more excited about the game. And it had!
...Until Chanyeol learned to count cards from it.
Now no one stood a chance in hell, and the fun was basically destroyed and thoroughly pissed upon. Turns out Chanyeol's crazy brain was actually good for something, to Jongin's utter surprise -- and that something was cheating at card games. But there was no calling off WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Nope. Chanyeol had made them sign a contract, the clever bastard. Rule 1: Don't talk about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Rule 2: Don't talk about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Rule 3: Winner doesn't have to pay for food, drinks, or merriment. The losers split the bill evenly. Rule 5: No backing out of WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT without a note from a parent, teacher, or doctor.
...Obviously, no one had read this carefully.
Or had realized that Chanyeol left off Rule 4.
...
The fifth week, Kyungsoo tried very, very hard to get out of it (or at least get out of having it at his and Joonmyun's dorm all the time, since no one ever thought to help clean up after and he couldn't go to bed knowing there are dirty dishes or things laying out where they shouldn't be). He called Chanyeol explaining in great detail how he had an exam the next day and so one of his classmates was coming over to help study, and Chanyeol listened very patiently and then said, "Okay! Do you have a note from your professor?"
Kyungsoo did not have a note.
WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT was on.
The get-together didn't technically start until 8pm, but Chanyeol arrived, as usual, at the fashionably early time of 7:43. Fashionably early was totally a thing. He'd invented it. Therefore, it was awesome, and no one should complain about it. Sometimes Joonmyun regretted helping Chanyeol gain so much self esteem in the late middle school/early high school years. This was one of those times.
Still, Joonmyun was too nice to actually slam the door in Chanyeol's face when he knocked, though goodness knows he fantasized about it. Almost daily. Which probably said some interesting things about him, which, as a psych major, he should probably look into. Sometime. Sometime not when Chanyeol was kicking his shoes off and racing into the dorm unsupervised.
"Wait, Chanyeol -- Kyungsoo -- studying --"
"KYUNGSOO-YAHHHHH." Target spotted in .14 seconds, all wide, saucer-like eyes as Chanyeol threw open the door to his room and descended like a hurricane onto his precious study materials. "I brought you a gift to help you do well on your exam tomorrow!" Kyungsoo winced as a brown paper bag was dropped directly onto his crotch, but he opened it up anyway.
"...You got me bananas?"
"Yep! Brain food!" Chanyeol exclaimed proudly, and then he jammed a finger into the bag with a look of dead seriousness. "I read about it on the internet, so it must be true. Eat them all, and you won't even need to study because your brain will be so full of banana!"
"I, uh, don't think that's how it works--"
"Hi, I'm Park Chanyeol, who are you?"
The Kid from Kyungsoo's Class had finally been spotted. Kyungsoo tried to convey 'RUN FOR THE FUCKING HILLS' with his eyes, but they just got even wider, and he wasn't sure he'd gotten the message across. Especially when his classmate was actually accepting Chanyeol's handshake of his own free will.
Oh well. He'd learn.
"Byun Baekhyun. I'm in Kyungsoo's biology lecture." Baekhyun smiled and showed off an awful lot of perfect teeth -- almost as many as Chanyeol himself. Chanyeol was impressed. "I've actually heard a lot about you. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, right? In all capital letters?"
"Yeah, that's right! You don't need to specify the capital letters when you're talking, though. I can hear whether you're using them or not." He was being serious, but Baekhyun laughed, and for some reason he didn't mind that at all. In fact, he ended up laughing, too.
It took a good four minutes 34 seconds before Chanyeol realized that obviously Kyungsoo had violated Rules 1 and 2 of the WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT contract, but by then it was too late. He'd broken them, too.
...
About an hour or so later, Baekhyun cinched himself a permanent place at WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT.
He beat Park Chanyeol.
...
"I. JUST. DON'T. UNDERSTAND. HOW. THIS. IS. POSSIBLE."
"Dude, calm the fuck down. You don't have enough brain cells to be wasting them." Jongin rolled his eyes and kicked Chanyeol under the table, which Chanyeol was currently beating his head against.
"It must be his hands," Chanyeol said suddenly, sitting bolt upright and slamming his hands down on the tabletop. Sehun sighed as this sent his kimbap to the ground, and his chopsticks made for Chanyeol's instead. Chanyeol didn't notice. He was too busy having a moment. "His hands. Yessss, that must be it."
"Why are you still talking?" Jongin complained, snapping his chopsticks rudely in front of Chanyeol's face to get his attention. It didn't work.
"I'm being serious -- his hands. They're too pretty. He uses them as a distraction and then he makes me lose count and then he beats me and then he SMILES about it." Chanyeol was breathing heavily by the end of this spoken revelation, and he laughed up at the sky. "It's so devious! I bet no one else even realized it, but I'm onto you, Byun Baekhyun! Bwahahahaha--"
"Yes?"
Everything froze for a second in sudden awkward.
Baekhyun, who had paused near their table to say hello and had been utterly surprised to hear his own name.
Chanyeol, mouth still hanging open in the aftermath of his evil genius laughter.
Jongin and Sehun, in the midst of stuffing their faces and pretending not to know the crazy kid.
...Chanyeol decided to break the silence.
"Guh."
Baekhyun blinked in obvious confusion, but then he smiled sort of uncertainly and somehow Chanyeol found the power to go on. "You're coming to WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT, right? I need a rematch."
"Hmm, I dunno..." Baekhyun pretended to think it over. Chanyeol knew he was pretending because he didn't stop smiling. So maybe he wasn't that devious. Or something. Logic. "Are you going to make me sign a contract?"
"WHY DOES NO ONE OBEY RULES 1 AND 2??!?!??!" Chanyeol shouted to the heavens, exasperated.
"You don't, either," Sehun said, helping himself to some more of Chanyeol's lunch. "You just invited him to join. Called it by name and everything."
"...Shut up." Chanyeol wanted to kick him, but Sehun was the baby maknae of their little friend group and was therefore untouchable. It was the law. So he just turned his nose up at him and the snickering Jongin and continued on with the Mature and Adult Conversation he and Baekhyun had been having, which babies like Sehun and Jongin obviously couldn't understand. All the legal speak about contracts and stuff. No wonder the kids couldn't follow what was going on. Poor things. He almost felt bad for them for like half a second, but then he realized that he was going off on a tangent.
"I don't have a contract with me right now," he said very seriously, folding his hands on the table like he'd seen lawyers do on cop shows or something, "but I'll type one up for you and have it delivered for you to sign and return back to me at the soonest possible convenience."
"Excellent. Just have it delivered to my office, and I'll take care of it right away." Chanyeol wasn't really sure why they were shaking hands or even what they were talking about anymore for sure, but it seemed official and he realized now that Baekhyun's hands were really soft but strong as well as really nice to look at, and uh yeah he wasn't weird or anything. Really.
The second Baekhyun was almost probably maybe not out of earshot, Jongin clapped Chanyeol on the back and said, "Congratulations. You've finally found someone who speaks your native tongue."
"Korean?" Chanyeol asked blankly, still halfway thinking about the way Baekhyun's hand had been perfectly cool and not at all sweaty or anything even remotely less than wonderful.
"No. Idiot."
Sehun ducked out of the way as Chanyeol lobbed a mostly full water bottle at Jongin's head and swore to himself never to sit with them ever again.
...
Chanyeol wasted absolutely no time and had the contract ready as soon as he was out of class that afternoon. Except that he temporarily forgot until he was already cradling the warm-from-the-printer contract in his arms that he didn't actually have any way to get a hold of Baekhyun.
Oops. Probably should've thought of that one earlier.
"Kyungsoo-yah!" he yelled into his phone, even though he knew that Kyungsoo turned his phone off in class and might not listen to the message until way later when he saw the message was from Chanyeol. Damn it. Should've remembered to block his number. "Call me back when you get the chance! It's about WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. It's an EMERGENCY. ...'Kay bye."
He'd made that sound appropriately urgent, right? There was no way Kyungsoo wouldn't call him back immediately after he heard that message.
...
It was 7:47, and still no call back from Kyungsoo.
Chanyeol pouted and kicked at a rock he'd been playing with off and on for the past couple of hours. He hadn't managed to intercept Kyungsoo coming out of his lecture, but he'd been sure he'd find him at the library afterward. He'd tried the dorm, but no one had been home and he'd gotten tired of looking through their stuff fairly quickly, since he'd done it one or two times before. It wasn't his fault he was a genius at picking locks with paper clips. It was a gift.
"Maybe I should call again... 18 calls isn't too many in one day, right?" Chanyeol said to himself, kicking at the rock again. He missed.
"Chanyeol?"
"Guh?" What the-- How in the hell was Baekhyun so good at sneaking up on him? And why did he keep suddenly forgetting how to make words? He tried not to be distracted by the way one of those impossibly pretty hands waved at him, presumably to get his attention as Baekhyun grinned and walked right up to him. "I mean, hi! What's up?"
"Kyungsoo told me I might find you here." And yeah, that smile. It was kind of blinding.
Chanyeol found himself grinning and wondered belatedly if his face was doing that twitching thing that it usually only did when he was happy but that Jongin said was fucking weird. He hoped not. "Oh right, Kyungsoo, that bastard -- I've been calling him and leaving him messages. I even said it was an EMERGENCY and waited outside his classroom, but he must've climbed out the window again or something. His big eyes seem like they'd weigh him down, but he'd surprisingly nimble..." Chanyeol was rambling. SHUT UP, MOUTH. But Baekhyun was laughing, so he guessed it was okay. "I was going to ask him how to get in contact with you, but he never answered me."
"Well, I'm here now." Baekhyun smiled, and Chanyeol almost punched himself in the face. He made a mental note to add more bananas to his diet. "Do you have the contract for me?"
"Right, contract! Yeah, I've got it right..." Chanyeol suddenly realized that his backpack was MIA. And the contract was inside it. He reacted in the only logical way, and that was near panic. "Ah, shit -- I must've left it somewhere!" But where? It could be in the bush outside the science building where he'd laid in wait for Kyungsoo to get out of class or in the library or in the dining hall or the bathroom or -- double shit. He was pretty sure he'd left it at Joonmyun and Kyungsoo's dorm. Which meant he was going to have to go get it and listen to yet another lecture about Boundaries and Personal Space and other boring things like that.
"Give me your phone." Baekhyun held out his hand expectantly, and Chanyeol fished his precious cell out of his pocket with a pout.
"If you're going to hold it hostage, I demand that you treat it with the utmost respect. It hates water but loves long walks on the beach. Oh, and it's lactose intolerant, so make sure you don't--"
"I'm not holding it hostage, stupid." Baekhyun finished punching a couple of buttons and then handed the phone right back.
"What did you do?" Chanyeol frowned, tone dripping with suspicion as he inspected the screen and couldn't immediately find anything amiss.
"I put in my phone number. Text me when you find the contract, and we'll figure out a time to meet up, okay?"
Chanyeol didn't know why that sent a bolt of electricity down his spine -- or why he did a victory fist pump a moment later. Luckily, Baekhyun had already waved and started walking away without giving Chanyeol a chance to reply. Not that he'd say no, oh hell no. HE HAD BAEKHYUN'S NUMBER. AND BAEKHYUN HAD HANDED IT OVER OF HIS OWN FREE WILL, WITHOUT ANY KIND OF EXTORTION OR ANYTHING.
And, what the hell -- Chanyeol fist pumped again. Now all he had to do was swing by Kyungsoo and Joonmyun's dorm building and retrieve his forgotten backpack, then text Baekhyun about meeting up with him, then get him to sign the contract, and then (and here was the most important step) beat the crap out of him at the next WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT.
Except not literally, because that would be disgusting.
...
It was pretty late by the time Chanyeol got back to his own dorm room after being lectured by Joonmyun about The Importance of Personal Boundaries in Friendships, but he didn't even care because he'd been texting Baekhyun the whole way home. Which had caused a couple of minor accidents involving a mostly full trashcan and a stray cat, basically entailing full-on collisions...but whatever. It was all okay, because a conversation that had started with:
contract acquired
Awesome! :D
had evolved into plans to meet in the quad when they both had a break between their classes around noon. And then had gone on to chitchatting about their majors (Baekhyun was pre-med, Chanyeol was just getting his general electives out of the way till he figured out something he liked, though this week he was leaning towards something in math) to their roommates (Chanyeol insisted that Sehun was quite possibly from outer space [IT'S THE STARE. THE STAAAARE.]) to discussing their theories on why Kyungsoo's eyes were so impossibly large.
Then Sehun threw a pillow and hit Chanyeol right in the face.
"Go laugh at your phone somewhere else. I'm trying to sleep," he griped, and Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at him.
"Maybe I will," he huffed, and he proceeded to relocate to the couch and text Baekhyun till the oh shit moment at sunrise.
...
Chanyeol made it to his first class that morning out of sheer willpower -- and quite possibly also because Jongin had threatened to start drawing on his face if he didn't go to class with him. "YOU CAN'T, I HAVE AN IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING LATER!!!!" he'd shrieked, and Jongin had hit him with his own pillow.
"Then stop screaming and get some clothes on so we can go. Geez."
Chanyeol had muttered about Jongin and his teenage girl eye-rolling habit the whole time as he'd brushed his teeth and gotten changed (which probably took about 2.5 minutes total), and they'd been on their way to their painfully boring history lecture. It was a core class, but it was also about as intellectually stimulating as a heap of fresh cow dung.
Jongin made a habit of flirting with any female dumb enough to sit near him, and Chanyeol alternated between pretending to be actively engaged in the class (the key was to frown slightly and nod thoughtfully every so often), playing games on his calculator, and doodling.
Today, though, he was making the utmost use of his class time.
MISSION CODE RED EAGLE BLUE 66
AKA DEFEAT BYUN BAEKHYUN AT BLACKJACK
STEP 1: INVITE THE TARGET TO WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT
STEP 2: BEAT HIM*
*BUT DON'T MAKE HIM CRY BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE MEAN AND SAD
"What are you doing?"
"MY BATTLE PLANS!!!!" Chanyeol yelped as Jongin snatched his notebook away from him and started reading it with what looked suspiciously like Judgement Eyes. But that couldn't be right. Those plans were flawless. And also Top Secret, so yeah. Now he was going to have to kill Jongin.
...sometime when the back half of the lecture hall WASN'T staring at him because of his little outburst. Too many witnesses.
"Shut up before we get thrown out of class for the fourteenth time," Jongin complained, dropping the notebook back on Chanyeol's desk and leaning back in his chair in evident boredom.
"This would only be the thirteenth," Chanyeol sniffed, dusting off his notes and closing the cover before any other curious eyes could possibly read them. Who knew how many spies Baekhyun could have planted in this classroom? He glared at the girl next to him, who suddenly seemed very suspicious despite the fact that she was sleeping pretty obviously on her textbook. It could be a ruse. She could be a professional.
"Whatever." Jongin kicked him because he was Jongin and he could. "Aren't you taking this whole loss thing a little too seriously? It's about time someone beat you, anyway. Just take it like a man and move on."
"I would if he wasn't a cheater."
"Chanyeol. YOU're a cheater. You're a fucking card counter."
"BUT HE CHEATS TOO. HE USES A SOPHISTICATED DISTRACTION TECHNIQUE WHERE HE BLINDS YOU WITH HIS SMILE AND THEN SHOWS OFF HIS PERFECT HANDS AND THEN EXHALES PIXIE DUST AND THEN YOU FORGET EVERYTHING INCLUDING YOUR OWN NAME AND HOW TO PERFORM LIFE-SUSTAINING BODILY FUNCTIONS."
...okay, now EVERYONE was staring. "You really need to learn how to use your inside voice," Jongin hissed from where he was pretending to be anywhere but there next to the crazy kid.
"Park Chanyeol and Kim Jongin," the professor scolded, jabbing a finger toward the door. "Out. Now."
They scrambled for their belongings before they started getting things thrown at them (this professor was a surprisingly good shot, given the fact that she had probably lived through most of the history she was teaching them) and hustled out of there, Jongin whispering death threats all the while. "And all because of stupid Byun Baekhyun," he whined.
"Baekhyun's not stupid," Chanyeol protested immediately, shoving Jongin's shoulder in punishment. The kid needed to be reminded of his place every now and then. Shorty.
Jongin looked at him a little funny, then shoved him right back. "Hey, man, watch it. If you're not careful, people are going to start thinking you like him~"
"Like who?? WHAT??? No. Nonono. Baekhyun is my archenemy! My rival! My nemesis! My...uh...some other synonym for bad guy! I don't like him. You're weird, shut up."
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks~"
"YOU'RE WEIRD, SHUT UP."
Stupid fucking Jongin and his stupid fucking literature major. Quoting things Chanyeol had never heard of and sounding all smart. And thinking weird things. What the hell. He didn't like Byun Baekhyun... He was really nice to text and had a really good laugh and a great smile and pretty, pretty hands, but Chanyeol didn't like him like him.
But he was really nice and fun and pretty to look at and seemed like he'd be good company on a rainy day, or better yet a sunny one where they could go for a walk or get ice cream or-
"SHUT UP SHUT UP."
"I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING."
"DON'T CARE, SHUT UP."
Jongin punched him in the throat. It was super effective.
...
By half an hour later, Chanyeol had put his selective memory to good use and forgotten about his conversation with that stick in the mud Jongin. Which was good, because he was supposed to meet Baekhyun around now, and thoughts like that would just make him confused and then he'd start shouting and he was pretty sure he'd already reached his quota for Stares from Strangers Questioning His Mental Health today.
There were benches in the quad, and Chanyeol had picked one close to Baekhyun's lecture hall, since he'd arrived first. It wasn't weird that he knew where Baekhyun's class was held, anyway, since this was the one he had with Kyungsoo. Yeah. Totally not weird.
Anyway, he was barely there seventeen minutes (FASHIONABLY EARLY WAS TOTALLY A THING, DAMN IT) before Baekhyun plunked down beside him with a grin. "What's up?"
Chanyeol blinked, and he could feel his face doing its usual happy twitch. That eye-smile Baekhyun had going on was doing something weird and tickly to his stomach.
Or maybe that was hunger, since he'd slept through his usual breakfast time and hadn't eaten lunch yet.
"I remembered the contract this time!" He'd checked his backpack at least seven or eight times to make sure he had it with him, and now he handed it over with a flourish. "For you, Baekhyun-ssi."
"Hmmmm..." Baekhyun furrowed his brow and made a great show of looking over all of the rules very carefully. "Did you realize you left off number four?"
"What?? No I didn't. You're not looking close enough."
"No, I'm serious! Look!" Baekhyun pointed to the page, and Chanyeol followed the perfect line of his pretty finger to Rule 3...and then directly to Rule 5. No Rule 4 anywhere in sight.
Chanyeol stared at it for a long moment, and then he crossed his arms and turned up his nose. "Rule 4 is a secret."
"What??" And now Baekhyun was laughing and poking him with his pen right in the ribs, where it tickled the most. "What is it? I probably shouldn't sign this unless I know what I'm in for, right?"
"It's top secret. You don't have the security clearance."
Chanyeol's phone went off in his pocket at the most opportune of moments, and he cut off Baekhyun's newest wave of laughing protests with a hand. "Sorry, I have to take this. It could be important."
...except that it wasn't a phone call, it was just a text from Jongin. Which he only realized after he'd already lifted the phone to his ear and no one had started talking to him.
Oops.
He smiled sheepishly and pressed the button to read it anyway, since he already had it out.
he totally wants to kiss you
Chanyeol slammed his phone shut, eyes as wide as Kyungsoo's (well, almost) in sheer terror. He cast a semi-paranoid glance around, wondering where Jongin could be hiding to spy on them, a steady flush creeping up his neck.
"Chanyeol...? Are you okay?" Baekhyun asked, leaning into his line of vision all cute and worried. Er, wait -- not cute, but--
His phone went off again.
"Uhhhhh yeah! Totally fine, uh, one sec, sorry about this--"
HOLY SHIT YOU WANT TO KISS HIM TOO
Chanyeol let out a very unmanly shriek of pure, unadulterated panic and tried to shove his phone into his pocket so forcefully he popped the seam.
"What happened? What's wrong?"
"Uh, nothing! That was just my-" shit why did he suck at lying "-my mom! Texting because...my dog died! Yeah! Ran right out into the street and got hit by a motorcycle! Blood and guts everywhere! Died on the spot!"
Baekhyun's eyes were wide, but his hand on Chanyeol's shoulder was warm and comforting and Chanyeol wanted to punch himself in the uvula to keep himself from talking more about the guts or staring at Baekhyun's mouth because yeah, that was definitely what he was doing right then instead of thinking about his words. "I'm so sorry, Chanyeol...You should go call her."
Chanyeol felt like his brain was short-circuiting. "But -- the contract -- must --"
Baekhyun had both of his pretty little hands on his shoulders now and was looking him straight in the eyes. "I know. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Tomorrow. I'll be there, and I'll sign this and bring it. But this is more important right now, so go call your mom, okay?"
"Uhhh...yeah. Okay. I'll do that."
"Good." And then Baekhyun was leaving, hesitating just long enough to say, "Text me if you need someone to talk to, okay?" and then practically bolting out of there.
Chanyeol wanted to bang his head on the nearest hard surface until all the stupidity left him.
Instead, he made a pledge to himself to kill Kim Jongin.
...
A search of the whole campus for a certain ex best friend came up empty, and Chanyeol finally gave up and trudged back to the dorms. Stupid Jongin and his stupid texting stupid things... What the hell was up with that, anyway? How would he even know who Baekhyun wanted to kiss? -- Not that it mattered to Chanyeol. Nope. Not one bit. Because Chanyeol liked to kiss pretty girls. Uh-huh. Really pretty ones, who looked like, uh, some famous kdrama star! Yeah! Totally!
Though Baekhyun was really pretty, almost like a girl. Except for the whole being male part. But yeah. Still pretty.
CHANYEOL WASN'T WEIRD OKAY.
"Hey, buddy! What's up?" Jongin greeted him with a cheeky grin from where he was sprawled out across his bed.
"Nothing mu-- YOU." And Chanyeol all but threw himself at Jongin, brandishing his pillow as a weapon and wielding it fiercely. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?? I'M DISOWNING YOU AS MY BEST FRIEND. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE YOU SUCK. YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK, YOU SUCK." He was landing a lot of hits with the pillow, but Jongin was laughing so hard he seemed to be impervious to pain, so...this plan was not going so well. Chanyeol needed a better weapon. Like maybe his metal alarm clock.
"Put the clock down," Sehun said, without even looking up from whatever he was working on at his desk. He finished writing a line before glancing over to make sure Chanyeol had listened (which he had) and then sighed, exasperated. "What happened, anyway? All Jongin would tell me is that you and Baekhyun were on a date, and then he just kept laughing maniacally."
"There was nothing maniacal about that laughter," Jongin protested immediately. "It was a wicked chuckle."
"No. It was maniacal."
"I WASN'T ON A DATE WITH BAEKHYUN," Chanyeol interjected, because that was obviously the most important matter at hand. "WE WERE JUST TALKING. ABOUT WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT."
"That's not what it looked like in the picture..."
"Picture...? What picture??!"
Jongin grinned evilly and waved his cellphone in Chanyeol's face. "This one."
His background was a totally sketchy picture that looked like it'd been taken through a second or third floor window, but it was still clear enough to be able to make out Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the bench at about the point where Baekhyun had been poking Chanyeol and it'd been really ticklish, and it was actually really cu-- compromising. Yeah. That was what it was.
"Why the hell were you spying on me?!"
"Bored in my world religions class," Jongin said with a shrug.
"So? How was your date?" Sehun needed the scoop before he could go back to his work. He hadn't spent the better part of two hours listening to Jongin start to tell the story and then cut himself off laughing for nothing, damn it. It had better be fucking hilarious. Oh Sehun did not procrastinate.
"NOT A DATE."
"Fine Your 'business meeting', or whatever you want to call it."
"My business meeting was going very well, thanks for asking -- until SOMEONE decided to TEXT me WEIRD THINGS." Chanyeol tried to muster up a glare as good as that transfer student Wu Fan's (he failed), which he aimed right at Jongin.
"I didn't text anything weird," Jongin insisted.
"What did you say?"
"Just that Baekhyun wants to kiss him."
"SEE?? WEIRD. TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY WEIRD."
Sehun shrugged. "I don't think it's weird. I haven't been around you both that much, but it seems pretty obvious that he likes you."
Chanyeol meant to say "NO WAY IN HELL, YOU'RE BOTH WEIRD" but what came out of his mouth instead was, "Really?" His face felt kind of hot all of a sudden. It must've been the rage he felt at Jongin making him feverish. His stomach was doing that ticklish thing again, too...but he was probably just hungry again. He really needed to eat more. He was a growing boy. His goal was to reach 7 feet.
...his mind was running off somewhere on its own again, and he almost missed Sehun's "Yes, really. Are you stupid?"
Almost, but not quite.
And he didn't quite know what to say to that. Baekhyun liked him? Really, actually liked him? That definitely seemed like a good thing. And, from the look of that blurry picture on Jongin's phone, their meeting/date/whatever-it-was had gone pretty well, so...?
"So what ended up happening, anyway?" Jongin asked from where he was now lounging (seductively, he might add) on Chanyeol's bed. He was feeling safe now that Chanyeol had apparently calmed himself and realized that Jongin was actually the best friend and wingman he could ever not ask for. He deserved an award or something. One for that, and one for his sex eyes, which he was working on getting a copyright for.
"You were spying, weren't you? You saw what happened." Chanyeol was grumbling, curling up into a ball at the foot of his own bed as he suddenly remembered just why his life wasn't great at the moment. Stupid fucking Jongin.
"I was, but then I got called on, so I missed the end. You were both gone by the time I looked again." Now he leaned forward, eyes bright and eyebrows raising suggestively. "You got back here pretty late, too. Looks like things went pretty well for you, huh?"
"Whaaaaat??"
"So what happened? Did you get some?"
"Get some...what?? NO. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. I JUST MET HIM." A very scandalized Chanyeol beat Jongin with his fists this time. Pulled his hair, too, which Jongin hated and Chanyeol awarded himself extra points for.
"Okay, okay, settle down," Sehun sighed. Sometimes he felt like the oldest of their little friend group instead of like the maknae. Mostly just when these two were around. "What really did happen then, hyung? Tell the story fast, because I actually do have studying to do tonight."
"Well, uh..." Chanyeol was quickly retreating back into the fetal position. "I...um...sort of freaked out because of Jongin's texts, and uh..."
"Oh shit, did he read them??" Jongin was laughing already.
Chanyeol kicked him. "No. I'm not stupid. Geez. Have a little faith."
"Then what's the big deal?" Jongin sighed. Damn. He'd thought he'd done more damage than that. He'd have to try harder next time.
"Uhh...well...you see..." Chanyeol started getting fidgety. This was one of those Awkward Stories that he really didn't want to tell, especially to Jongin, who he was pretty sure was the spawn of Satan. It would explain the tan.
"Spit it out, Chanyeol, or I'm kicking you out of the dorm tonight. Seriously. I need to study." Sehun meant it, too. He was stronger than he looked. And if force didn't work, the combination of force + aegyo always did. Always. No one ever saw it coming.
"WELL I WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY THOSE WEIRD TEXTS, okay, so I sort of freaked out and then Baekhyun thought something was wrong and I didn't know how to explain what had happened without telling him what SOMEONE had the audacity to send me while I was busy doing Important Business, so I had to come up with something to tell him and I sort of kind of ended up telling him it was my mom calling because my dog had just gotten hit by a motorcycle and died a very graphic and bloody death."
"Oh god." Sehun facepalmed. Yes, people did do that in real life. Especially if they were friends with Park Chanyeol. "You didn't."
"Yeah..." Chanyeol buried his face in his hands. "I even mentioned the guts."
Jongin was crowing with laughter. He rolled with it (like a buffalo, Chanyeol thought) and fell right off the bed, still cackling like the evil maniac he secretly was. Chanyeol threw his pillow at him. It was not very effective.
"I hate you."
"You're an idiot."
"I KNOW OKAY GET OUT OF MY ROOM."
...
The next day was it. WEEKLY BLACKJACK NIGHT. Chanyeol was pretty sure he had never not looked forward to something as much as he was not looking forward to this. He actually even tried to get out of it to save himself the embarrassment of seeing Baekhyun again (and either having to go on with his stupid lie or be even MORE awkward and tell the truth. Though a part of him was hoping that Baekhyun had gotten Selective Amnesia or something and forgotten all about it. Sehun had told him that Selective Amnesia didn't exist, at least not the way he was thinking, and Chanyeol wept internally.).
He didn't have a note, though. Damn it. Evil Jongin, using his own contract against him.
So he was fashionably early, as usual, and had taken up residence on the couch so he could mope as he waited for everyone else. Of course Kyungsoo and Joonmyun had heard all about the Baekhyun Situation... They were slightly better about it than Sehun, though, who now shook his head in shame whenever he saw Chanyeol's face.
Stupid Sehun, who was also at fault. What was he talking about, saying Baekhyun liked him? That was preposterous. Baekhyun was way too smart and way too pretty and way too much fun to be interested in an awkward piece of...well, awkward, which was Chanyeol. Hell, Chanyeol didn't even know if he was SINGLE, much less into guys. Not that Chanyeol was into guys! He just liked Baekhyun, that was all.
Baekhyun, who wouldn't leave his thoughts alone lately. He was making it very difficult to plot the perfect double homicide.
"Hey."
Chanyeol jumped, visibly. "Baekhyun! Oh, uh -- hey! Glad you made it!" Oh god, he hoped Baekhyun wasn't a mind reader. Not that he'd been thinking anything weird. Nope. That didn't sound like him at all.
Baekhyun hesitated, but took the seat next to Chanyeol anyway. Those pretty fingers twitched uncertainly, and then that thin hand was resting ever so lightly on his shoulder. Chanyeol felt his face get hot.
...Okay, so Chanyeol may have had a bit of a crush on Baekhyun. He'd man up and admit it...to himself. In his own thoughts. And nowhere else.
Oh shit, Baekhyun was talking. Chanyeol had missed the beginning of it. Damn it, damn it, what was he saying now? "--dog. I almost texted you, but I didn't know if...how are you holding up?"
"Huh...?" Fuck, that was right! Here he was having a crisis over his sexuality when he was supposed to be having a crisis over his dead dog! His...nonexistent dead dog. And Baekhyun seemed legitimately worried (which Sehun had told him was a Good Sign, whatever that meant), which just made Chanyeol feel worse for lying. Was there an easy way to say 'sorry, I actually made up that horrible and graphic lie because my stupid friend was teasing me and I think I might like you'? Because if there was, Chanyeol needed to know. Right now.
But he didn't, and so he improvised. "Oh right, yeah -- turns out that was a wrong number. I don't even have a dog."
...that was quite possibly the worst lie in the history of the universe. Chanyeol almost sobbed at his own fail. He tried to make it sound like a laugh instead.
"Oh...well, that's...good?" Baekhyun looked thoroughly confused, and it was so cute that Chanyeol forgot his own idiocy completely. "Then you're okay?"
Chanyeol meant to say 'yes' but actually said, "What, were you worried about me?" Shit. He'd been spending too much time with Jongin, if that bastard's cockiness was starting to rub off on him. "I mean--"
"Yeah, I kind of was," Baekhyun admitted, looking down almost a little shyly. Then he peeked back up with a smile, though, and added, "Really glad you're okay. You're the happy virus, right? It'd be weird if you were down."
Chanyeol's heart did some sort of weird flippy thing, and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. Still, he grinned at Baekhyun, and when Baekhyun grinned back he figured there were worse ways to go.
...
Chanyeol lost every single game of blackjack that night because he kept thinking about Baekhyun's hand on his shoulder and that grin full of perfect teeth.
Also, Jongin kept giving him Suggestive Eyebrows and making lewd hand gestures whenever Baekhyun wasn't looking, and physically beating him was distracting Chanyeol from counting.
...
It wasn't weird that Chanyeol was walking Baekhyun back to his dorm. It wasn't like he just wanted to know where he lived or anything. More that he just wanted to make sure Baekhyun got there safely, since he was so pretty someone might mistake him for a girl and attack him. Better safe than sorry!
Finding out where he lived would be an added perk, though.
Silence had descended upon them, and even though it wasn't awkward it was making Chanyeol think about the last time he'd been alone with Baekhyun and Jongin's stupid texts and he found himself wondering if Sehun and Jongin were right and Baekhyun did like him, and that made him feel all tickly in his stomach and his hands feel sweaty so he blurted, "Do you cheat at cards?" to break the silence.
But then he realized that accusing the person you maybe possibly probably really liked of being a Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater was probably not the smoothest move.
Oops.
Chanyeol panicked.
"Not that I care if you do or anything! I cheat too, at least according to everyone else. It's Sehun's fault, though, for bringing that movie that one time. How was I supposed to know I'd learn to count cards just from paying attention? I don't get how they didn't learn it. They're just dumb or something. I just can't figure out how to stop now that I've started, but I do really like winning and you're the only one who can beat me, and I think it's because your hands are distracting, but then so is your face, so I--"
"Chanyeol, shut up." But Baekhyun was laughing. Chanyeol's whole face felt like it was twitching in the effort to stop the words from pouring out, but then Baekhyun pulled him down by his ears and kissed him full on the lips.
Chanyeol was pretty sure he was exploding.
Seriously, though -- his insides were all fluttery and light and warm and Baekhyun's lips were every bit as nice as they'd looked, and he had absolutely no idea what his face was doing anymore.
When he remembered how to breathe, the first thing that came out of his mouth was a very articulate "guh".
"I like you," Baekhyun said, his smile bright and sure. "And I do actually cheat at cards."
"I KNEW ITTTTT," Chanyeol crowed. He even did a victory dance. "I was right, I was right~ I KNEW you couldn't possibly beat me otherwise! I'm invincible, bwahahaha~"
...then he realized that Baekhyun was laughing at him.
And that he'd kind of missed the point.
"I mean...uh..."
"Want to have lunch in the quad together tomorrow?"
Damn, confidence was sexy. Chanyeol mourned his loss of it for about .25 seconds, and then he nodded vigorously. "Yeah, definitely! Same time and place as last week, I'll meet you there?"
Baekhyun nodded, and Chanyeol finally did what he'd been wanting to do since their first meeting and took Baekhyun's hand. "This is mine now," he said very seriously.
"You can hold it for now, but I need it back."
"Nope, I'm holding it hostage."
"What?" There it was -- that cute laugh, as Baekhyun tried (and failed) to pull his hand loose from Chanyeol's. Chanyeol secretly didn't think he was trying very hard, though. "I didn't do anything! Set it free!"
"NEVER. BWAHAHAHA." Chanyeol used their clasped hands to pull Baekhyun a little closer. "Unless~" He leaned in closer, until he was almost speaking into Baekhyun's ear. "...you tell me how you cheated to beat me."
Baekhyun laughed, but then his face suddenly got very serious. "If I told you that...I'd have to kill you."
"Oh, shut up." And it was Chanyeol's turn to lean down and kiss Baekhyun's mouth.
...he only missed by a little.