the problem with fiction - interlude
interlude | kris-centric | PG-13
o n e / t w o / t h r e e / f o u r
“kris, come here,” they’re on a ten minutes break, and kris hurries to go to wookie-hyung’s side. the older man is maneuvering them out of the practice room to a small meeting room just next door.
there’s a baby faced young man waiting, reading a manhwa. kris remembers him as wookie-hyung’s friend from MTV.
“lu han-ah,” wookie-hyung announces their arrival. lu han smiles widely and puts the manhwa back to his postman bag. kris bows ninety degrees before he takes a seat next to wookie-hyung.
“hi, kris. long time no see.” lu han is still smiling. kris nods.
“let’s get into the business,” wookie-hyung claps excitedly before he gives kris a piece of pink paper.
kris clears his throat when he finishes reading. he makes a brief eye contact with wookie-hyung who blinks once as a signal to follow the written instruction.
“so,” kris begins, but he decides to speed read the instruction once again.
when askng questions to lu han, REMEMBERr to nevr SHOWING any hints that you and chanyeolla arent sleeping in a same bed!!!
“so,” he repeats, with a slight smile now, addressing it to lu han. “we just have to show viewers how we spend our daily life?”
lu han nods, “kinda like ‘we got married’ thingy, yeah. you in?”
kris makes another eye contact with wookie-hyung, who is actually beaming like he’s really into the idea so much if kris declines he will need to burn all of his brand new, unread, motivational and self-improvement books.
“i get it, hyungs,” he says to lu han. “whose idea is this, by the way?”
“remember i made a poll on our official website?” wookie-hyung answers as he pats kris’ back. “chanyeol won third place on the popularity contest. and he’s not even exo’s member!” lu han makes an acknowledging face, mouthing a ‘he’s so pretty’ to no one in particular.
kris frowns.
“it’s part of your comeback promotion strategies, son,” wookie-hyung finally explains with an easier language.
“you know, we also made a poll which idols to appear on our next ‘a day with...’ episode, and one of my crews―a noona―randomly added you and chanyeol to the list. guess what? you guys won.” lu han holds up his thumbs. wookie-hyung is already singing a victorious hymn.
kris snorts. it's so unbelievable.
“eyyy,” lu han wiggles his finger, “don’t underestimate your lovebirds power! the fans call you two ‘krisyeol’ you know? tsk tsk. you krisyeol couple have a solid fanbase of followers already. it’s a good start, kris.”
“well,” a genuine smile decorates kris’ face, and for once he doesn’t even bother to hide it.
“indeed! so when will my krisyeol babies start recording, lu han-ah?” wookie-hyung fishes out his blackberry, ready to negotiate with exo’s tight practicing schedule.
“chanyeol has school, right? we’ve planned to air the episode a week before your comeback, and then the next following week. two episodes special. how about we shoot this saturday?” lu han is also checking his own blackberry. “sunday? but i don’t want chanyeol to be tired from filming on monday.”
kris says, “i think this saturday is okay, hyungs.”
“saturday, it is.” lu han smiles. “i will call you, wook, for further briefing and everything else. gotta go.” he slings his postman bag to his shoulders and makes a gun sign at kris.
wookie-hyung whispers quickly to kris as he escorts his friend out,
“stay here.”
kris stays. he closes his eyes and inhales deeply. his muscles ache badly today, maybe he didn’t do a proper stretching with yixing earlier. damn it. he cracks his knuckles, and then he rotates his neck; a bad but relieving habit that never fails to make chanyeol grimacing whenever he’s near kris. the younger boy says that the sound of his cracking bones is scary.
“what are you smiling at?” wookie-hyung asks with a teasing tone as he locks the door. kris shrugs, because that’s so teenager of him imagining chanyeol’s cute scrunched nose and that baritone whinin―
“yah,” wookie-hyung pinches his arm. kris makes a face and rubs at the spot. “pay attention!”
“sorry.” kris says in english, just out of habit whenever older people are scolding him.
“that’s my kris,” wookie-hyung fetches another piece of pink paper, and he writes furiously for a couple of minutes, leaving kris closing his eyes again to steal resting time.
then, wookie-hyung finally speaks with a low voice, “first of all, we need to carefully tells chan chan about the program. it’s going to be a new world for him, cameras following his every moves, cameras closing up on his face, how to interact with the cameras, how to act as natural as he can...”
kris hums. surely the camera hyungs and noonas will have an easy time to fall in chanyeol’s charm, but what about chanyeol?
“secondly, we need to move chanyeol’s essential things to your bedroom, kris. we have to arrange it like krisyeol are sleeping in a same bed. make sure the bedroom looks as domestic as any other engaged couples’ bedrooms are. we have to approach chanyeol slowly at this point too. my baby might always look like sunshine and rainbow but hyung can’t tell what’s really going on with him inside. sometimes i’m worried we’re putting on too much pressure on him, you know?” wookie-hyung suddenly sighs. he takes off his glasses and massages the bridge of his nose.
“did he say anything to you, at all?”
kris can’t bring himself to answer, because he doesn’t want wookie-hyung to think of him as being incapable to take care of chanyeol.
and no, chanyeol never says anything. chanyeol waits for him to come home everyday, sometimes still high on whatever sugary foods he eats and sometimes he falls asleep on the living room with scattered note books and ridiculous doodles all over them. chanyeol always knocks on his bedroom door to inform him that he’s leaving for school every morning, and he sends encouraging texts with silly emoticons on his lunchtime. he will answer kris’ impromptu calls with his cheerful voice, greeting the rest of exo members with his vitamin-like presence.
but.
is he happy with everything?
“alright,” wookie-hyung puts back his glasses and he’s looking guilty for decreasing kris’ mood. he offers kris a job to pick up chanyeol from school; maybe his ssaeng fans will get to capture krisyeol’s interaction, since on exo’s official website there have been complaints about the lack of krisyeol pictures on the internet. remember that skinship is always the most efficient way for excellent publication. kris doesn’t have the urge to mock his lovely manager’s way of thinking, but whatever, right? he gets to see chanyeol. it’s more than enough.
▲▼
except that the only available car in the SM building is a white audi. kris actually can’t drive a sedan, thanks to his long mile legs. but hey, he’s just going to chanyeol’s school―maybe takes him to eat somewhere nice, drives him home and then goes back to practicing. it will take less than two hours inside the car.
the school's parking lot is deserted when he arrives, only a dozen of student waiting for their cars picking them up. chanyeol isn’t one of them though. wookie-hyung had tried to call chanyeol’s phone earlier, but chanyeol didn’t answer; either it’s turned off or running out of battery.
kris puts his phone on speakerphone as he makes another call, but still chanyeol doesn’t answer.
probably he was bored and played games too long so his phone’s dead now.
two cars are coming, and the students are splitting into groups; only two girls with bright red hair and black hair are in the parking lot. they're giggling to the fashion magazine they’re holding.
kris decides to wait some more, five more minutes top, before he will have to go out and make himself visible. what if chanyeol is confused that it’s not the usual kia picanto picking him up and decides to take a bus home instead?
he’s just checking the clock on the dashboard, 5: 43 PM―more than half an hour after the school ends, when from the corners of his eyes he sees chanyeol.
searching for the usual kia picanto on the parking lot,
playing with the straps of his backpack,
biting his bottom lip as he looks down―
kris follows the younger boy’s gaze and frowns, because what the fuck?
where are chanyeol’s shoes?
and why the two girls seem like they're talking to chanyeol but chanyeol doesn’t seem to respond?
wait, wait.
why are the two girls laughing at chanyeol now?
...
an ugly realization hits kris’ brain.
he doesn’t think twice when he calls out, “hey, chanyeol-ah!” his face twitches as he shuts the car’s door with a loud bang. he quickly changes his expression to a fake confusion when his eyes land on chanyeol’s only socked feet.
the two girls curse before they run for the school’s gate, blocking their faces with the fashion magazine and their own manicured hands.
chanyeol’s squirming is telling kris enough that he very much wants to join them; running away, because he’s backing away slowly as kris approaches him.
this is not happening.
kris glares to the direction of the school’s gate, he glares to the school’s building, and he hopes he’s stopped his glare when he makes eye contact with chanyeol.
but―huh. chanyeol is grinning, he’s fucking grinning and raising a hand to wave awkwardly while oozing the aura of someone who gets caught doing something wrong; bad, illegal, immoral, and all other shits while kris knows he’s not supposed to fucking look like that.
just―
why?
kris halts. he doesn’t understand. is this still the same park chanyeol who possesses an infectious laugh that kris has grown fond of for the past weeks living together? who is this boy, slumping his beautiful figure clad in proud yellow blazer of one of the most prestigious high school in seoul? how does he do it―has he been deceiving everyone with his blinding smile? aren’t they in this together?
where is me.
“h-hyung...”
their eyes meet, and of course chanyeol is crying. but surprise surprise, he’s also grinning at the same time. is he even fucking real.
“hyung i-i’m so s―”
kris is never a man with words. if he is, he wouldn’t jump into conclusion about chanyeol’s cuteness back then and went berserk with his own lust. he’s not really the comforting type either―that’s joonmyun’s job―he only vomits truth a little bit brutally, just like tao often reminds him with a pout. he’s exo leader because of that; entertainment industry in particular, is not for the weak of hearts. kris, it is safe to say, has mastered the art to not letting his heart takes over his logical brain.
hell, he even thinks ‘heart’ is a too girly word. he never uses that h word to describe his feeling.
then again, what is ‘feeling’ for kris wufan but just another too girly word?
but right now, something inside of him is hurting.
chanyeol is still crying.
“hey,” kris frowns, because his voice sounds so strange in his ears. “come here,” he reaches an arm, while the other is hidden on his jeans pocket, possibly trembling. but kris is not sure because it feels numb anyway.
chanyeol sobs as he walks closer to kris, wiping his face with the sleeve of his yellow blazer. he looks so beautiful up close, kris muses; chanyeol's huge eyes are glistening, his cheeks are flushing red, and his lips are the shade of white to pink.
kris frowns; he did not just have a sick as fuck vision that chanyeol looks the finest when he cries. memories of that night on gangwon is flooding his mind and kris immediately kneels down to untie his adidas because he can’t afford to feel inferior, okay, chanyeol needs him as a strong and dependable hyung right now.
chanyeol makes a move to kneel too but kris places a hand to the younger boy’s left thigh, signalling him to just stay upright.
kris gently takes chanyeol’s right ankle, dusting off the sock with his palm before he slips on his obviously a size larger adidas.
chanyeol gasps.
“h-hyung?”
kris kisses chanyeol’s left knee then, and chanyeol gasps again as kris treats the left foot the same. he makes sure he doesn’t tie the shoes too tightly, before he carelessly wipes his palms on his jeans.
he’s not a man with words, remember? he pinches chanyeol’s nose as they’re face to face instead of giving a sensible explanation.
chanyeol stares at him with the most transparent emotion and kris can’t help but to falter a little bit.
“let’s go,” he doesn’t want to falter even further though―but really, chanyeol keeps surprising him because of the warm hand that is now entwined with his own numb one. chanyeol butts his head to kris’ back as they walk to the car, and kris wants to swear that he’s going to protect the boy forever; but he’s only human. human breaks promises. so he tells himself he’s content enough with his useless being.
(he can only hope that chanyeol forgives him for being useless.)
end of i n t e r l u d e
o n e / t w o / t h r e e / f o u r
“kris, come here,” they’re on a ten minutes break, and kris hurries to go to wookie-hyung’s side. the older man is maneuvering them out of the practice room to a small meeting room just next door.
there’s a baby faced young man waiting, reading a manhwa. kris remembers him as wookie-hyung’s friend from MTV.
“lu han-ah,” wookie-hyung announces their arrival. lu han smiles widely and puts the manhwa back to his postman bag. kris bows ninety degrees before he takes a seat next to wookie-hyung.
“hi, kris. long time no see.” lu han is still smiling. kris nods.
“let’s get into the business,” wookie-hyung claps excitedly before he gives kris a piece of pink paper.
kris clears his throat when he finishes reading. he makes a brief eye contact with wookie-hyung who blinks once as a signal to follow the written instruction.
“so,” kris begins, but he decides to speed read the instruction once again.
when askng questions to lu han, REMEMBERr to nevr SHOWING any hints that you and chanyeolla arent sleeping in a same bed!!!
“so,” he repeats, with a slight smile now, addressing it to lu han. “we just have to show viewers how we spend our daily life?”
lu han nods, “kinda like ‘we got married’ thingy, yeah. you in?”
kris makes another eye contact with wookie-hyung, who is actually beaming like he’s really into the idea so much if kris declines he will need to burn all of his brand new, unread, motivational and self-improvement books.
“i get it, hyungs,” he says to lu han. “whose idea is this, by the way?”
“remember i made a poll on our official website?” wookie-hyung answers as he pats kris’ back. “chanyeol won third place on the popularity contest. and he’s not even exo’s member!” lu han makes an acknowledging face, mouthing a ‘he’s so pretty’ to no one in particular.
kris frowns.
“it’s part of your comeback promotion strategies, son,” wookie-hyung finally explains with an easier language.
“you know, we also made a poll which idols to appear on our next ‘a day with...’ episode, and one of my crews―a noona―randomly added you and chanyeol to the list. guess what? you guys won.” lu han holds up his thumbs. wookie-hyung is already singing a victorious hymn.
kris snorts. it's so unbelievable.
“eyyy,” lu han wiggles his finger, “don’t underestimate your lovebirds power! the fans call you two ‘krisyeol’ you know? tsk tsk. you krisyeol couple have a solid fanbase of followers already. it’s a good start, kris.”
“well,” a genuine smile decorates kris’ face, and for once he doesn’t even bother to hide it.
“indeed! so when will my krisyeol babies start recording, lu han-ah?” wookie-hyung fishes out his blackberry, ready to negotiate with exo’s tight practicing schedule.
“chanyeol has school, right? we’ve planned to air the episode a week before your comeback, and then the next following week. two episodes special. how about we shoot this saturday?” lu han is also checking his own blackberry. “sunday? but i don’t want chanyeol to be tired from filming on monday.”
kris says, “i think this saturday is okay, hyungs.”
“saturday, it is.” lu han smiles. “i will call you, wook, for further briefing and everything else. gotta go.” he slings his postman bag to his shoulders and makes a gun sign at kris.
wookie-hyung whispers quickly to kris as he escorts his friend out,
“stay here.”
kris stays. he closes his eyes and inhales deeply. his muscles ache badly today, maybe he didn’t do a proper stretching with yixing earlier. damn it. he cracks his knuckles, and then he rotates his neck; a bad but relieving habit that never fails to make chanyeol grimacing whenever he’s near kris. the younger boy says that the sound of his cracking bones is scary.
“what are you smiling at?” wookie-hyung asks with a teasing tone as he locks the door. kris shrugs, because that’s so teenager of him imagining chanyeol’s cute scrunched nose and that baritone whinin―
“yah,” wookie-hyung pinches his arm. kris makes a face and rubs at the spot. “pay attention!”
“sorry.” kris says in english, just out of habit whenever older people are scolding him.
“that’s my kris,” wookie-hyung fetches another piece of pink paper, and he writes furiously for a couple of minutes, leaving kris closing his eyes again to steal resting time.
then, wookie-hyung finally speaks with a low voice, “first of all, we need to carefully tells chan chan about the program. it’s going to be a new world for him, cameras following his every moves, cameras closing up on his face, how to interact with the cameras, how to act as natural as he can...”
kris hums. surely the camera hyungs and noonas will have an easy time to fall in chanyeol’s charm, but what about chanyeol?
“secondly, we need to move chanyeol’s essential things to your bedroom, kris. we have to arrange it like krisyeol are sleeping in a same bed. make sure the bedroom looks as domestic as any other engaged couples’ bedrooms are. we have to approach chanyeol slowly at this point too. my baby might always look like sunshine and rainbow but hyung can’t tell what’s really going on with him inside. sometimes i’m worried we’re putting on too much pressure on him, you know?” wookie-hyung suddenly sighs. he takes off his glasses and massages the bridge of his nose.
“did he say anything to you, at all?”
kris can’t bring himself to answer, because he doesn’t want wookie-hyung to think of him as being incapable to take care of chanyeol.
and no, chanyeol never says anything. chanyeol waits for him to come home everyday, sometimes still high on whatever sugary foods he eats and sometimes he falls asleep on the living room with scattered note books and ridiculous doodles all over them. chanyeol always knocks on his bedroom door to inform him that he’s leaving for school every morning, and he sends encouraging texts with silly emoticons on his lunchtime. he will answer kris’ impromptu calls with his cheerful voice, greeting the rest of exo members with his vitamin-like presence.
but.
is he happy with everything?
“alright,” wookie-hyung puts back his glasses and he’s looking guilty for decreasing kris’ mood. he offers kris a job to pick up chanyeol from school; maybe his ssaeng fans will get to capture krisyeol’s interaction, since on exo’s official website there have been complaints about the lack of krisyeol pictures on the internet. remember that skinship is always the most efficient way for excellent publication. kris doesn’t have the urge to mock his lovely manager’s way of thinking, but whatever, right? he gets to see chanyeol. it’s more than enough.
▲▼
except that the only available car in the SM building is a white audi. kris actually can’t drive a sedan, thanks to his long mile legs. but hey, he’s just going to chanyeol’s school―maybe takes him to eat somewhere nice, drives him home and then goes back to practicing. it will take less than two hours inside the car.
the school's parking lot is deserted when he arrives, only a dozen of student waiting for their cars picking them up. chanyeol isn’t one of them though. wookie-hyung had tried to call chanyeol’s phone earlier, but chanyeol didn’t answer; either it’s turned off or running out of battery.
kris puts his phone on speakerphone as he makes another call, but still chanyeol doesn’t answer.
probably he was bored and played games too long so his phone’s dead now.
two cars are coming, and the students are splitting into groups; only two girls with bright red hair and black hair are in the parking lot. they're giggling to the fashion magazine they’re holding.
kris decides to wait some more, five more minutes top, before he will have to go out and make himself visible. what if chanyeol is confused that it’s not the usual kia picanto picking him up and decides to take a bus home instead?
he’s just checking the clock on the dashboard, 5: 43 PM―more than half an hour after the school ends, when from the corners of his eyes he sees chanyeol.
searching for the usual kia picanto on the parking lot,
playing with the straps of his backpack,
biting his bottom lip as he looks down―
kris follows the younger boy’s gaze and frowns, because what the fuck?
where are chanyeol’s shoes?
and why the two girls seem like they're talking to chanyeol but chanyeol doesn’t seem to respond?
wait, wait.
why are the two girls laughing at chanyeol now?
...
an ugly realization hits kris’ brain.
he doesn’t think twice when he calls out, “hey, chanyeol-ah!” his face twitches as he shuts the car’s door with a loud bang. he quickly changes his expression to a fake confusion when his eyes land on chanyeol’s only socked feet.
the two girls curse before they run for the school’s gate, blocking their faces with the fashion magazine and their own manicured hands.
chanyeol’s squirming is telling kris enough that he very much wants to join them; running away, because he’s backing away slowly as kris approaches him.
this is not happening.
kris glares to the direction of the school’s gate, he glares to the school’s building, and he hopes he’s stopped his glare when he makes eye contact with chanyeol.
but―huh. chanyeol is grinning, he’s fucking grinning and raising a hand to wave awkwardly while oozing the aura of someone who gets caught doing something wrong; bad, illegal, immoral, and all other shits while kris knows he’s not supposed to fucking look like that.
just―
why?
kris halts. he doesn’t understand. is this still the same park chanyeol who possesses an infectious laugh that kris has grown fond of for the past weeks living together? who is this boy, slumping his beautiful figure clad in proud yellow blazer of one of the most prestigious high school in seoul? how does he do it―has he been deceiving everyone with his blinding smile? aren’t they in this together?
where is me.
“h-hyung...”
their eyes meet, and of course chanyeol is crying. but surprise surprise, he’s also grinning at the same time. is he even fucking real.
“hyung i-i’m so s―”
kris is never a man with words. if he is, he wouldn’t jump into conclusion about chanyeol’s cuteness back then and went berserk with his own lust. he’s not really the comforting type either―that’s joonmyun’s job―he only vomits truth a little bit brutally, just like tao often reminds him with a pout. he’s exo leader because of that; entertainment industry in particular, is not for the weak of hearts. kris, it is safe to say, has mastered the art to not letting his heart takes over his logical brain.
hell, he even thinks ‘heart’ is a too girly word. he never uses that h word to describe his feeling.
then again, what is ‘feeling’ for kris wufan but just another too girly word?
but right now, something inside of him is hurting.
chanyeol is still crying.
“hey,” kris frowns, because his voice sounds so strange in his ears. “come here,” he reaches an arm, while the other is hidden on his jeans pocket, possibly trembling. but kris is not sure because it feels numb anyway.
chanyeol sobs as he walks closer to kris, wiping his face with the sleeve of his yellow blazer. he looks so beautiful up close, kris muses; chanyeol's huge eyes are glistening, his cheeks are flushing red, and his lips are the shade of white to pink.
kris frowns; he did not just have a sick as fuck vision that chanyeol looks the finest when he cries. memories of that night on gangwon is flooding his mind and kris immediately kneels down to untie his adidas because he can’t afford to feel inferior, okay, chanyeol needs him as a strong and dependable hyung right now.
chanyeol makes a move to kneel too but kris places a hand to the younger boy’s left thigh, signalling him to just stay upright.
kris gently takes chanyeol’s right ankle, dusting off the sock with his palm before he slips on his obviously a size larger adidas.
chanyeol gasps.
“h-hyung?”
kris kisses chanyeol’s left knee then, and chanyeol gasps again as kris treats the left foot the same. he makes sure he doesn’t tie the shoes too tightly, before he carelessly wipes his palms on his jeans.
he’s not a man with words, remember? he pinches chanyeol’s nose as they’re face to face instead of giving a sensible explanation.
chanyeol stares at him with the most transparent emotion and kris can’t help but to falter a little bit.
“let’s go,” he doesn’t want to falter even further though―but really, chanyeol keeps surprising him because of the warm hand that is now entwined with his own numb one. chanyeol butts his head to kris’ back as they walk to the car, and kris wants to swear that he’s going to protect the boy forever; but he’s only human. human breaks promises. so he tells himself he’s content enough with his useless being.
(he can only hope that chanyeol forgives him for being useless.)
end of i n t e r l u d e