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The first time Chanyeol fell for Kyungsoo brought regretful tears to his eyes.
He wasn't a giant back then, just an average 6 year old's height, but he was still definitely taller then the Do boy. The kindergarten's bully, one over grown boy with big, cruel eyes named Huang Zitao, shoved little Kyungsoo down into the sand, making some of the unpleasant material enter Kyungsoo's mouth as the giant child's laughter echoed through the space as if he were the devil's spawn himself.
Chanyeol watched this scene unfold from the other side of the fence. He was in the big boys' group, a year older then the boys he was watching and it sucked. He never got to talk to the small boy with the too-big eyes since even their playtimes were in different hours, but he knew he was an altogether nice boy from the way he helped that dark skinned boy one to bond with the other children, and had even made him play-cooked him delicious meals which got a smile on his face.
His mother taught him to be nice to nice people.
That's how he found himself on the fence, hanging on for dear life, trying to pass through to the other side in order to scare the idiotic Huang Zitao from poor Kyungsoo. A small girl stood there watching him from the younger side, a pacifier in her mouth and a pale pink blanket clenched tightly in her hands, eyes watching him closely in winder as the rubber moved around her mouth with the rhythm of her sucking. He tried kicking, twisting, pulling and pushing, and he still couldn't go up and over the fence. His slim arms began straining with the burden of his body weight. A sound of despair left him as he hung there, just as helpless as Kyungsoo was. He lifted his eyes to the boy whose face was still shoved into the sand — feeling his heart sinking in his chest.
He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on not letting his arms give up on his. Drops of sweat crawled down his face, making his glasses slowly slip from their position on his nose. If they'd fall he won't be able to see any - well. Tears started rising in his eyes, how could he climb down without seeing and — "Park Chanyeol!" The youngsters' teacher shouted, her eyes alerted and wide. He followed the line of her arm to was a small hand clenching her own adult one, the hand belonging to a tearful Kyungsoo. Chanyeol spared his a smile, at least he was safe. "What are you doing up there? Get down immediately!"
He nodded obediently, stretching his leg to where it used to be. Kyungsoo's tears cleared from his eyes, leaving the giant orbs staring at him, eyebrows frowned.
He tried remembering where he climbed from, stretching his leg in that direction, the absolute wrong one that made his leg slip and send him flying towards the ground. His own teacher rushed to him as he felt a sharp pain electrifying his nerves from his left arm.
Kyungsoo was still watching him from inside the fence and watched as the ambulance took him away.
**
The second time Chanyeol fell for Kyungsoo, the way down was longer but pretty much the same.
Chanyeol didn't get to see Kyungsoo again after that day. Kyungsoo's kindergarten teacher spoke to his parents that meaningful day about Zitao's obvious liking to make the smaller's life a living hell, and so when Chanyeol came back three days later with a white cast on his arm, the boy he wanted to protect was gone. Kim Jongin - the dark one Kyungsoo used to take care of - followed his lead a few weeks later, after he became Zitao's new source of interest.
He's in middle school now, the memory a few good years behind him. He grew twice as much as the other boys in his class, all exact for one Huang Zitao who towered just as tall as he was. He still tried protecting those who couldn't protect themselves, a quality that lead him to meeting his best friend and first crush ever — Byun Baekhyun. The boy almost perfectly matched his brightness and mindset, with the smile of a naughty puppy always present on his face. Sometimes, when he made Chanyeol feel just how much he means to him, the taller would feel a strong beating in his chest and a warmer feeling all the way down to his toes.
He struggled a lot with his feelings — society concentrated so hard on telling him boys just can't love other boys like that, boys are meant to love girls and no other way will be accepted — for a long time, until Baekhyun finally announced he started dating Park Sunyoung from 7th grade. Chanyeol remembered the girl with a pacifier and a pink blankie that she used to take everywhere with her, and after meeting her face to face it became clear that she developed from kindergarten as well and grew to be a pretty girl, Chanyeol admitted, yet it still hurt so deep in his chest.
Even through torture you won't be able to make Chanyeol admit he cried, not unless you happen to be his sister. She was the only one who knew, the only one who accepted him in their family, and she sat by his side, holding him close and calling his teacher while impersonating their mother to call him sick for a few days straight. She was also the one who stopped Baekhyun when he was heading towards Chanyeol's room to visit his sick friend, making excuses as to why he never took his calls yet he did answer Kim Junmyun's, the class president.
Of course he couldn't get away from school forever and missing Baekhyun started being too much, so he sucked it up and took the journey there. His friend turned his back on him at first, still upset with being ignored for days, and a sigh escaped Chanyeol as he decided to share his feelings with Baekhyun. He asked the shorter boy to accompany him on the roof, where he sat comfortably, explaining his crush and how he's getting over it now calmly between bites of his lunch. Baekhyun was shocked at first, saying sorry for being so ignorant to his pains, before thanking him for thinking so highly of him. He did, however, claimed to be Chanyeol's love cupid from now on, since he found the taller boy's affection to his own gender absolutely adorable — Chanyeol has never been redder in his life.
As they came down the stairs - with Baekhyun still chatting away about how he'll help Chanyeol find the perfect man for him - a flash of big, round eyes made him frown. He found himself hoping that Do Kyungsoo's life took a much more pleasant turn since that sandy day, that he smiled a smile he used to know but now had a difficult time conjuring.
A few hours farther into the day, he was making his way home with Baekhyun by his side. The shorter decided they spent enough time apart and today was a great time to catch up to the show they watched together, SNSD's "Hello Baby", and Chanyeol agreed. Baekhyun chatted away about how cute Taeyeon looked when she held a baby in her arms while Chanyeol paused his step, staring ahead at the house across from his.
"Something wrong, Yeol?" Baekhyun held the straps of his backpack by his shoulders as he looked up at his taller friend.
Chanyeol blinked. "Someone's moving into the Jung house."
"The Jungs are leaving?" Baekhyun wondered, grabbing Chanyeol's arm and pulling him. "I'll miss seeing Jessica noona from your window when I come over."
"You watch her from the window?" Chanyeol made gagging sounds that made Baekhyun laugh. "You creep!"
"You're the creep!" The smaller pushed his side and Chanyeol made it seem like it had an affect so Baekhyun won't start complaining about his height again, before his eyes returned to the cheerfully painted house. The front door pulled open to reveal a young woman who stood stepped from behind it, and behind her was —
"Chanyeol!"
The ground hit him hard, a loud grown escaping him. When he opened his eyes he saw stars so he closed them and tried making his jaw function normally instead. Baekhyun's laughter boomed so the entire street could hear him, and he suppressed the tears in his eyes because he's not going to live this down as it is and crying won't do him any good and — Do Kyungsoo just moved in to the house across from his.
**
"You remember," Baekhyun began and Chanyeol groaned, leaning his forehead on his hand while preparing himself for another dose of know-it-all Byun attitude. "When you crushed on me and you avoided me for a long time and hurt my feeling instead of coming clean and making everything alright with a silly smile and a punch on the shoulder?"
"I do not have a crush on him." The taller tried stretching each and every word so his friend could finally understand the same sentence he's been telling him since they were in middle school.
One look at the one sitting opposite of him crushed his hopes. Maybe next time then.
"You can't fool me, Yeol," Baekhyun tossed his hair out of habit, even though he cut it shorter this time and the bangs weren't even close to reaching his eyes. "I know you like the palm of my hand - " The same hand that came down on the younger's head when he blurred another groan. " - and you're right, you're not crushing on him." Chanyeol lifted his head and once again, the biddy little puppy crushed his hopes of peace of mind with their glint. "It more like you're in love with him."
"Byun," Chanyeol tried sounding threatening, even though he knew Baekhyun can see right through it without a blink of an eye. "How many times did we have this conversation?"
"I stop counting yet we'll continue until you'll admit it."
Chanyeol would hit him if the teacher wasn't now present.
High school turned out to be no joke, and Chanyeol was always the one to stay a bit behind on the material and grades. If it wasn't for his now perfect pearly white smile, he wouldn't be able to pass about half of his classes.
If he was to admit the truth, and Baekhyun won't be listening, the reason really was Do Kyungsoo. Since that day he moved across from him, he found himself looking through his window at the boy quite a lot. He loved seeing how tidy his room was, how he laughed at his phone sometimes, how he would choose his clothes at night and laying them down perfectly before he went to bed. Of course watching him sleep was a boundary he won't reach, even if his heart wished for it.
At home he was definitely a destruction, but that's on Chanyeol's homework's expense, and that wasn't what taught the boy about a class. What made him remember things was the actual class, with an actual teacher to claim his attention.
That's where Do Kyungsoo shoved his existence down his throat once again.
Some unfair godly spirit made Kyungsoo sit right in front of Chanyeol. Since then, everything really went downhill.
Chanyeol found himself to be forever distracted - by Kyungsoo's milky skin or his bubbly laughter or his dorky conversations with Jongin (who sat right beside him) or how shy he was around girls or how his lips would stretch to create such a delicate heart it made Chanyeol's clench or how he talked or how he sang to himself sometimes or how he breathed - the list really was never-ending. So was the help he needed from Baekhyun for every single class they had together with the old-new boy, and that's what got him to start being the yapping mother he is when it comes to Chanyeol's feelings.
It was either that, or Chanyeol falling on his face when he first saw him again.
Blinking a few times and even going as far as lightly slapping his face, Chanyeol pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and bid himself to pay attention. This particular subject was interesting on his own for Chanyeol, and that should be reason enough to give it his all - Kyungsoo reached for his shoulders, pulling at the fabric of his uniform so it could fit better against his shoulders.
He bit his lips against making another frustrated sound of a useless effort.
He really did try for the rest of the lesson, until Kyungsoo showed a sign of life and once again, all the build concentration was crashed to the ground to be replaced by another piece for the collection of his obsession. Great.
Baekhyun was giggling. Chanyeol turned a frowning look towards him to find his friend was unable to look at him without choking on air. Great.
"Byun Baekhyun and Park Chanyeol, out!"
Just.
Great.
*
"You couldn't stop watching him!" Baekhyun excused again, reaching down to collect another piece of garbage from the sidewalk.
That dumbyun boy - his freshly out of the box nickname - succeeded to get them both detentions over Chanyeol's greatest source of pain. The work wasn't that hard and didn't take that long, but the part which irked Chanyeol the most was having to feel Do Kyungsoo's eyes on his back as he shamefully made his way from the seat behind him and to the teacher for his punishment. That heart was shown at him when he got brave enough to look back, a pleasant thing that was meant for him for the first time ever.
That small gesture made him trip over his own feet, falling on the teacher and making the entire class burst out with the most booming laughter he's ever heard as Baekhyun pulled him away from there in the speed of light.
Couldn't get worse, really.
"Yeah well, how is that different than any other day?" Chanyeol exclaimed, crushing a piece of used paper in his hands before shoving it into his garbage bag.
"It's not," Baekhyun's voice turned into a soft one as he stopped, giving Chanyeol such a honest look it made him stop as well. "I just want you to admit it to yourself at least, Yeol. Because if you'll stop getting so clouded with your own feelings, you could see his own, written right on his face."
At least being dumb folded was something he was used to. "What do you mean?"
"He likes you back, you idiot," Baekhyun chuckled, looking off above Chanyeol's shoulder. "I could see it since that day you fell on your face and he looked at you as if you were the most amazing thing in this world."
His mouth opened and closed, but Chanyeol couldn't voice any of them. Baekhyun mentioned forward - behind him - and his head moved in slow motion as he turned, finding himself staring right into Do Kyungsoo's warm eyes. The heart was there once again, with the corners looking on edge with anxiety, and he was looking right into his eyes, and -
"Hi."
The third time Chanyeol fell for Kyungsoo, it felt like the first time ever.