Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Would you like to explain to me why Sunyoung is currently crying her eyes out in the props trailer?” Junmyeon seethes.

“The outfit she brought me was for someone else’s character, I don’t know where her head’s been lately,” Chanyeol intones as he continues reading through today’s lines with intense focus. “On the contrary, you probably do know, so do me a favor and ask her about it when you get the chance.”

“What? Why would I know?” Junmyeon stutters.

“Jun, you really thought that I was unaware of the fact that you go straight to her place from set everyday?” Chanyeol smirks. Junmyeon’s face turns an ugly shade of red.

“Just tell her to get her head in the game so I can do my job.”

“Would it kill you to ask nicely?” Junmyeon says, mostly to himself, as he walks out of Chanyeol’s trailer, slamming the door loudly.

Chanyeol takes a minute to think about this as he is once again left in silence. Ever since he shot to stardom after his breakout debut in the Lee Taemin directed action film The Misconceptions of Me, Chanyeol hasn’t pressed the brake pedals on his career even once. The day that Park Chanyeol stood on stage, clutching his first ever Blue Dragon Award, was the day he swore that he would stop at nothing to become the very best. Five years and three Blue Dragons later, Chanyeol had definitely achieved his dreams.

Dubbed as the nation’s son in law by the South Korean masses, Chanyeol knows that he was blessed with a spotless public image. His work ethic, and the fact that he’s been booked back to back for the last five years has kept him from the same scandals that destroyed the careers of his peers. However, despite his public image, Chanyeol seemed to run into problems when it came to his name within the industry. In plain and simple terms, Chanyeol’s reputation within the Korean entertainment industry could be best described using his nickname: the plague.

At first, Chanyeol had sincerely attempted to appease the staff members on his projects, but as time went on he started to realize that it simply wasn’t worth his time. In his own opinion, Chanyeol’s expectations weren’t even that high. All he wanted was for people to do their job properly so he could do his. Chanyeol was there to focus on his work and over time, he stopped caring what people thought about his personality. As long as he was producing the best work he possibly could, nothing else mattered.

“You’re on standby in fifteen, get your ass out there,” Baekhyun saunters into Chanyeol’s trailer and sits himself down on the couch. He grabs a magazine and starts flipping through it.

“Are you just going to sit there?” Chanyeol asks.

“That’s the plan,” Baekhyun deadpans.

Baekhyun is the only staff member on set that somehow didn’t fear Chanyeol’s existence. Sadly, for Chanyeol that meant the production team only sends Baekhyun to him whenever they need something. It had been almost two months since filming began for his latest project, Love Like Oxygen, and Chanyeol has yet to meet most of the staff members.

In all honesty, Chanyeol doesn’t mind the company as much as he seems to. This isn’t the first time he’s worked with Baekhyun on a set and he’s developed an odd camaraderie with the other man.  As much as he comes off as cold and unapproachable, Chanyeol doesn’t really mind the company of other people as long as they don’t disturb him while he rehearses.

“You’re sitting there and not moving,” Baekhyun breaks him out of his thoughts. “That is the opposite of what you need to be doing. If you don’t go now some pitiful production intern is going to combust into a pile of stress and tears and I’ll have to clean up the mess.”

With one look at Baekhyun’s glare, Chanyeol gets up and walks out of his trailer, silently hoping to himself that Baekhyun doesn’t use all of his skincare products and try on his designer clothes like the last time he “hung out” in Chanyeol’s trailer.

The shoot takes three hours with all of his scenes going smoothly. The only hiccup comes as a result of Irene screwing up the light fixture settings, but the problem is solved quickly enough before either Chanyeol, or Jinki, the director, get upset about it. Worn out and ready for a long shower, Chanyeol walks back to his trailer to gather his stuff and get the hell home.

The lights on his trailer are on, much to his surprise, and he sees Baekhyun curled into a ball on his couch, covered in a warm blanket. He looks to the the right and sees Junmyeon scrolling through his phone on Chanyeol’s hair and makeup chair.

“Oh, you’re finally back.” Junmyeon looks up from his phone as he hears the door close behind Chanyeol.

“What’s up with him?” Chanyeol wonders, nodding towards Baekhyun.

“He fell asleep and looked cold so I gave him a blanket,” Junmyeon explains. “He looked too peaceful to be woken up.”

Chanyeol shrugs in return, letting Junmyeon know that he doesn’t mind.

“Why are you here?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun over a little. He flops down on the couch and takes a deep breath. “What do we need to talk about? Make it fast, I’m tired as fuck.”

“I have a new script for you,” Junmyeon starts right away, rolling his eyes a little at Chanyeol’s attitude. “It’s the new Kris Wu film.”

The director’s name gets Chanyeol’s attention.

“Kris Wu only does indie romance films,” Chanyeol points out, eyebrows raised. “I’m an action star.”

“You’ve been talking about expanding your range for for a while now, but we haven’t gotten a script that was good enough till now,” Junmyeon explains. “I know you admire Kris’ work. I mean, there aren’t many people who don’t.”

“It would be a good step…” Chanyeol entertains. He has been wanting to diversify the kinds of projects he takes on. “I’ll read it after wrap and get back to you.”

“I’m sure you will,” Junmyeon replies. If Junmyeon approves of the script, Chanyeol reading it over was merely a formality. They’ve always worked seamlessly together and there have only been a handful of instances where the two have disagreed on his career decisions. It comes as an added perk of knowing each other long before his career even began. They had become quick friends while Chanyeol was still in film school and when he was suddenly juggling an acting career with no idea how to manage it, Junmyeon was the first person he went to for help.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have dinner plans with Sunyoung.” Junmyeon gets up from his seat and walks to the trailer door.

“What am I supposed to do with this thing?” Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun a little and gets a disgruntled groan in response.

“Figure it out, ice princess,” Junmyeon smirks over his shoulder as he leaves.

The only solution that Chanyeol can come up with is to push Baekhyun completely off the couch. Chanyeol hears a loud thud as Baekhyun hits the ground, followed by a lengthy string of curse words and something extremely rude about his mother.

“I really fucking hate you,” Baekhyun groans as rolls around on the ground for a few seconds before picking himself up and punching Chanyeol’s shoulder

“That hurt,” Chanyeol states matter-of-factly, rubbing the sore spot.

“Good,” Baekhyun grins. “I still don’t understand how you’ve managed to become such a good actor. Your real-life range of emotions is equivalent to that of a dead fish.”

“Why do you talk so much?” Chanyeol complains, rubbing his temples. He moves over to the vanity to throw his things into a leather bag. Baekhyun flops over onto the couch and stares at Chanyeol intently. “Do you need something?”

“Actually…” Baekhyun begins tentatively.

“No, you cannot stay in my house tonight again.” Chanyeol throws the last of his things into the bag and walks towards the door. Baekhyun jumps up eagerly and follows him out. “I thought we discussed this already, you are not a welcome guest anywhere in my life, please leave.

“But my roommate and his girlfriend are probably having really loud sex in my apartment right now and your couch is infinitely more comfortable than my bed.” Baekhyun attempts. “I’ll be silent.”

“No.”

“I’ll make you breakfast,” Baekhyun adds.

“...no,” Chanyeol hesitates. Baekhyun picks up on it immediately, he knows Chanyeol is all bark and no bite.

“I’ll make you those chocolate chip pancakes with the cute fruit faces on them,” Baekhyun grins.

“Even the clown ones?” Chanyeol gives in a little.

“And the pirate ones.”

Chanyeol sighs to himself and decides that he lost this round with Baekhyun because even he can’t resist pirate decorated chocolate chip pancakes.

“Fine, but if you don’t shut up, you’re sleeping outside,” Chanyeol relents. There’s no winning with Byun Baekhyun, even for Chanyeol.

“Fuck yeah,” Baekhyun whoops and jumps into Chanyeol’s car. “We can drive to work together again, it’ll be super cute.”

“I hate you,” Chanyeol deadpans. “So much.”

“Jun, this is the best script I’ve read in years,” Chanyeol gushes into the receiver on his cell phone. “I’m in. A million times in.”

“I figured,” Junmyeon chuckles. “I’ll let the production team know that you are interested and eager to join the cast. You’re Kris Wu’s top choice for the role, so we shouldn’t have any trouble moving from here.”

“Unsurprisingly,” Chanyeol smirks. Baekhyun smacks him in the arm.

“Humility, Chanyeol. I thought we talked about this,” he lectures as he simultaneously shoves chips into his mouth while playing Call of Duty. Chanyeol has never seen a better multitasked in his life, and it’s probably what makes Baekhyun so good at being a set coordinator.

On his rare days off, Chanyeol takes to wearing the rattiest clothes he can dig out of his closet and lounging around doing nothing. The last time he had a day off, he spent the entire day playing Assasin’s Creed until his eyes turned bloodshot and Junmyeon yelled at him the next day because he had a CF shoot. It feels good to let down the hard exterior that builds up when he’s working. Having a day off reminds him that he’s capable of being what society deems a normal human being. He’s thankful that Junmyeon forces him into a break every now and then. According to Baekhyun, it makes him less “cactus-y” than usual.

“Filming starts in three weeks, and we’ll be flying to Los Angeles next Tuesday to get settled in and film that K.Will music video we committed to. Be packed and ready to go,” Junmyeon fills him in

It’s been almost been eight years since he’s been back in the States after moving to Seoul to attend KAFA. He should probably brush up on his English. And call his mom. He doesn’t do that often enough.

“What about until then?” Chanyeol asks.

“I’m forcing you to go on a vacation because I’m going to Jeju-do with Sunyoung and I can’t be bothered with you,” Junmyeon explains.

“I can’t take a break. I’ll have nothing to do,” Chanyeol whines.

“This is precisely why I constantly encourage you to get a life,” Junmyeon sighs. “I’m sure Baekhyun will be willing to introduce you to his friends if you promise to be civil.”

“I already hate Baekhyun enough, why would I want to hang out with his friends?” Chanyeol drones, looking to the left where Baekhyun has made a makeshift home on his couch.

“Hey, I’m amazing, okay. It’s you who has the personality problems,” Baekhyun says with his mouth full of food.

“Could you please chew with your mouth closed, oh my god,” Chanyeol fumes.

“Well, I hope you have fun!” Junmyeon exclaims. “I’ll see you next week.”

The line goes dead before Chanyeol can complain anymore.

“So, I’m leaving the country in a week which means you have to go back to nights with your sex crazed roommate. I’ve had enough of you mooching off of my success and wealth. I’ll even buy you noise canceling Bluetooth headphones as a parting gift, just get out of my house,” Chanyeol huffs.

“You know, having a sex crazed roommate sounds great actually. Too bad he’s straight,” Baekhyun ponders, completely ignoring everything else Chanyeol just said. “It would be such a waste to leave this gorgeous apartment unused for four entire months.”

“No amount of pancakes can convince me to let you live in my house while I’m gone.” Chanyeol puts his foot down. “You’d probably just use my bed to sleep with that producer’s assistant you’ve been having sexual tension with.”

“I think you mean the producer’s assistant that I’ve been having sex with,” Baekhyun smirks and wiggles his eyebrows. “I’m sure Tao would love your bed.”

Chanyeol throws up a little on the inside.

“Spare me the details and get out of my house,” Chanyeol demands.

Baekhyun sighs and stops his game, “I should probably go anyways. I have a date tonight and I look disgusting.”

“You really do,” Chanyeol deadpans, trying not to show the tinge of disappointment he feels at the prospect of being alone for the rest of the night. Normally Baekhyun doesn’t actually leave when told.

“Aww, don’t worry my little cactus, I’ll hang out with you tomorrow,” Baekhyun reassures him. “I’ll take you to the bars with my friends and you can show your ‘socially awkward with a hint of rude’ personality to an expanded group of people.”

Chanyeol throws a pillow at the other.

“I hope Tao holds out on you tonight,” Chanyeol frowns.

“You wouldn’t,” Baekhyun gasps in return. He gathers his things and heads towards the door.

“See you tomorrow, ice princess,” Baekhyun calls as he leaves.

Chanyeol looks at the now empty spot next to him and realizes something.

“The little bitch didn’t even clean up after himself.”

After an uneventful week and only slightly embarrassing himself in front of Baekhyun’s friends, Chanyeol finds himself on a plane to LA. He spends the entirety of the flight poring over his script and building a connection with his character, Jaehyuk, a man on a soul searching foreign adventure who falls in love with a beautiful local girl. The film has just the right amount of indie romance, adventure, and good vibes to make it perfect for any audience. Without even beginning filming, Chanyeol is more than certain that it’ll be a hit at the box office when it releases next summer.

Chanyeol steps into LAX airport and is surprised to be met with no fanfare at all. He looks to Junmyeon in confusion. It’s been years since Chanyeol has stepped into an airport without being met by hordes of screaming fans equipped with DSLRs and long arms that easily reached over barricades, ultimately leaving him feeling more than a little violated.

“We’ve been keeping your schedule on the down low lately,” Junmyeon explains. “It’s too much of a hassle to be honest, and Kris Wu has been trying to keep the project on the down low for whatever reason.”

“Interesting.” Chanyeol strolls to the baggage claim and begins looking for his suitcases, pulling his hat lower over his face, hoping to get out of the airport undetected. “So what’s our schedule for the next few days?”

“Music video shooting starts the day after tomorrow and shouldn’t last longer than a day,” Junmyeon clarifies, hauling his own bags off of the conveyor belt. “Filming for the Untitled Kris Wu Project starts three days after that. That gives us a little time to explore the city and whatnot.”

“Explore the city?” Chanyeol frowns. He’s never been one for adventure, or leaving the house in general for that matter. “Why not just stay home?”

“Because I want to explore the city and I don’t want to go alone,” Junmyeon sighs. “I’m dragging you with me, willing or not. Think of it as part of my Force Chanyeol To Get A Life Initiative.”

“Fine,” Chanyeol huffs. There’s no winning when it comes to Junmyeon and his ‘exploring’, which mainly consists of making Chanyeol take cheesy photos of him at various tourist traps. He hopes that California doesn’t provide Junmyeon with any stupid ideas. The last time they ‘explored’ he was filming in Paris and Junmyeon was insistent on climbing all the way to the top of the eiffel tower on their last day. He couldn’t feel his legs for at least 4 days after that, and frankly, he would rather not repeat the experience.

They hail a cab and arrive at a fancy high rise building about half an hour later. Junmyeon pulls out a set of keys and hands it to him.

“These are yours for the time that we’re here,” Junmyeon explains as they travel up the elevator. “We’ll both be staying in the same apartment, but honestly, it’s big enough that we probably won’t have to even see each other if we don’t want to.”

Chanyeol sighs exaggeratedly in mock relief.

“Oh, shut up you little brat. Give it three days and you’ll be kneeling at my door, begging me to cook you some Korean food,” Junmyeon grumbles. “Anyways, half of our locations are close enough that we can come back here for the night, and the film’s production team has taken care of lodging for the rest of the locations.”

They arrive at the door and Junmyeon twists the key in, opening it up to reveal an apartment that is ten times fancier than the luxury one he lives in at home.

“Wow,” Chanyeol breathes.

“I’d like to say,” Junmyeon exhales. “The pictures didn’t do this place justice.”

Chanyeol swiftly enters and starts looking around. “I call the master bedroom.”

“Take it, I have no interest. I don’t want to hear you bitching about having the smaller room until we go home.” Junmyeon rolls his eyes.

“How did you get us this place?” Chanyeol asks Junmyeon, returning to the living room and taking a seat on the couch.

“I didn’t actually. It was the production team,” Junmyeon fills him in. “Apparently Kris Wu has friends in high places.”

Chanyeol sinks deeper into the cushions. “I could get used to this.”

“Not too used to it!” Junmyeon exclaims. Chanyeol makes a disgruntled noise. He knows exactly what that tone means and he doesn’t like it one bit. “We’re starting our adventure at 8 AM tomorrow morning!”

“Don’t even touch me until at least 11:30 or I’ll snap your arm off,” Chanyeol growls.

“11:30 it is,” Junmyeon gives in.

“I think the jet lag is getting to me,” Chanyeol yawns. “This couch is so comfortable, I could pass out right here.”

“Well, you go ahead and do that. I’m going to check out my room,” Junmyeon heads to his own room. “Goodnight, princess.”

“Ugh, Baekhyun is rubbing off on you. Stop calling me that.”

“Make me,” Junmyeon laughs, shutting his door behind him and effectively ending the conversation.

Chanyeol groans and starts to drift off, not before deciding that he really needs to keep Junmyeon away from Byun Baekhyun.

It’s hot. This is what Chanyeol thinks as he jumps through burning sand, generally hating his existence.

“Why did I think it would be a good idea to be friends with you?” This is what Chanyeol says as he tries his best not to let out a string of curse words at Junmyeon, the one person’s existence that he currently hates more than his own.

“Because I’m handsome and I have a winning personality,” Junmyeon beams, ignoring Chanyeol’s anger.

“It’s hot and disgusting. I’m sweating, Junmyeon. I never sweat,” Chanyeol whines. “Also, I thought you were well aware of the fact that I hate the beach.”

“Get over it,” Junmyeon exclaims. “It’s a beautiful day!”

Junmyeon lays out a blanket and sticks a giant parasol in the sand. He pulls out a romantic comedy paperback from his summer tote bag and begins reading, still sporting the same giant smile.

“What are you even,” Chanyeol mutters before stalking towards the shoreline, hoping that letting his feet hit the water will cool him down a bit.

The feeling of the waves hitting his feet relaxes him and after looking back to make sure Junmyeon was settled, Chanyeol continues to walk down the shore. The beach is filled with people today. Being an actor, he’s always found it fascinating to people-watch. People evoke the widest range of emotions without even realizing it, and sometimes he stores away instances in his back pocket to pull out when he needs a little inspiration.

He’s gone almost a half mile down the beach when he wonders if he should turn back or not. Junmyeon is probably perfectly content sitting under the shade reading his book, but Chanyeol had been eyeing the porcelain bathtub in his bathroom since yesterday and was eager to go home and give it a try.

He’s about to turn around and walk back in the same direction he came from when a group of loud boys running towards the shore ahead of him grabs his attention. They’re speaking a mix of Korean and English while also managing to run and tackle each other all at the same time. Chanyeol rolls his eyes at the group and begins turning around yet again, when he turns back. One of them is especially loud and Chanyeol wants to see what the ruckus is all about.

The culprit is unmistakably handsome and almost as tall as himself, maybe even taller. He’s sporting platinum blond hair and a subtle six pack. Everything about him screams “California” and when Chanyeol notices the surfboard he’s dragging along with him, he wants to scoff and turn away. The problem is, he can’t seem to do it. His eyes stay fixated on the surfer for a few more seconds until Chanyeol’s luck turns against him more than it already has today. The boy turns his head and accidentally meets his gaze. It might be a trick of light, but for a second Chanyeol thinks he sees recognition flit through his expression. Chanyeol doesn’t give himself the chance to observe more and swiftly turns around, walking to Junmyeon without looking back, no matter how much he wants to.

As they drive home, the tall blond boy lingers in Chanyeol's mind for a few more seconds before he realizes he hates the beach and is hungry and shouldn’t be thinking about random Los Angeles beach boys with model like looks because that’s just absurd and stupid.

And Chanyeol is smart so he doesn’t. Not one bit.

“Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo nods at him in greeting. Chanyeol scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Being cordial, are we?” Chanyeol notes. “Still playing the second lead, huh, Kyungsoo?”

This earns him a jab in the ribs.

“Four months, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo sighs. “Can we please at least pretend to get along? I’ll turn a blind eye to your general dickheadedness.”

“We do get along, Soo. You’re one of my only friends in the industry” Chanyeol points out.

They had both debuted at the same time in similar roles, receiving rave reviews and immense praise. They were easy targets to pit against each other in the press and ever since then, the Chanyeol-Kyungsoo rivalry has been documented thoroughly by fans and media alike. When Chanyeol started moving up to lead roles in action films at the same time that Kyungsoo continued accepting secondary characters in various genres to build his range, people started claiming that Chanyeol was winning the race that, in reality, neither of them were even participating in. Their careers are far from the reason that they tend to be hostile towards each other; their only problem lying in the fact that they often can’t stand each other’s personalities. Despite this, however, Chanyeol considers the smaller man his friend in some way or the other.

They both take their seats at the script reading table, occasionally greeting other actors as people slowly start filling into the room. About fifteen minutes later, the entire table is full except for one seat. Kris Wu.

The cast waits in a awkward silence, smiling uncomfortably at each other with no idea of how to proceed from here. A few moments later, the door bangs open and in walks a short man sporting a spiky hairdo and an annoyed expression. He plasters on a smile and addresses the cast.

“Hello everyone. I’m Minseok, executive producer for the,” the man pauses and cringes, “tentatively titled Kris Wu project, Oh, She’s Got Me. Very tentatively. It’s really fucking tentative because let me tell you, I think it’s a stupid name.”

Chanyeol tries not to laugh. Kris Wu and Kim Minseok have worked together exclusively as director and producer for as long as Chanyeol can remember, never failing to bring hit after hit to the Korean box office. Their relationship is infamous for being dysfunctional, yet somehow they manage to get the job done every time.

“What’s wrong with it?” Kris Wu strolls in casually in his 6 foot 3 glory. Chanyeol wonders why the man didn’t just go into modeling. “It’s a great name, Minseok.”

“It’s really not,” Minseok sighs. “Don’t worry guys we’ll come up with something. We always do. Now Kris sit your ass down, you’re already 10 minutes late.”

The script reading commences and continues without to many problems. Kris Wu adds in his insight here and there, but the cast begins to get comfortable with each other. Script readings are always Chanyeol’s favorite time to observe and learn more about the people he’ll be working with. Kyungsoo is playing his best friend and they’ve worked together enough in the past to easily tap into that chemistry. The female lead, Minah, on the other hand, is someone that Chanyeol has only briefly met in the past, as with some of the supporting characters like Hakyeon and Seokjin. It’s been awhile since Chanyeol has worked with such an unfamiliar cast and he can’t help but feel a little excited to experience it again.

The script reading ends a few hours later and after a lot of bowing and head bobbing, Chanyeol walks out into the hot California day next to Kyungsoo.

“Jun!” Kyungsoo exclaims once they spot Junmyeon. He gives the elder a big hug. “It’s been so long, how have you been?”

“Pretty great,” Junmyeon chuckles. “LA has been treating me well. What’s up with you two? Finally able to stand next to each other without limbs getting chopped off.”

“Sadly, no. Kyungsoo has already threatened to punch me three times today,” Chanyeol shares.

“You probably deserved it,” Junmyeon laughs it off. Kyungsoo joins him.

“I often feel like I have nobody on my side,” Chanyeol laments dramatically.

“It’s not a feeling, Yeollie, it’s reality. Get used to it,” Kyungsoo smirks. “I heard you’ve met Baekhyun.”

“Of course you two know each other,” Chanyeol frowns. “That makes so much sense. You both greatly resemble Satan’s children.”

“He wanted me to tell you that he has secured the passcode to your Gangnam apartment,” Kyungsoo mentions. “His exact words were, nothing screams Chanyeol more than making your own birthday the passcode to your apartment.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” Chanyeol screeches, immediately pulling out his phone to text Baekhyun and tell him not to fuck anything up.

“I’m sure he’ll be very responsible,” Kyungsoo attempts.

“Are we talking about the same Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks. Kyungsoo laughs in glee.

“Well, have fun trying to figure that out!” Kyungsoo fakely grins. “I’m going to head home and sleep. Bye Jun!”

“Bye, Kyungsoo. See you soon,” Junmyeon calls after his retreating figure.

“What’s for dinner?” Chanyeol asks, still trying to get a hold of Baekhyun as the two of them walk to the car.

“I found a restaurant in Koreatown with killer jjigae,” Junmyeon hums. “Or I could cook at home.”

“Nah, let’s eat out. I want to try it,” Chanyeol chooses.

“Koreatown it is then.” Junmyeon enters the address into the car and they drive off.

“Well, that’s certainly compromising,” Chanyeol casually comments as he walks in and takes a seat on Kyungsoo’s trailer couch. Minah gasps and scrambles away, straightening her clothes, and Kyungsoo lightly bangs his head on the wall he was just pressing her up against in frustration.

“Cockblock,” Kyungsoo groans. Minah slaps his arm and gives him a what the fuck are you doing fix this look. “How about we pretend like this never happened?”

“Fine by me,” Chanyeol begins. Kyungsoo’s face brightens a little. “But you owe me.”

“I should have known,” Kyungsoo frowns.

“Well, I’m going to get going then,” Minah awkwardly interjects. “I’ll see you on set, Chanyeol.”

The minute Minah exits the trailer, Chanyeol raises his eyebrows at Kyungsoo in fascination.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Kyungsoo complains.

“I didn’t know you had this much game,” Chanyeol hums. “Props to you, Kyungsoo.”

“We’ve been seeing each other since we shot that coffee CF a few months ago,” Kyungsoo explains grumpily. “Now leave me alone. I have lines to run.”

“That was actually the reason why I came,” Chanyeol remembers. “Can we run the second scene? I wanted to see how you’re delivering the dialogue so I can match you.”

“You really never take a break do you?” Kyungsoo wonders. “You probably have the script memorized cover to cover.”

“It’s my job,” Chanyeol defends.

Kyungsoo sighs. “I’ll run it with you if you promise me that you’ll actually go to sleep tonight.”

“Yes sir,” Chanyeol relents.

They run it a few times until Chanyeol is finally satisfied with the results. Kyungsoo then promptly tells him to get the fuck out of his trailer. He’s about to get up and leave when the trailer door bangs open to reveal a disheveled and out of breath young boy.

“Mr. Park!” the boy exclaims eagerly, a grin appearing on his face. “There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

Chanyeol sighs. He almost forgot about the fact that he had to get used to and deal with an entirely new crew. It almost makes him miss Baekhyun, but then he thinks better of it because missing Baekhyun is not something he will ever admit to doing.

“What do you want?” Chanyeol deadpans. The boy’s expression shifts into uncertainty at Chanyeol’s unenthusiastic tone.

“Um, I just wanted to introduce myself to you,” the boy regains some confidence. “I’m Jongin! Your set assistant for the tentatively titled Kris Wu project You Got Me, You Got Me Good. Minseok hyung wanted me to emphasize the fact that it is very tentative.”

“Kris’ directorial skills obviously don’t translate to his naming abilities,” Kyungsoo bemuses. “Nice to meet you, Jongin. Don’t get too scared by this guy over here. He’s all talk.”

“What do you want,” Chanyeol deadpans, ignoring Kyungsoo completely. “Make it quick.”

“I, uh, just wanted to introduce-” Jongin begins.

“Well you’ve done that,” Chanyeol hints. “So get out.”

“What?” Jongin’s eyes widen.

“You heard me,” Chanyeol quips. “Get out. I’ll ask for you when I need something.”

“O-okay?” Jongin looks taken aback. Kyungsoo sighs from his makeup chair in the corner.

“Seriously don’t take him seriously, he’s just prickly,” Kyungsoo reassures. Jongin relaxes a little at Kyungsoo’s words and then wordlessly exits the trailer.

“He looks like the kind of guy that will get me the wrong kind of coffee in the mornings,” Chanyeol groans.

“Simmer down ice princess, I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it,” Kyungsoo purrs. Chanyeol bristles at the use of the nickname.

“You too?” he snaps. “Fucking Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol sits while mumbling his lines under his breath in his trailer when he hears a soft knock at his door.

“Come in.”

The deliriousness that results from shooting a Kris Wu film has already hit him and it’s only been two days. The director insists on settling for nothing short of perfection and as much as that ideology aligns with Chanyeol’s own thought process, it’s been making his job increasingly difficult.

“I have your dinner,” Jongin squeaks, setting the plate on his makeup table. Chanyeol grunts in acknowledgement. The younger assistant has grown on Chanyeol. Jongin does exactly what needs to be done without any mistakes and with the sleep deprivation that Chanyeol is going to be dealing with in the coming months, he’s going to need as much perfection as he can get.

“Would you like anything else, Mr. Park?” Jongin mumbles, shoving himself into a corner and trying to make himself as small as possible.

“I told you to call me Chanyeol,” Chanyeol intones without even looking up.

“Sorry, Mr-” Jongin pauses. “Ch-chanyeol.”

“And no, I don’t need anything else so-” Chanyeol begins.

“Yes, get out,” Jongin completes the sentence and quickly scrambles towards the exit. “Let me know if you need anything, sir. I mean, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol sighs and puts down his script, picking up the dinner Jongin brought him. He’s almost halfway through his food when the door opens yet again. He can’t catch a goddamn break.

“We’ve been summoned,” Kyungsoo notifies him. Chanyeol groans and scarfs the rest of his meal down at the speed of light.

“Is it Kris again?” Chanyeol whines.

“Sadly, yes,” Kyungsoo sighs.

“I swear, that man will be the death of me,” Chanyeol whines. Kris has taken up the habit of ‘summoning’ cast members at his every whim and will to discuss matters ranging from dialogue delivery to fine art in the 19th century. “What is it this time?”

“We’ll find out together,” Kyungsoo doles. Chanyeol begrudgingly gets up and walks with Kyungsoo to one of the break rooms that Kris was occupying.

The minute they enter, Kris’ expression brightens and he greets them with a giant smile.

“Well look at this, it’s my two favorite lead actors paying me a visit!”

“Uh, yeah. Hey Kris!” Chanyeol musters up as much enthusiasm as he possibly can.

“Hello to you too! Stop being so stiff, Yeol,” Kris admonishes. Chanyeol has no words.

“So, what’s up?” Kyungsoo attempts as the two of them take a seat across Kris.

“I actually have something very important to discuss with the two of you.” Kris’ face turns serious. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to run an idea past the two of you.”

The two of them nod, curious.

“I was thinking of tweaking the story slightly, actually. I know that the story begins as two best friends going on a soul searching adventure, and along the way Chanyeol’s character falls in love with Minah’s,” Kris begins. “But what if your characters fall in love with each other instead!”

“Uhh…” Chanyeol croaks.

“Huh?” Kyungsoo’s eyes go wide. The two of them can’t seem to formulate any kind of response to that suggestion.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ve got this,” a voice behind them reassures. Chanyeol turns around to see that it belongs to a short man with jet black hair and feline features. The actor had seen the man around set quite frequently, actually, but was never able to figure out exactly who he was.

“Kim Jongdae, screenwriter,” he says. Then he lets out a big sigh and begins ranting.

“Kris, nothing, and I mean nothing, will convince me to rewrite the entire goddamn script as a homoerotic fanfiction instead of the beautiful love story it is now.”

“But-” Kris attempts.

“NO,” Jongdae yells. “I’m officially putting this down as number 2 on the list of stupid ideas Kris has had.”

“What’s number one?” Chanyeol wonders aloud before he can catch himself.

“Freshman year of college,” Jongdae smirks. “Trust me, you don’t want the details.”

“Oookay,” Kyungsoo whistles and gets up from his seat. Chanyeol follows suit and they both walk towards the exit.

“So, we’re free to go now?” Chanyeol prompts before they reach the door.

“Yes, you guys are fine,” Jongdae laughs. “Get some sleep, tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”

“Yes, sir,” Chanyeol pipes. By the time they exit the building, the soft orange rays that were peeking out on the horizon are gone. “Wow, it’s already dark out.”

“It’s almost 10, what else would it be?” Kyungsoo snorts. “Anyways, crisis averted. I would more likely drown myself in the Pacific over playing your love interest in a movie.”

“Touche,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “I’m sure you’re a terrible kisser.”

“Minah can be the judge of that,” Kyungsoo smirks.

“That’s gross,” Chanyeol grumbles. “I will never be able to unthink that.”

“Payback,” Kyungsoo grins. “I’m headed home. See you tomorrow, princess.”

“Can’t wait,” Chanyeol deadpans in return, but waves nonetheless.

He walks back to his trailer to gather his things before heading home. It’s slightly eerie, being in the dark alone, but Chanyeol is a man so he doesn’t get scared. Not even a little bit.

“I don’t even know what he is,” Chanyeol hears Jongin’s voice coming from near his trailer. He stops in his tracks.

“It’s like he’s almost an asshole but he’s not,” Jongin continues. “Like, I see him with Kyungsoo and he’s totally fine, and it’s not like he’s that rude to me either. Just extremely unresponsive.”

Chanyeol smiles a little at that. It’s nice to know that at least Jongin understands him.

“And my god, he fucking worships that script. I’ve never seen him without it in his hands,” Jongin wonders. “But still, it would be nice if he was a little less prickly. I’m scared to death of him.”

Chanyeol walks a little further up, but stops again when he sees another boy standing next to Jongin right outside his trailer.

“He sounds like an entitled pain in the ass,” the boy scoffs. “You’re just too nice, Jongin. If it were me, I would have kicked him in the balls at ‘get out’.”

“I could say the same about you,” Jongin defends. “You have no patience. Some people take some work, Sehun. It’s all about giving them a chance.”

“Chance, my ass,” the boy, Sehun, intones.

“You say that like you were always Mr. Manners,” Jongin laughs.

“I was in high school. It was a rebellious teenager phase,” Sehun defends.

Chanyeol’s phone buzzes in his pocket and he opens it up to see a text from Junmyeon.

Where are you? I’m waiting out front. Come quickly, I’m tired.

Chanyeol takes a deep breath and walks towards his trailer, pretending like he hadn’t heard anything There’s nothing that Chanyeol hates more than awkward situations.

The closer he gets, the easier it is to see the two boys standing outside. He gets ready to greet them, wanting to prove Jongin’s friend wrong, but nothing comes out when he gets a clear look at the boy

He’s tall, with platinum blond hair and Chanyeol knows he’s hiding a six pack under his bro tank. Chanyeol knows that because he’s seen them before and maybe thought about them more than once.

“Uh-” is all Chanyeol gets out before he freezes. It’s the hot surfer boy from the beach.

“Chanyeol!” Jongin’s eyes go wide, as if he wasn’t expecting Chanyeol to show up. “I thought you already went home. I was going to put this in your trailer for tomorrow.”

He holds up garment bag, most likely containing tomorrow's costume.

“Oh,” Chanyeol manages. He looks over at the boy, Sehun, and his eyebrows furrow automatically. Jongin takes this as a cue to introduce the boy.

“This is my friend Sehun Oh,” Jongin explains, attempting to resolve Chanyeol’s obvious confusion, not knowing the true reason behind it. “He’s working as a director's assistant to Kris until the end of the project. We go to USC together.”

“Kris, huh?” Chanyeol can’t stop himself. “Brave soul.”

Sehun’s eyebrows quirk at this, obviously amused.

“It’s an experience,” he admits. Chanyeol can feel himself being judged by Sehun’s eyes. Normally, it doesn’t bother him at all, but something about the other boy has him feeling completely thrown off.

“Well, I’m going to grab my things,” Chanyeol awkwardly inches around the two and opens the door to his trailer.

“See you tomorrow,” Jongin grins. “Sorry for lingering out here, by the way, we ran into each other while I was dropping this stuff off.”

Chanyeol mumbles an, “it’s okay,” that nobody hears. “I’ll take that,” he adds, more confidently, grabbing the garment bag out of Jongin’s hands.

Chanyeol quickly enters his trailer and lets the door shut behind him. While he packs up his things, he wonders to himself why the hell his heart is beating so fast.

For some reason, Chanyeol shows up to work the next day feeling just a little nervous. He chalks it up to a bad night of sleep coupled with an increasing suspicion in regards to Kris’ erratic directorial style, but the actor can’t help but admit that the tall blond director’s assistant from yesterday has been on his mind. More than he should be.

It’s fascinating, really, how much Chanyeol wants to prove himself in a way that he’s never wanted to before. Perhaps it was because acting is something Chanyeol has always had undoubted confidence in. People, on the other hand, well, Chanyeol has never been very good at people. That explains why he has such few friends, all of whom approached him first and took the time to understand to his personality. The actor was a lot of work, as Jongin had described, but he wasn’t a bad person.

Being in an industry where everyone has an image, it was easy for Chanyeol to build up an obnoxious and confident image. In reality, he was obnoxious and confident about his acting skills, but everything else was a completely different story. He never knew how to turn acquaintances into friends and he often didn’t have time to turn himself off work mode. This led him to generally avoiding forging real relationships. The actor was comfortable as a workaholic with a close circle of great friends, but because of it, he had to get used to being called everything from ‘loner’ to ‘snobbish’. It took time, but Chanyeol had stopped caring about what other people thought and said about him.

Until Sehun appeared, of course.

It seemed that Sehun Oh was a completely different story. Attraction most definitely isn’t a new thing to Chanyeol, but he’s never felt an attraction that was so unrelenting. Sehun was a puppeteer to his heartstrings, forcing him into thoughts and feelings that he didn’t want to go anywhere near.

Chanyeol was hopelessly drawn to a boy that he hasn’t even spoken two words to. All he had was a name and an occupation. The logical side of Chanyeol’s brain was being taken over by foreign emotions that he had no time for. The actor wasn’t here to fantasize about making out with a stranger, he was here to work.

“CHANYEOL.” Jongin’s screaming voice snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” Chanyeol’s eyes focus on Jongin’s face in front of him. “Why are you so close to me?”

“I thought you were sleeping with your eyes open,” Jongin sighs. “Or that you were dead. I said your name like, ten times and you didn’t notice.”

“Oh,” Chanyeol mumbles. “Sorry.”

“Wow, you know how to apologize,” Jongin awes.

“When you do something wrong, you apologize,” Chanyeol explains. “It’s just that most of the time, I’m not wrong so I don’t have to do it that much.”

“Aaaand he’s back!” Jongin announces to everyone in the hair and makeup room. “Don’t worry guys, our lead actor is alive and well.”

Chanyeol looks around to see the concerned faces of the entire beauty team staring at him. He turns a light shade of pink and looks back at Jongin with a scowl.

“What did you do?”

“I was just scared that you were sick or dead,” Jongin waves off. “More importantly, however, Kris would like to see you.”

“But it’s so early,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t wanna deal with Kris this early. Kris is so… just so.”

“I know he is,” Jongin empathizes. “He asked me to write him a report about the pros and cons of adding a zombie apocalypse scene to page 235 of the script. I haven’t even read the script. I’m just an assistant and I don’t even know what this movie is about.”

“The scene where Jaehyuk and Emily go on their first date?” Chanyeol gawks.

“I guess so!” Jongin exclaims. Chanyeol wonders how the assistant is able to muster up so much energy this early in the morning. “Too bad they don’t have Glassdoor reviews for movie directors or I would have avoided the trainwreck that is Kris at all costs.”

“What’s Glassdoor?” Chanyeol asks. He’s been away from the States for too long.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jongin laughs. “Kris is gonna flip a shit if you don’t get there soon.”

“God, it’s not even like he’s a terrible person,” Chanyeol frowns. “He’s just unique. Too unique.”

“Sounds a lot like you, Chanyeol,” Jongin responds. “Now go or I’ll get in trouble, and if I get in trouble, I’m skipping your 4:00 pm Starbucks run.”

“I hate you,” Chanyeol growls, standing up quickly.

“So you’re unique and a liar huh?” Jongin teases at Chanyeol’s retreating figured.

Chanyeol rolls his eyes, praying silently that he doesn’t have another Baekhyun on his hands as he walks to today’s filming location. The set is fully set up but oddly empty when he arrives. It’s the time in between when the setup crew leaves and the camera crew arrives, and it’s eerily quiet save for a few soft voices. Chanyeol follows the sound to find Kris and Minseok arguing. Again.

“Hell fucking no, Kris,” Minseok fumes. “Always no. Five billion times no.”

“It sounds so nice though,” Kris pouts.

“Chanyeol!” Minseok calls to him. “Kris wants to name the movie The Fault in Our Scars. Please tell him he’s crazy.”

“Umm,” Chanyeol steps back a little, hoping to avoid the situation.

“Chanyeol, what’s your honest opinion?” Kris asks.

“Is that why you called me here?” Chanyeol inquires with a sigh.

“Oh yeah, I summoned you,” Kris wonders. “I forgot why, actually. How funny.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol grits out. “So funny. Ha ha.”

“But really, what do you think?” Kris repeats.

“I think it might be a little too similar to the popular movie, The Fault In Our Stars?” Chanyeol voices carefully.

“You think?” Minseok scoffs. “I have to go now, but before you get any more ideas, please stop having ideas. Also, Jongdae wanted me to tell you to shove the zombie apocalypse idea up your ass because it sucks.”

“Why can’t he just tell me himself?” Kris complains.

“Because Jongdae says he has a mental breakdown every time he talks to you,” Minseok intones. Chanyeol agrees with Jongdae on that one. “Bye Chanyeol, good luck.”

“Well, I’m going to get going as well and practice lines for today.” Chanyeol inches away nervously.

“I thought you had the entire script memorized?” Kris wonders.

“You can never have too much practice!” Chanyeol reminds.

“Now, that’s why you’re my favorite actor,” Kris praises. “Your work ethic is endless! Run along then, I’ll see you in 45 minutes.”

“But call time is in an hour,” Chanyeol mentions.

“I want you to meet my directors assistants for the first time! You might have seen them around, Sehun and Youngji,” Kris quips. “You’ll be working pretty closely with them from now on, especially Sehun. Youngji is working with the crew more than the cast.”

“Oh,” is all that Chanyeol can manage at the thought of having to work ‘closely’ with Sehun for the next four months. “I’ll see you soon, then.”

Chanyeol slips away before Kris can continue the conversation, thinking about the news he just heard. He returns to the hair and makeup room and immediately, the team begins to fuss over him, making sure that he’ll be ready for the shoot in time.

The distraction is welcoming, but it’s not enough to take his mind off of Sehun. At this point, Chanyeol assumes there’s nothing that is.

“That’s a wrap for today,” Kris calls into his microphone. The entire set, Chanyeol included, lets out a collective sigh.

“What was that, five hours over?” Chanyeol sleepily mumbles to Kyungsoo.

“Five and a half,” Kyungsoo yawns. “The man might be crazy, but no wonder his movies are all blockbusters and awards season hits. Perfection is his minimum standard. I never thought I’d meet someone who does perfectionist better than you.”

“Right?” Chanyeol agrees, eyes almost shutting.

“Ready to go?” Junmyeon comes up behind him.

“I have been for hours,” Chanyeol sighs. “Food. Want.”

“Me too,” Kyungsoo adds.

“Me three,” Minah chirps from next to Kyungsoo.

“Where are your managers?” Junmyeon whines. “I’ve been getting the both of you food for three days straight.”

“Korea,” Kyungsoo and Minah say in unison.

“No one is as dedicated as you are, Junmyeon,” Minah praises, using flattery to her advantage.

“He’s just here for a paid vacation,” Chanyeol clarifies.

“I really am,” Junmyeon agrees. “Wait here, I’ll get you guys In N’ Out.”

“I can’t eat that,” Minah argues.

“You’re already skin and bones, Minah, a burger is going to do nothing to you,” Kyungsoo reassures sweetly.

“You two disgust me,” Chanyeol glares.

“I’ll be back soon, text me if you go somewhere else on set.”

“Alright,” Chanyeol agrees.

“Thanks, Jun,” Kyungsoo adds cheerily as Junmyeon walks away. “What did we learn when we were little Chanyeol? Always use the magic words or the manners monster will eat you.”

“He’s officially drunk tired,” Minah catches Kyungsoo’s arm when the other sways a bit.

“How are you not dying right now?” Chanyeol wonders.

“Don’t kill me, but I took a power nap when you and Soo were shooting your scene,” Minah explains.

“Can we trade bodies, I can’t even feel my legs,” Chanyeol asks Minah.

“If you’re willing to occasionally make out with Kyungsoo, then sure,” Minah offers. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know that director’s assistant you’ve been checking out all night.”

“I change my mind, I don’t like you anymore,” Chanyeol huffs.

“You need to expand your insult library further than “I hate you” and “I don’t like you anymore”, Chanyeol. Nobody is going to take you seriously,” Minah laughs.

Chanyeol has found that he’s been able to get close to Minah faster than he has with any other costar in the past. Perhaps it had something to do with her relationship with Kyungsoo, but the three of them were so comfortable around each other, even after only a week. It normally takes multiple weeks or sometimes even months for Chanyeol to get on the same comfort level with people as he has with Minah. It’s weird, but a good kind of weird.

“So, what’s the deal with the director’s assistant? Sehun, right?” Minah continues.

“There is no deal,” Chanyeol speaks the truth. “I’ve spoken to him twice in my life.”

“You’ve been discreetly looking at him all night,” Minah says knowingly. The horrified look on Chanyeol’s face makes her laugh. “Don’t worry, you did a good job of being subtle. It’s just that not much gets past my eye.”

The two of them find an empty bench on set while the crew buzzes around them, packing up equipment. Minah pulls a half asleep Kyungsoo along with her and sets him down.

“So, explain,” Minah prompts with a smile.

“How do you do that?” Chanyeol awes.

“Do what?”

“I am actually contemplating telling you what I’m thinking right now,” Chanyeol wonders eyeing Minah curiously. “I never tell people what I’m thinking.”

“I have a knack of knowing how to make people comfortable. It comes with the perceptiveness,” Minah explains. “But stop changing the subject and spill, I’m curious.”

“Honestly, I don’t know what it is,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ve never been this baselessly attracted to someone before. Also, he might hate my guts?”

“It’s probably not baseless,” Minah considers. She takes a quick look to make sure that Kyungsoo is asleep. “I mean he is pretty hot. Not pretty hot, actually, he’s downright sexy. He’s pretty and hot and sexy, that’s what he is. I would probably be attracted to him if I didn’t have this thing holding me back.”

She nudges Kyungsoo with enough affection to make Chanyeol want to throw up.

“Talk to him,” Minah advises. “Maybe he doesn’t hate you. And if he does, change his mind.”

“How? My default personality is, as Kyungsoo likes to describe it, that of a despicable human being,” Chanyeol deadpans.

“You’re not a bad guy, Chanyeol,” Minah punches him lightly in the arm. “Anyone who knows you well enough also knows that, so just get to know Sehun. You never know what might happen.”

“Talking to people is hard,” Chanyeol whines. “I don’t know how to people.”

“He’s a director's assistant. It can’t be that hard to find something to talk to him about,” Minah shrugs.

“Of course you would say that,” he mumbles. “You could probably hold a conversation with anyone.”

“You are hopeless,” Minah sighs. “At least think about it.”

“I will, I promise.”

When Chanyeol told Minah that he planned on taking her advice last night, he didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. These days, however, nothing in Chanyeol’s life really seems to be going to plan. He shouldn’t really be surprised. Half of the chaos, the actor amounts to Kris being a crazy mess, and the other half is thanks to none other than Oh Sehun, whom he is currently standing with in an extremely cramped and uncomfortable props trailer.

“I can’t find it,” Chanyeol huffs.

“Look harder. Kris is going to kill somebody if we don’t come back with something,” Sehun sighs.

Chanyeol silently nods and goes back to looking for the authentic Mexican sombrero that Kris insisted on having immediately to make the scene look more ‘authentic’. Chanyeol really hopes that Kris knows what he’s doing and that the film doesn’t get slammed for cultural appropriation upon release. The director insisted that Chanyeol join Sehun on the search in an effort to help them bond, and Chanyeol doesn’t really know what to make of the situation.

“I just don’t understand why we would need a sombrero in this scene, it’s just me walking on the beach pensively,” Chanyeol sighs, trying to keep as much distance from Sehun as possible. In his opinion, his attempt at making conversation with the director's assistant has been going rather well. If stuttered questions and awkward responses count as a conversation, he was having a great one right now.

“Lesson number one of working with Kris, never question anything,” Sehun warns. “Kris is always right, even when you think he’s not.”

“I guess you’re right, he does make amazing movies,” Chanyeol tries to continue the conversation. “Except for The Green Light at the End of West Street. That one fell a little short.”

“What?” Sehun spins around and looks Chanyeol dead in the eye. “You did not just say that.”

“Huh?” Chanyeol stumbles.

“TGLEWS was one of the greatest films of this decade, okay. No, it didn’t fall a little short,” Sehun argues.

“It was a rip off of Gatsby, plain and simple, and the cinematography was so second rate,” Chanyeol fires back. Nothing gets him more passionate than movie talk, which may or may not be helping his conversation plan. “Box office collections were the lowest of all the movies he’s ever made.”

“The cinematography was beautiful. Do you even know what you’re talking about,” Sehun fumes ignoring his later statement. The other’s cheeks were flushed, and Chanyeol realizes that he probably turns red when he gets worked up. The weak part of Chanyeol’s brain betrays him and can’t help but think it’s a little cute.

“It was passable at best. And what about the acting?” Chanyeol adds. “Hyeri’s range of on screen emotions is so small that it probably doesn't exist. Seo In Guk was the only saving grace of that entire project.”

“In that case, your range of real life emotions is severely lacking,” Sehun spits back. “She won a Golden Bell for that performance.”

“Golden Bell is the most rigged awards show in Korea. It’s pretty much a popularity contest,” Chanyeol scoffs. “I have four of them and they mean absolutely nothing other than that the Korean public can’t get enough of me. When Hyeri is winning awards for her acting and not just her pretty face, you can actually substantiate your argument. I’ve been working in this industry for five years, Sehun. I can tell a good movie from a bad movie, which is why my movies never fall flat at the box office or awards season.”

Sehun’s eyebrows furrow in anger, and he pauses for a moment before he begins speaking again.

“I knew something was odd when Jongin said that you weren’t that bad,” Sehun laughs sarcastically. “You’re exactly the overconfident and entitled celebrity I was expecting.”

The minute the words leave Sehun’s mouth, Chanyeol freezes. In his head, he weakly defends himself with a soft but I’m not, but nothing comes out. Sehun turns away from Chanyeol and begins looking again and Chanyeol follows suit. The two search in a tense silence that Chanyeol can almost feel on his fingertips.

It’s shocking, really, how much Sehun’s accusal hurt, given that it’s been years since he’s let people’s judgements get to him. It makes him feel like he’s in his rookie days again. Vulnerable and confused.

“I found it,” Sehun deadpans behind him. “Let’s get back to set.”

He follows the director’s assistant back to set, feet dragging against the ground. So much for making a conversation.

“He’s a dick,” Chanyeol says as he crumbles into a chair next to Kyungsoo and Minah when he finally makes it back to set and scurries away from Sehun as quickly as possible.

“Who? Me?” Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows.

“Sehun, I’m assuming,” Minah clarifies and Kyungsoo nods in understanding. Chanyeol should have known that Minah wouldn't keep it to herself. Kyungsoo probably told Baekhyun as well, who probably told Junmyeon, who probably told everyone else he knows in the excitement of finding out that Chanyeol was ‘getting a life’. The thought of having to retell the entire prop trailer situation to everyone who knows is almost physically painful for the actor.

“What happened?” she asks.

“He called me an overconfident and entitled celebrity,” Chanyeol pouts.

“Can you clarify which part of that statement isn’t true?” Kyungsoo inquires.

“I’m not a celebrity, I’m an actor,” Chanyeol huffs.

“Is that he part that upset you?” Kyungsoo laughs. Minah slaps his arm and gives him a look that says shut up or I’ll kill you and hide the body.

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol,” Minah rubs his arm sympathetically. It really does make him feel better. He’s never had a friend that he didn’t feel like murdering 90% of the time, so having Minah around is a change of pace. A good one. “At least you tried.”

“I guess,” Chanyeol sighs. On an afterthought he adds, “By the way, Minah, your advice sucked.”

“Why is he here?” Chanyeol seethes as Jongin enters his trailer with Public Enemy #1.

“Nice to see you as well, Chanyeol,” Sehun greets with a lifeless expression that is a stark contrast to his normal smiling face.

“I know you two hate each other because of that irrelevant Gatsby ripoff,” Jongin begins. At least Jongin is on his side, Chanyeol thinks to himself.

“And before you start fighting over my opinion, I haven’t even watched the goddamn movie. I’m not as much of a film geek as you two losers,” Jongin sighs. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that your immaturity coupled with your inability to act like proper adults has been making the set feel a bit tense.”

He takes a deep breath, “Actually no, Kris is making me talk to you guys because you two can’t get along. It’s been an entire week since your fight, which I have to mention is the stupidest fight ever. Now he’s making me give up my job to trade places with Sehun for an entire week so you two can learn how to either become friends or become adults.”

“You can’t take my job, I like my job,” Sehun croaks. “This isn’t real.”

“I like my job too, but now I have to spend an entire week under Kris’ control. You can just kill me now,” Jongin rants. “For the record, I hate both of you for doing this to me. If your shit isn’t figured out before the end of this week, I’m going to tie the both of you to an anchor and throw you into the Pacific.”

Jongin storms out of the trailer, slamming the door behind him and it leaves both Chanyeol and Sehun in shock. Even though it’s only been two weeks since he’s met the guy, Chanyeol has never seen Jongin this mad. The actor didn’t even know that Jongin was capable of getting mad, but then again, if he learned that he was to be stuck with Kris for an entire week, his reaction would be ten times worse.

With Jongin gone, the remaining two are left in an awkward silence. Chanyeol has experienced a fair share of awkward silences in his life, but this one is by far takes the cake. Not knowing what to do, Chanyeol picks up his script again. He takes a seat and starts mumbling lines under his breath. This leaves Sehun awkwardly standing near the door of the actor’s trailer. The director’s assistant looks like he’s going through an internal crisis and Chanyeol can’t help but feel a little smug at the thought.

“Um,” Sehun begins. “Do I need to provide anything for you sir?”

Sehun’s voice is dripping with sarcasm, and Chanyeol has to try is best to control his annoyance.. Perhaps it was just to prove that he was mature enough to be the bigger person, but he was really planning on giving this whole ‘being civil’ thing a try.

“Maybe for you to grow up a little,” Chanyeol blurts out without thinking. Maybe he needs to try a little harder.

“Fuck you too,” Sehun sneers and sits on the couch with a frown on his face. Chanyeol wonders how it’s possible for someone to be so attractive no matter what facial expression they’re wearing. Even he himself can’t pull it off, and he’s considered to be one of the most attractive celebrities in all of Korea.

You should be a model, Chanyeol thinks at the other boy.

“Excuse me?” Sehun looks shocked. Fuck, he said it out loud. Chanyeol chides himself for having a terrible brain to mouth filter. He’s supposed to hate this guy, not be praising his perfect face.

“What?” Chanyeol plays it off with an intrigued expression. “Did I say something?”

Sehun’s brows furrow even further and he looks so confused that Chanyeol almost feels bad. Almost. Instead though, he’s more happy that his technique actually worked.

“You just said…” Sehun starts but thinks better of it. “Nevermind I must be really tired.”

Chanyeol shrugs and goes back to his work, trying to focus despite the obvious distraction sitting in the corner of his eye. His accidental compliment seemed to get Sehun’s attention, and the assistant was now intently staring at him, probably thinking that Chanyeol was too engrossed in his work to notice.

“Would you like something?” Chanyeol hums, not taking his eyes off his script. “Maybe a signed photo? You seem rather interested in my face.”

Sehun turns red and scrambles for his phone, cursing under his breath but saying nothing. He starts typing furiously, probably an angry text to Jongin, and Chanyeol has to keep himself from laughing.

They continue in silence for a while, with Sehun on his phone and Chanyeol re-reading his script, until Sehun interrupts.

“Why do you read that script so much?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious. “It’s pretty much a known thing that you have it memorized. Jongin even said that you can quote it with page numbers.”

“It’s my job,” Chanyeol shrugs as if it’s the most obvious thing ever. “As the lead actor I need to know this script well enough that I can capture the mood of the scene and adapt to it on the spot. Especially with Kris directing, I never know what to expect so I re-read it from every possible angle.”

Sehun just nods in response, thinking about what Chanyeol said. While he does, Chanyeol remembers something.

“Jongin didn’t bring my coffee this morning,” he thinks aloud. “Get me coffee.”

“No,” Sehun scoffs. “Not until you learn how to ask with some fucking manners.”

“It’s your job,” Chanyeol sighs. “Just do it.”

“You’re an asshole,” Sehun fumes.

“I know,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes. “Now get me coffee.”

Sehun gets off of the couch mumbling under his breath. Chanyeol can’t make out what he’s saying but he figures that he probably doesn’t want to know anyways.

The door bangs shut behind Sehun after he leaves, leaving the trailer in silence just like Chanyeol likes it. Smiling, he opens his script again, enjoying the comfort of having no distractions while he can.

“Can you try being at least a little nice to Sehun?” Jongin complains as he struts into hair and makeup four days later. “Start with regularly using please and thank you, he loves his manners.”

“Why should I? It’s his job,” Chanyeol shrugs. “It’s not like anybody is saying please and thank you to me when I rehearse scenes in my free time.”

“Your thought process is so rational that I can’t even argue with it,” Jongin complains. “But you’re still wrong. Being nice to people who are doing things for you is never a bad thing.”

“Not bad, no, but unnecessary, yes,” Chanyeol states matter of factly. Jongin ruffles his hair in frustration thinking of what he could possibly say to make Chanyeol agree with him.

“Can you at least try to get along with him? I don’t want to spend another week with Kris. These four days have been awful and I want to cry myself to sleep,” Jongin whines.

“It’s not like Sehun’s trying either. He says terrible things to me. It’s just that I don’t complain about it because I’ve actually managed to reach adulthood,” Chanyeol huffs.

“No you haven’t. You’re a child. Both of you are children,” Jongin fumes. “Children that are going to ruin my life. If you guys don’t fix this, I’m fixing it myself. I promise you that you’re not going to like my way, so figure it out on your own for god’s sake.”

Jongin turns on his heel and walks away angrily.

Ever since Sehun showed up in his life everything has been going downhill, and what annoys him the most is that the stupid attraction that he’s been feeling ever since that first day at the beach hasn’t gone away. No matter how much he gets annoyed with Sehun, at the end of the day he still wouldn’t mind pushing the other against a wall and doing very inappropriate things.

“Deep in thought?” Minah comes and sits down in the chair next to him. The beauty team starts buzzing around her immediately, fussing over her hair and applying products to her face at the speed of light.

“Is it normal to want to make out with someone and kill them at the same time?” Chanyeol asks.

“No, it isn’t,” Minah laughs. “But for that matter, not much about you is. Why? Is Sehun giving you that much trouble?”

“He’s so mean to me,” Chanyeol whines. “Only to me. How can a person who is nice to literally everyone be terrible to only one person? At least I’m consistent.”

“Try to lose the attitude a little,” Minah advises. “It might help you out. Pretend like he’s Jongin.”

“Sehun is nothing like Jongin. Jongin is nice and he understands me and isn’t mean to me and he talks to me like I’m a real person and-” Chanyeol rambles until he’s cut off by the smell of coffee coming from a cup that was just unceremoniously shoved in his face.

“Morning coffee, your highness,” Sehun deadpans as Chanyeol fumbles with the cup in his hand. The other immediately leaves before Chanyeol can get a word in. The actor turns to Minah, who is breaking down in laughter next to him.

“What.” Chanyeol demands.

“It’s just so funny, Minah giggles. “You looked like a deer in the headlights, you poor thing.”

Chanyeol pouts in response. The team finally finishes his makeup, so he can drink his coffee in peace while he waits for Minah to finish.

He takes a glance across the room where Sehun was talking to a few of the make up artists who were working on him a few moments ago. The boy’s eyes were turned up into crescents, and he was animatedly laughing at something one of the girls was saying. Chanyeol can’t bring himself to look away. He can’t help but feel a little jealous of those girls, and there’s a part of him that can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have Sehun smile at him with those eyes.

You’re here to work Chanyeol, he repeats to himself over and over again. Besides, Sehun hates him, so there wasn’t much that Chanyeol could do. The actor can’t foresee Sehun changing his mind about him anytime soon. Jongin had mentioned once that Sehun was one of the stubbornest people he knows. Despite the fact that Sehun was incredibly misunderstood about Chanyeol, it was probably better for the actor to just leave it as it was. Having less distractions is never a bad thing.

Today, they’re shooting at a private beach about 10 miles north of Malibu and the view is breathtaking. It was a pain to drive there but unsurprisingly, Kris gets very particular about sets. Everything about the place is relaxing and despite the fact that Chanyeol doesn’t get too excited about beaches, this place renders him speechless. Today’s shoot schedule had a few different scenes that were probably going to take hours. Kris had mentioned that he wanted to finish before sunset so the cast and crew could prepare to travel up north to shoot in the vineyards for a few days.

It was a last minute decision on Kris’ part, but Jongdae immediately agreed with it. Chanyeol does too, in fact. The vineyards give off the perfect background for Jaehyuk and Emily’s romance to blossom and in his opinion, there weren’t many places in the LA area that could capture the same feeling as the northern vineyards did. Just from the pictures that Chanyeol has seen, he can already tell that he’ll love them. It’s been almost a month since shooting has began and he can’t wait for a change of pace.

“Guess who’s a lucky duck?” Jongin comes up behind him with the first smile on his face that Chanyeol has seen in days. Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Both of us! Sehun too, I guess. Look over there.”

Chanyeol turns to where Jongin is pointing and sees Kris and Sehun intensely discussing something.

“He’s setting me free because I suck at doing Sehun’s job. Would you imagine that?”

“Really?” Chanyeol sighs in relief, but a small part of him is disappointed. The same part that he’s been telling to shut up for weeks, but it won’t listen.

“Yup,” Jongin beams. “No more late coffee for you, my friend.”

“Thank god,” Chanyeol says. Yesterday was a terrible day for him because Sehun forgot to make a 4:00 pm Starbucks run. Chanyeol almost fell asleep while he was on standby and Sehun was working on something with Kris. He even got desperate and texted Junmyeon, but the other was too busy lounging on the beach to come to his rescue. You have a set assistant for a reason, Chanyeol, is exactly what his manager said to him, much to his displeasure.

He really should look into getting a new one.

Recently, Chanyeol has found himself in quite a few situations that make him think to himself, why me? Currently, he’s in one of those situations, and in his opinion, it’s probably the most why me? situation he’s been in so far.

“I’m going to try to go out there,” Sehun suddenly stands up and walks to the entryway of the cave that the both of them have been sitting in for the past few hours thanks to the one and only Kris. The director had heard that there was a beach cave around here somewhere and he wanted to use it for a scene in a few weeks when they came back to this location. The two of them were sent in hopes that they would “bond” more but it slipped everyone’s notice that it was very close to sunset. Too close, in fact, because Chanyeol and Sehun were now sitting in an empty cave with only their cell phone flashlights to provide them with any way of seeing.

“Bad idea,” Chanyeol warns Sehun from doing anything too rash. “You’ll get hurt, you can’t see anything out there with just that tiny flashlight.”

“What else can we do? We’ll be stuck in here till dawn,” Sehun argues.

“Someone will come find us,” Chanyeol hopes. “Hopefully with a strong enough flashlight to get us back safely.”

Sehun checks the time on his phone and Chanyeol catches a glimpse. 11:24. They should be leaving for the vineyards in a half an hour and they have no way of calling anyone because of cell reception problems.

“I can’t just wait around. I’m going,” Sehun declares before promptly stepping out into the dark.

“Sehun, wait,” Chanyeol calls out a second too late. It’s a stupid idea and the both of them know it. Chanyeol remembers seeing quite a few sharp rocks on the way here and he hopes that Sehun is careful enough to avoid getting hurt. The cave is eerie without company and Chanyeol hates the feeling.

The wait for Sehun to come back continues and after half an hour, Chanyeol starts to suspect something is wrong. Getting up, he curses Sehun’s stupidity and heads out of the cave himself, hoping that he finds the other in one piece. Carefully treading to avoid cutting himself on anything, he slowly makes his way down the makeshift path towards set. About five minutes later, his flashlight makes out a figure sitting down on a rock a few feet down. Chanyeol can easily tell that it’s Sehun.

“Sehun?” Chanyeol calls out, prompting the other to look up. The assistant's features are twisted into a painful expression and Chanyeol rushes over

“I cut myself on a rock,” Sehun mumbles, embarrassed.

Chanyeol sighs heavily and points his flashlight to wear Sehun was clutching his calf. There was a decent amount of blood and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

“You dumbass,” Chanyeol breathes worriedly, kneeling down in the sand to get a better look at it. “We need to stop the bleeding before it gets worse.”

Chanyeol does the first thing that comes to mind and quickly pulls off his shirt and folds it into a makeshift bandage. Carefully wrapping it around the wound, Chanyeol covers up as much as he can.

“That shirt is Gucci, Chanyeol. You should have just used mine. The costume department is going to have a heart attack,” Sehun complains.

“Would you shut up for a few minutes?” Chanyeol orders, letting out a frustrated puff of air. Sehun complies with his request and they sit in silence for a few minutes, Sehun perched on the rock and Chanyeol shirtless in the sand.

“Thank you,” Sehun mumbles a few minutes later. “I didn’t think you would come.”

“God, Sehun, I’m not a monster,” Chanyeol sighs. “Yes, I’m blunt and serious about my work, that I will agree to. And yes, sometimes I come off as rude because of it, but I’m not an awful human being. I’m here to work, Sehun, not to make sure everyone’s day has been bright and sunny. It’s not like I sit there and plot how I can make people feel bad.”

Chanyeol’s rant stuns Sehun into speechlessness. It looks like he’s deep in thought, formulating his response. Sehun is about to open his mouth to say something when the two of them hear Minseok and Jongdae yelling their names from down the path. Chanyeol yells back, letting them know that they’re here and that Sehun was hurt.

Within 15 minutes, they’re brought back to safety and notified that the travel to the vineyards was postponed until tomorrow morning because shooting went overtime and their lead actor went missing. Chanyeol is relieved at the thought of getting a good night’s sleep after the mess that his day has been today.

Junmyeon picks him up, worrying at him with questions that he just waves off in favor of resting his head against the glass of the car and staring at the scenery passing by.

As they drive home, he can’t help but wonder what Sehun was about to say as he’s lulled to sleep by the movement of the car. He guesses that the question will have to wait to be answered another day.

“What is even going on?” Chanyeol kicks his suitcase in frustration. The room reservations for the cast and crew’s temporary NorCal schedules got oddly mixed up, leaving himself, Junmyeon and Kyungsoo in a suite style apartment instead of individual hotel rooms. It was a decent deal because they had a flat screen TV and a kitchen as well, both of which they would probably be using due to filming being canceled indefinitely.

“Who the fuck knows, it’s Kris,” Kyungsoo sighs, flopping on to the couch. They were all exhausted after driving for five hours yet the two actors were keen on getting started filming as soon as possible. The movie was already running behind schedule due to Kris’ perfectionist tendencies and now that their eccentric director has just given them an indefinite number of days off. At this rate they’ll have to work crazy hours in order to get filming done in time. Neither Chanyeol or Kyungsoo were particularly pleased about this, to say the least. “What is he even doing?”

“Jongin said R&R,” Chanyeol deadpans, joining Kyungsoo on the couch. “Something involving jet skis and extreme cliff diving. Apparently, he’s too wound up to do his best work on set, so he’s taking a break.”

“Nothing about those two activities sound relaxing in the slightest,” Kyungsoo sighs. Frustration would be an understatement for how he’s feeling right now.

“How the fuck can you have an indefinite hiatus in the middle of shooting!” Chanyeol suddenly explodes. It’s probably time for him to stop trying to understand how Kris’ brain functions, because no matter how hard he tries, Chanyeol can’t seem to figure anything out. “That too, just because you’re trying to fulfill a death wish.”

Chanyeol wonders what it would be like if he never had Kris in his life. Sadly, however, he realizes that he can’t deny that filming this movie was one of the best career decisions he’s ever made. Although Chanyeol probably wouldn’t choose to do it again, it’s given him a lot of insight on filmmaking that he wasn’t exposed to in the past. It’s amazing to him how much he’s been able to learn on this set even after working for five years.

A few moments later, Jongin bursts into their hotel suite, sharply dressed in a dress shirt and dark wash jeans.

“Get dressed, gentlemen, it’s time to get drunk off our asses on wine and cheap cocktails,” he hollers. “It’s a beautiful night and Youngji is single, let’s go!”

“Youngji is single?” Chanyeol frowns. “I swear I saw her and Jackson making out next to the props trailer a few days ago.”

“Are we really going bar hopping in Napa Valley? You do realize how pathetic that sounds, right?” Kyungsoo deadpans. Jongin nods absentmindedly, apparently still processing the news he just received from Chanyeol.

“Wait, how about Bomi?” Jongin asks eagerly, ignoring Kyungsoo completely. “Is she single?”

“How would I know, I’m not fucking Gossip Girl,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes and gets up from his comfy spot.

“Where are you going?” Kyungsoo asks, still lounging. “Wait a minute, you’re not…?”

“What?” Chanyeol huffs self consciously.

“Holy crap, you’re actually coming,” Jongin awes. “I didn’t even have to beg.”

“Junmyeon, come out. You have to see this,” Kyungsoo calls, sitting straight up with his eyes wide. “Chanyeol is going out. Willingly.”

Junmyeon’s door crashes open and the manager bounds outside, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol's with a gleeful smile plastered onto his face.

“My child,” Junmyeon coos, pinching his cheeks. “Look at you, going to a bar on your own. You’re all grown up.”

Chanyeol squirms out of Junmyeon’s hold, silently going to his room to pick out a random dress shirt. Without the thought of work looming in his mind, Chanyeol figured that letting loose a little wouldn’t hurt. It was very much unlike him but for some reason, he was feeling impulsive today. Perhaps it was the frustration of not having work to throw himself into the next day.

Perhaps it was the chance that Sehun would be there as well.

By the time he comes out dressed in a plain black dress shirt and jeans, the other three are waiting intently. Kyungsoo was dressed nicely as well. He probably changed his mind about going out at the thought of being left alone for the night. Minah decided to head up to San Francisco to shop with some of the other female cast and crew members for the day so he had nothing to do.

“Let’s go!” Jongin grins, almost bouncing up and down. The other three follow him out of the suite.

“I thought Napa Valley bar hopping was too above your standards,” Chanyeol smirks at Kyungsoo, coming up next to him as they trail behind Jongin towards the lobby.

“Seeing you drunk and using your lame pick up lines on Sehun, on the other hand, isn’t. What was it again?” Kyungsoo shoots back. “Oh right. Do you know what my shirt is made of? Boyfriend material. That has to be my favorite one.”

“That was one bad night. Five years ago,” Chanyeol turns pink with embarrassment. It was one of the mistakes of his life that he truly regrets, but thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, only Kyungsoo and Junmyeon were present to witness him hitting on random strangers the night he won his first blue dragon award. Ever since then, he swore off drinking heavily. The first time he “went out” after that night was with Baekhyun and his friends two months ago, and thankfully he made it out without any embarrassments other than his usual social awkwardness.

“And you’ll never live it down,” Kyungsoo teases. “Right, Junmyeon hyung?”

“You really won’t,” the manager laughs. He catches Chanyeol’s expression and quickly adds, “But I will never speak of it again in hopes to keep my job.

“The rest of them already left, apparently,” Jongin frowns at a text message on his phone. “They better not start the party without me.”

“I can’t imagine they would get drunk off their asses that quickly,” Kyungsoo rubs Jongin’s shoulder comfortingly. “Don’t worry, they’ll be willing to take plenty of shots with you.”

Three hours later, Chanyeol fully understands how true Kyungsoo’s statement was as he narrowly dodges Jongin and Bomi stumbling into him while making out. After only a few drinks, he’s not nearly buzzed enough to act half as idiotic as most of the people here were.

Unsurprisingly, other than a few middle aged couples, the cast and crew of the tentatively titled Kris Wu project Ayy Girl, Take My Hand has fully occupied a little hole in the wall wine bar. Judging from the amused expressions of all the employees, this is probably the most fun anybody has had in this bar in a while.

“Ayy Girl, Take My Hand?” Minseok shrieks incredulously from the table he’s standing on. “More like Ayy Girl, Grab My Dick.”

Jongdae, who is wrestling one of the prop team interns next to the table, breaks down in a fit of giggles, effectively losing the fight. The intern successfully pins him down and stumbles away to take another shot while Jongdae just lies in the floor laughing uncontrollably.

Chanyeol’s frown deepens, “What was the joke even?”

Kyungsoo twitches next to him. If Chanyeol had to guess, the other actor probably had five too many shots in his system. Thankfully, however, drunk Kyungsoo is only introspective and oddly philosophical so Chanyeol doesn’t have to take care of him

“Jokes are laughs. With laughs, we heal the soul. Minseok is god and also maybe Yixing,” Kyungsoo mumbles incoherently. “It was really funny, okay, Chanyeol? Don’t be a debbie dogger.”

“It’s downer, Soo,” Jongin slurs from the other side of Chanyeol, scaring the crap out of him.

“Where the fuck did you come from?” Chanyeol takes a deep breath to calm himself.

“Gotta go FAST,” Jongin pops up from his seat. “THIS IS MY JAM.”

Jongin runs out onto the dance floor as the Selena Gomez track that had been playing fades into some deep house track with a heavy bass. The assistant is a shockingly good dancer, even when drunk, and much to his satisfaction, it attracts the attention a few female lighting and sound technicians on the edge of the dance floor.

Kyungsoo suddenly hops off his barstool as well, leaving Chanyeol startled yet again.

“You know what?” Kyungsoo seethes as he sways on his feet. Chanyeol holds his arms up in case the shorter’s balance fails him. “FUCK KRIS.”

Kyungsoo’s shout bounces off the walls of the bars and half of the people in the bar turn to look at him. After a beat of silence the rest of the cast and crew starts repeating Kyungsoo’s words with their glasses raised. Energized by the crowd, Kyungsoo runs over to some cast members to make conversation, almost tripping over his feet in the process.

Observing the chaos around him, Chanyeol sighs to himself, slumping back into his seat at the bar. He feels like he’s at a college party again and the thought makes him question his entire existence. Swiveling around, Chanyeol resolves that the only thing that will help his situation is getting more drunk.

“Can I have another Jack and Coke, please?” Chanyeol calls to the bartender. “Make it strong, I’m not drunk enough for this shit.”

“Me tooooooooooo,” an incredibly drunk Sehun chirps as he tumbles into Chanyeol’s side. “I want oneeeee.”

Chanyeol has to wrap his arms around the younger man to make sure that they both don’t go crashing to the ground. Perhaps it was the discrepancy in their levels of intoxication, but apparently, it was only awkward for Chanyeol, because Sehun was currently snuggling into Chanyeol’s chest as if there was no other place he’d rather be.

“You’re so warm, Yeollie,” Sehun hums. Chanyeol must look visibly uncomfortable because the bartender is giving him a sympathetic frown as he pushes the two drinks over. The actor tries his best to maneuver the incredibly drunk director’s assistant onto his own chair. His attempt is minorly successful, managing to get Sehun fully seated despite needing a little support.

Chanyeol leaves a hand on Sehun’s shoulder to make sure the younger doesn’t fall off. Using his other hand, Chanyeol takes a large gulp of his drink. Sehun notices and frowns.

“Where’s mine?” the boy whines. “Gimme.”

“Are you sure you should have more to drink?” Chanyeol asks tentatively. “You can’t even sit upright.”

“I can too,” Sehun argues petulantly. “Watch me.”

Sehun shrugs off Chanyeol’s support and the sudden movement almost sends him tumbling to the ground yet again. Chanyeol grabs his arm and hauls him back up, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, maybe I’m a little drunk,” Sehun giggles. “Nothing a little alcohol won’t fix!”

Fortunately for Chanyeol, Sehun’s motor skills were so off that he misses the glass by a mile when he goes to grab it. Chanyeol picks up his drink and chugs as much of it as he can before getting out of his seat.

“Okay, I think it’s time to get you home,” Chanyeol sighs, unable to believe that he was willingly taking babysitting responsibility for Sehun that night. After much effort, Chanyeol succeeds in hauling an uncooperative Sehun outside. The bar wasn’t too far from the place they were staying but with an unruly Sehun, it takes almost 30 minutes to make it back. Too tired to find Sehun’s room, Chanyeol drags the drunk boy up to his own room and dumps him on the couch in the living area. Walking over to the kitchen, Chanyeol grabs a tall glass and fills it to the brim with water. He places the glass on the coffee table and tries to figure out how to get Sehun to drink a little

There’s no point in wasting time arguing with Sehun, so Chanyeol just pulls him upright and shoves the glass near his mouth.

“Drink or you’ll regret it,” Chanyeol orders simply. Sehun sips without complaint.

After managing to get Sehun to down almost half the glass, Chanyeol places it back on the table and goes on a hunt for a blanket. By the time he comes back with one, Sehun’s eyes are closed. Chanyeol quietly drapes the blanket over him and turns to go to his bedroom. Before he’s able to walk away, a hand wraps around his wrist and tugs. Chanyeol turns back around to look down at Sehun. His eyes are cracked open a tiny bit and he lets out a small sigh.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles eyes almost fluttering shut. “For not giving you a chance.”

Chanyeol doesn’t know what to say in response.

The hand around his wrist loosens and falls back onto the couch. Chanyeol stands frozen, trying to figure out what just happened. After a few more seconds of staring, he goes back to his room, wondering if Sehun was still drunk or not.

He quickly changes his clothes and flops onto the mattress. Sleep comes to him quickly.

Chanyeol’s eyes open to rays of sunlight poking through the window and after a few moments of peacefully lying there, memories of the previous night come rushing back to him. Startling upright, Chanyeol throws the covers off of him and hurries into the hallway. Sehun is still slumbering peacefully on the couch. Quickly glancing at the door, he notes an absence of Junmyeon and Kyungsoo’s shoes. The two must not have made it home last night.

Sighing to himself, he pads back to his room to search for his phone where it was wrapped up in his blankets. When he finally finds it, Chanyeol realizes that it’s only 7:30 in the morning. There’s no way that he’s going to be able to go back to sleep at this point, so he resolves to cook breakfast instead. On the way to the kitchen, Chanyeol passes by Sehun once again. The younger boy is sleeping like a rock, unmoving and sighing quietly in his sleep. He looks positively adorable and it makes Chanyeol want to coo at him. The thought makes him shudder because he’s never really felt that way about anyone before. Chanyeol was never one to dote on someone; if anything, most of the people in his life dote on him instead.

Opening the fridge, Chanyeol pulls out all the necessary ingredients for a fulfilling meal, hoping that cooking can provide a distraction to his thoughts. It doesn’t work as well as he hopes for it to, because as he’s beating eggs, he wonders why on earth he seems to like Sehun as much as he does. The director assistant’s behavior towards him has been nothing short of downright hostile to him ever since that fateful day in the props trailer and if he was sane at all, Chanyeol would have dropped his schoolboy crush the minute the two started arguing.

It gets hard, perhaps, when his eyes automatically fall on Sehun during shooting. Sehun is like a magnet to his eyes and as creepy as it sounds, he feels like he’s learned so much about the other just by watching. The boy is friendly, never failing to smile at staff member or tell a silly joke to make people laugh. He’s incredibly hard working; the look of concentration while he’s working is so incredibly charming and handsome. Sehun is almost perfect and Chanyeol is probably just one of the many people on set that’s taken an interest to him.

While the eggs fry on the pan, he continues to think up ways to get rid of his crush. He’s tried almost every trick in the book till now: avoidance, distraction, and even denial. The arguments he has with Sehun are becoming more and more half hearted on his end because despite the fact that he has every reason to dislike the assistant, Chanyeol can’t help but feel the exact opposite way.

“You think I could have a bit of that?” Sehun prompts quietly behind him, having woken up. “That smells really good.”

He scratches his head sheepishly as he shuffles over next to the stove, arm to arm with Chanyeol. The actor can sense the embarrassment radiating off of him and chuckles a little to himself. At least he’s being civil for once, and that too while he was sober.

“Sure, we can split it in half,” Chanyeol offers. “It’s not much though.”

“No, that’s fine,” Sehun reassures, eyes widened. He gives Chanyeol’s appearance a one over, taking it in with all of its disheveled glory. Chanyeol is currently wearing ratty flannel pants and his most comfortable sleep shirt that he’s had since college. Junmyeon begs him to throw it out every time he sees it but Chanyeol loves it too much to let go of it, no matter how many holes it has in it. “You look different. Less...edgy.”

“No work today,” Chanyeol explains, as if it should be obvious. Sehun can’t seem to find the words to respond, so he just takes over flipping the omelets while Chanyeol beats more eggs. The actor smiles slightly to himself, realizing that this is one of the first times that Sehun hasn’t yelled at him or sarcastically shoved a cup of coffee in his face since the day they met.

“How many do you want?” Chanyeol asks, wondering whether he should crack the egg he’s holding in his hand or not.

“Three is fine. You have bread too, right?” Sehun wonders as Chanyeol puts the eggs away in the fridge.

“Bread probably makes up about 70% of Kyungsoo’s diet, so we do, in fact, have bread,” Chanyeol laughs. Sehun does a double take and his eyes widen a bit, so Chanyeol decides to see how far he can play this.

“What? Does my laugh make you uncomfortable?

“N-no. I just don’t think I’ve ever seen it before when there wasn’t a camera on you,” Sehun awes. “Who are you?”

At that moment a very disheveled looking Kyungsoo stumbles into the kitchen with a pained groan.

“I don’t even know how this is possible, but I think I’m still hammered,” Kyungsoo sighs. “Hey, Sehun. You seem rather shocked.”

Kyungsoo takes a look at Chanyeol’s current appearance.

“I see you’ve met normal human being Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo observes aloud. “I’m glad you did, actually. Enjoy it while it lasts because the minute Kris sets his foot on the hotel property, the bitch is going to be back. Probably even worse than before because of all the lost time.”

“Okay?” Sehun manages with a little bit of effort. The boy distracts himself with flipping his omelet as Kyungsoo rummages through the fridge.

“Where’s the French bread?” Kyungsoo whines.

“Next to your honey wheat, dumbass. Use your eyes, god gave them to you for a reason,” Chanyeol shuffles over to the pantry and grabs the bread and a cutting board. Kyungsoo looks so out of it that he’s too afraid to leave it for him to do. The man would probably chop his hand off if he was given a knife in his state.

“Aww, why wasn’t the bread in the fridge?” Kyungsoo whines even more. Chanyeol furrows his brows and continues to cut the bread into slices for Kyungsoo to eat.

“Your obsession with cold bread will never cease to confuse me,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes and sets the bread on a plate. Kyungsoo devours it immediately. He remembers that Sehun asked for bread as well and cuts another slice for him.

Sehun thanks him with a nod, apparently still unable to formulate words, and nibbles on his omelet breakfast sandwich.

Kyungsoo finishes his bread in less than five minutes and shuffles out of the kitchen quickly.

“Where are you going?” Chanyeol asks as the other actor changes out of last night’s clothes.

“I stayed over in Jongdae and Minseok’s room last night and they invited me to a game of golf. I would invite you but you would probably knock someone’s head off with a golf club if you came along, so I’m officially banning you,” Kyungsoo calls through the door.

“Junmyeon is going too, I’m assuming,” Chanyeol sighs. It’ll be hard to find something to do alone all day, especially coupled with the fact that he was completely unfamiliar with the area. At least he has his computer with him. Spending the entire day in bed playing League of Legends didn’t sound like a bad idea to him at all, actually.

Kyungsoo comes out of his room wearing a golf polo and khakis. Fortunately, he looks less like death than he did a few moments ago. The power of BB cream is something that Chanyeol will never question.

“I’m out then, bye friends,” Kyungsoo heads towards the door and toes into his shoes.

“Are you not going to invite Sehun?” Chanyeol remembers suddenly, when he turns around and sees the other still nibbling on his sandwich. Sehun’s head snaps up at his question and he starts to shake his head vigorously.

“No, I’m good! Golf and I don’t really have a friendly relationship, “ Sehun chuckles nervously.

“Yeah, that’s what Jongin said,” Kyungsoo laughs as he steps out of the doorway. “Sehun, do me a favor and please don’t let Chanyeol waste away playing League for the entire day.

With that the door closes behind him and the two are left in silence.

“You play League?” Sehun’s gapes.

Chanyeol smirks. This is going to be fun.

“I used to come here with my family all the time as a kid,” Sehun explains as they bike down a trail that he seems to be familiar with. “I always thought it was a sorry excuse for a vacation, but my family doesn’t live too far from here so it was always convenient. The wine made it a top choice for my parents.”

“It’s beautiful,” Chanyeol breathes out. Being surrounded by the trees and silence is breathtaking. It was off season, so the two of them pretty much had the entire hiking trail to themselves.

“I’m glad you like it,” Sehun smiles. “It’s probably more fulfilling that an entire day of LoL and junk food would have been.”

“Rude,” Chanyeol huffs, still smiling slightly. The two have them have seemed to reach somewhat of a truce after Sehun tentatively suggested that Chanyeol join him on his bike ride. When they talked, conversation flowed easily, and when they didn’t, the silence was comfortable. Chanyeol feels himself liking this much more than he probably should, but he doesn’t have the power over himself to stop.

“Actually, I have been,” Sehun admits, looking at Chanyeol carefully. “I meant what I said last night. I’m sorry for not giving you a chance. I kind of understand where you’re coming from with the work thing, actually. I’m the same way, except my focus tends to come out less…”

“Bitchy?” Chanyeol offers.

“I was going to say demanding to be nice, but yes, bitchy works perfectly,” Sehun teases. The assistant seemed to have thawed completely with Chanyeol. Perhaps it was the realization that Chanyeol was indeed a real person underneath his hard exterior, but Sehun was treating him like he treated anyone else. Just like Chanyeol had been wanting from the beginning.

“I should probably apologize as well,” Chanyeol comments offhandedly. It’s a little embarrassing, apologizing. The actor doesn’t tend to do it often, not feeling the need to apologize for his actions on set. He doesn’t get into arguments with friends that often either, eliminating the need for apologies in his personal life as well. “I said some awful things. Normally I’m not that bad, I just tend order people around without asking politely.”

“I’ve see that now,” Sehun says. “And as much as I am in full support of the use of manners, you are free to do whatever you like. Especially if it’s helping you deliver the kind of work you do.”

“What do you mean?” Chanyeol asks.

“You’re one of the best actors Korea has seen in a while, Chanyeol,” Sehun admits. “I knew that even before we met.”

“I knew that too,” Chanyeol mentions.

“Of course you did, Mr. I Have Four Golden Bells,” Sehun banters. “You must be loaded. I bet your girlfriend is happy, isn’t she?”

Chanyeol’s heart stutters. He knows that’s not the question Sehun was really asking.

“I see right through you,” Chanyeol raises his eyebrows, trying to appear calm.

“Then answer the question,” Sehun prompts. It’s a bold move. Chanyeol likes it.

“I tend to swing the other way, actually,” Chanyeol answers with masked anticipation.

“Hmm.” Sehun’s mouth quirks just a bit and Chanyeol doesn’t know what to make of it.

“Explains why you were checking me out at the beach that day. I thought it was you, but seeing Korea’s son in law in Santa Monica seemed a bit strange at the time,” Sehun hums.

“I wasn’t checking you out,” Chanyeol protests.

“So you do remember,” Sehun wonders. Sehun looks at Chanyeol intently. There’s a glint in his eye but Chanyeol can’t exactly figure out what it means.

“Yeah, I do,” Chanyeol responds simply. Sehun continues to stare at Chanyeol with interest.

“Keep your eyes on the trail,” Chanyeol warns. “You’re going to fall on your ass if you keep staring at me like that.”

“Prick,” Sehun mumbles, turning his eyes to the trail.

“Takes one to know one.”

“Kyungsoo, I like what you’ve got right now…”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes at Kris and waits for the “but”.

“But if you could put a little more pain in your expression, it would be perfect,” Kris finishes. Kyungsoo takes a controlled breath. To anyone else, it probably looks like a look of concentration on the scene, but after knowing Kyungsoo for years, Chanyeol knows that he’s concentrating more on not murdering Kris in cold blood.

“Cool off, for the sake of our careers,” Chanyeol mumbles through his teeth.

“I am fully willing to forsake our careers for the chance to go at Kris with a butter knife,” Kyungsoo growls back, quickly plastering a pleasant smile on his face.

“Let’s try running that again guys,” Kris calls into his microphone. The entire cast and crew scrambles into order, getting into their proper places. Chanyeol prays to god that this take satisfies the director because they’ve been shooting it for almost an hour and frankly, Chanyeol is getting sick of it. He’s nailed his part every time and he just wants to curl up into bed and get a good night of rest before they have to drive back down to LA the next morning.

It turned out that Kris’ SoCal adventures were quite brief and he decided to join the rest of the cast and crew only one day late. After spending the entire day exploring the beautiful vineyards with Sehun, Chanyeol couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that he couldn’t do it for longer. It was pretty wonderful to get to know Sehun on a level deeper than petty arguments. Conversation ran smoothly between them and Chanyeol didn’t feel even a moment of discomfort.

Kris finally wraps filming for the day after three more takes. The set slowly clears out and Chanyeol waits for Kyungsoo and Minah to reappear from wherever it is that they went. The three of them had plans to walk back to the hotel and grab dinner, but they are nowhere to be found. Chanyeol doesn’t even know if he wants to find them at the thought of what they were probably doing right now. Chanyeol sighs and drops into a random chair, pulling out his phone. He’s in the process of shooting off a few angry texts to Kyungsoo and Minah when Jongin comes up behind him and taps him on the shoulder. Chanyeol jumps out of his chair and lets out a very embarrassing squeak.

“You’ve got to stop doing that,” Chanyeol whines, looking around to make sure nobody saw.

“It’s too entertaining,” Jongin laughs in response. “Anyways, do you want to grab dinner with us? We’re heading out to that Italian place with Minseok, Jongdae and a few others,”

“We?” Chanyeol asks even though he has a pretty good idea of who it is.

“Sehun, obviously,” Jongin says. “I heard you two are finally being civil to each other.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Chanyeol shrugs. “More like he finally started being civil to me.”

“You’ve got to stop pretending that it was all me, Mr. Four Golden Bell Awards,” Sehun hums as he joins the two of them. “Are you coming to dinner?”

“I told Kyungsoo and Minah that I would go with them,” Chanyeol sighs. “Maybe we can all go if they decide to reappear.”

“I really doubt they will,” Jongin replies. “I’m pretty sure they’re getting hot in heavy behind those trees over there as we speak.”

“And thanks to you I’ll be trying to erase that image from my mind for eternity,” Chanyeol groans. “Fine, I’ll come with you guys.”

“Great, you can sit next to Sehun now while I talk to Bomi,” Jongin grins.

“Don’t break her heart,” Sehun warns playfully. “I’ve heard she has a mean right hook.”

“Yeah I know,” Jongin rolls his eyes. “Now let’s go. I’m starving and I could really use some pasta in my belly.”

It takes them 20 minutes to end up at the restaurant and another 30 minutes for their food to arrive. By then, Chanyeol is exhausted, hungry, and most certainly flustered from being so close to Sehun. Their party of 11 was seated at a table that would be more appropriate for 8, resulting in Chanyeol being stuffed between a wall and Sehun. It should be awkward, but for some reason it isn’t.

“You haven’t eaten Mexican food in LA yet?” Sehun gasps. “This needs to be fixed when we get back.”

“Let’s take him to that food truck in West Hollywood,” Jongin chimes from across the table. “Ugh, I want it right now.”

“You always want those tacos,” Sehun laughs, his shoulders shaking and Chanyeol can feel it against his arms. “You ate nothing but those tacos during the entirety of dead week last semester even though it’s a thirty minute drive from USC and there’s literally nowhere to park.”

“At least I don’t blow all of my savings on second rate sushi at Sugarfish every Friday.”

“Sugarfish is not second rate,” Sehun protests.

“Yeah, Sugarfish is actually pretty good IMO,” Jongdae agrees. “It’s one of the only places in LA that doesn’t drain my bank account.”

“Did you just say IMO?” Minseok questions. “God, why am I even friends with you.

“Do you two seriously still call each other friends?” Sehun inquires. “You two are long past friends.”

“What do you want us to call each other then?” Minseok deadpans. “Fuck buddies? We would, but it’s not exactly appropriate for social settings.”

“Is it not?” Jongdae jokes. “Fuck man, I’ve been breaking social norms for months now.”

“Your entire existence is breaking social norms, Jongdae,” Jongin sighs. “Might as well accept it, little alien.”

“Hey, don’t call me little, I’m your hyung,” Jongdae protests.

“Oh, so now you’re going to start enforcing honorifics?” Minseok complains.

“I call you hyung in bed, is that not enough for you?” Jongdae smirks in response. If Jongdae had said that to anyone else they probably would have turned bright red and run away, but Minseok just jabs the younger in the ribs and continues eating his steak.

“TM fucking I, Jongdae,” Sehun whines from beside him.

Chanyeol observes the table with a sense of awe. It’s oddly comfortable, being able to engage in a social situation without any obligation to add to the conversation. All he has to do is sit and take it all in.

The table dissolves into smaller conversations again and Sehun turns back to Chanyeol.

“I would ask you why you’re being so quiet, but I’m guessing that’s just you,” Sehun says.

“And you’re finally getting it,” Chanyeol laughs in return.

“Kyungsoo is making out with Minah in the makeup trailer. Again,” Jongin shudders as he bangs the door to Chanyeol’s trailer open two days later. “Oh, Sehun you’re here. Again.”

“Working on today’s scenes,” Sehun mutters absentmindedly while staring at the script with focus. Chanyeol takes the 4:00 pm coffee that Jongin hands him and takes a much-needed sip. Today has already felt like an incredibly long day. They started at 7 in the morning and Kris is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Chanyeol could really use a nap, but the chances of him getting one next to none. Coffee would have to suffice for the time being.

“You guys never used to work on scenes this much,” Jongin eyes them suspiciously. “I’m starting to doubt you.”

“It comes along with the whole friendship thing,” Chanyeol explains. “He’s struggling, so I thought I’d help him out a little.”

“I’m not struggling. I’m just unable to completely grasp the emotion of this scene,” Sehun clarifies.

“I explained it already, it’s pretty straight forward,” Chanyeol sighs.

“Maybe Chanyeol should be the one becoming a director, Sehun,” Jongin prattles as he makes himself comfortable on the couch. “You don’t seem very good at it.”

“Maybe he should,” Sehun slumps in his chair. “Chanyeol can become a world renowned actor slash director and I’ll just go into modeling like everyone says I should. Even Chanyeol thinks I’d make a good model.”

“He does?” Jongin asks curiously. Chanyeol turns slightly red as his moment of thoughtlessness comes back to haunt him. Sehun must have heard him after all.

“He does,” Sehun smiles with a slight glint in his eyes

“Oookay, there is sexual tension here and I am starting to feel uncomfortable. I’m going to take this as my cue to leave,” Jongin stands up and inches towards the door. “You better not be making out when I come back, or I’ll never forgive you. I have enough images of Kyungsoo and Minah scarring my memories and I don’t need any more.”

Jongin’s comments make him turn even redder.

“You blush so easily,” Sehun notes with the same smile on his face. “It’s cute.”

“I’m not cute,” Chanyeol grumbles. “Focus on the script.”

“Yessir,” Sehun mock salutes and goes back to reading the script with intensity. It’s a good look on him, Chanyeol notes to himself.

“Call time is in ten actually, we should probably head out,” Chanyeol checks the clock and remembers that set is a little bit farther from the trailers today.

“Right,” Sehun says as he checks his watch. Chanyeol throws on his blazer and begins walking to the door. “Chanyeol, wait.”

Chanyeol turns around to look at Sehun. He’s teetering nervously on his feet and picking at his fingernails. For some reason, he can’t seem to meet Chanyeol’s eyes.

“Do you want to maybe go on a not really a date with me tomorrow?” Sehun mumbles almost unintelligibly.

“A what?” Chanyeol asks, eyes wide.

“A date,” Sehun clarifies. “But not really.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Chanyeol prompts, confused.

“It’s still a working thought, but essentially it would be us going on what seems like a date but it could be not a date? Because us going on a date would be complicated, so we could go on one but it could not be a date!”

“Your working thought sounds more complicated than us going on a real date,” Chanyeol says slowly. “But okay.”

He agrees without really thinking about it. As they’re walking down to set, hands brushing lightly against each other with each step, Chanyeol realizes that he doesn’t really regret it. Despite all of his reservations, Chanyeol was looking forward to this not-date.

The only thing that he felt was anticipation and for once in his life, Chanyeol wasn’t going to talk himself out of it.

“We’re going to die,” Chanyeol whispers as he walks down a deserted street somewhere in West Hollywood with Sehun by his side. It’s dark outside and the place that they’re in looks particularly run down.

“Don’t worry, Jongin and I come down here all the time,” Sehun waves Chanyeol off. “We’ll be fine. This is, like, one of the safest places to be in the city.”

“At 11:00 pm? Is anywhere safe to be at 11:00 pm?” Chanyeol asks incredulously. “This is a terrible first not-date.”

“You won’t be saying that when you put that taco in your mouth, my friend,” Sehun hums as they round the corner. There’s a decent crowd of people standing around a food truck devouring tacos like they have nothing else to live for. The lighting is much less frightening and Chanyeol can smell the food as the two of them walk up to the stand. Sehun orders a combination of tacos that he doesn’t even try to make sense of and before he knows it, he’s sitting on the curb devouring tacos much like the people he saw minutes earlier.

“These are heavenly,” Chanyeol mumbles, not even bothering to chew fully. The only thing he can think about right now is the fact that he can’t get nearly enough of these tacos in his mouth at once.

“I told you so,” Sehun grins at the victory. The two of them eat while joking around and shoving food at each other. Chanyeol eats until he can’t possibly eat anymore and it feels like he’s a carefree college student again. It’s a surreal feeling.

It’s almost midnight by the time the two of them start walking back to Sehun’s car. They have an early call time tomorrow so Sehun suggested that they wrap up their not-date a little early. Chanyeol can’t help but feel a little disappointed, even though he knows it’s foolish.

“Where do I have to take you, again?” Sehun asks as they step into the car.

“Beverly Hills area,” Chanyeol answers. Sehun opens his mouth to say something but seems to think better of it.

“Okay, I’ll have you there in 10 minutes, Mr. Park,” Sehun announces in an exaggerated voice. Chanyeol laughs and buckles his seatbelt as they drive off.

True to his word, Sehun stops in front of his condo a little less than fifteen minutes later and parks temporarily on the curb.

“How far from here do you live? I hope I didn’t drag you too far out of the way.” Chanyeol fidgets with his seatbelt, not wanting to get out of the car. Spending time with Sehun was some of the most fun he’s had in a while and he doesn’t want to let it go. Once work starts again tomorrow, reality is going to hit them in full force. From here on out, they only had two and a half months to wrap filming. With all of the delays they’ve been having due to Kris’ perfectionism, filming is going to consist of extremely long hours and a lot of hard work for the remainder of the shoot schedule.

“No, campus is only about 25 minutes south of here, I’ll be fine,” Sehun reassures him. A ridiculous idea pops into Chanyeol’s head and he considers whether or not to say it. “You look like you’re having an existential crisis, are you okay?”

“Isn’t set north of here?” Chanyeol asks tentatively. Sehun nods, brows furrowed and obviously curious. “If you go south it’s farther from set, right?”

“Yeah, but I drive everyday, so I’m used to it,” Sehun answers just as slowly, the small smile on his face gives away that he’s caught onto what Chanyeol was trying to say. Of course, he wouldn’t make it easy for the actor, leaving Chanyeol to struggle with his words.

“But you’re already closer right now, so it wouldn’t make sense to go all the way back…” Chanyeol trails off.

“Are you perhaps inviting me up to your place right now,” Sehun fake gasps, smile growing wider. “What would Junmyeon think!”

“He’s, uh, not going to be at home today actually,” Chanyeol mumbles. Sehun’s expression turns even more mischievous. Before Sehun has a chance to tease him even more he clarifies. “You’re sleeping on the couch. Turn right at that stop sign to park in the garage.”

Chanyeol stays silent while Sehun parks the car. He only turns a little red when the other starts making jokes about how Junmyeon’s absence was quite convenient. Of all the people to fall for, Chanyeol had to go and chose Sehun.

Chanyeol decides right then to accept the fact that he’s never going to find friends (and more than friends) that don’t harass him. As tough as it is, he also decides that he probably wouldn’t change a thing.

“Rich people have the most uncomfortable couches,” Sehun complains, perching himself on a barstool while twisting his back to stretch it out, wrapping his arm almost completely around himself. The position looks incredibly uncomfortable and he wonders how much flexibility one would need to do that. At that thought, he quickly goes back to stirring his coffee before his thoughts start to get inappropriate.

“Blame it on Kris’ friend, Yixing,” Chanyeol waves it off.

“Who’s he?” Sehun asks when the name doesn’t register.

“I don’t exactly know much about him other than the fact that he’s the loaded owner of this apartment,” Chanyeol shrugs. “Oh, and Kyungsoo thinks he’s a god.”

“That gives me absolutely no clarity,” Sehun frowns. Chanyeol can detect the teasing tone of voice and rolls his eyes, sipping his coffee silently. Sehun comes around the bar and into the kitchen to pour himself his own cup of coffee. He hops up to sit on the countertop to drink it while Chanyeol leans against the opposite wall. A brief conversation turns into a longer one and after a few minutes, they’re scrambling out of the door because they’re almost late.

Chanyeol shows up to his trailer looking quite ruffled, finding none other than an incredibly judgmental Jongin sitting on his couch, flipping through Cosmo magazine.

“Slip your hand into his back pocket and lightly stroke his ass… since it’s totally private and hidden from everyone else, it conveys that you’re feeling especially attracted to him,” Jongin reads loudly, looking up from his magazine when he finishes. “I’m sure Sehun will love that one. You know what they say, Cosmo never lies.”

“Shut up,” Chanyeol grits through his teeth. He realizes that he probably didn’t think the entire Sehun-staying-over-thing as much as he should have, given that he spends 80% of his days with the Sehun’s best friend slash roommate. “He slept on the couch.”

“Uh-huh.” Jongin raises his eyebrows and Chanyeol has to restrain himself from punching the other in the face.

“Where do I have to be?” Chanyeol sighs, letting it go. Jongin double takes at the question, eyes widening.

“You don’t know?” Jongin awes. “You always know everything so I don’t find out.”

Jongin gets up takes a few steps to the trailer door, knowing not to question it further.

“I’ll find out and come back.”

Chanyeol drops into his chair with another heavy sigh. This is probably the first time in five years that he’s been this much of a mess. Being late is a concept that doesn’t even exist to Chanyeol and he hasn’t rushed for something since mixing up the location of his Chem final freshman year of college. One look at himself in the mirror and the first thing he thinks is disheveled. It’s a new look on him, for sure, and no matter how he looks at it, Chanyeol can’t find it attractive. As he stares at himself, the only thing that he can think is that he needs to get back on track. His brain is telling him to re-focus and throw himself back into filming like before.

The only problem is that Chanyeol’s heart is telling him something completely different.

“Keep it down,” Chanyeol hisses, kicking Sehun in the shin. “The whole set can probably hear you right now.”

“Not my fault,” Sehun hisses right back, pouting. Chanyeol leans in closer, pressing Sehun harder against the wall with a sly smile on his face. Sehun tries his best to look annoyed but fails when Chanyeol goes back to sucking a mark onto his neck.

“Fuck,” Sehun groans, trying to keep his volume to a minimum and failing to succeed. “You’re going to leave a mark.”

Suddenly, the door bangs open and the two spring apart.

“God, please don’t tell me…” Jongin whines. “I trusted you two, how could you do this to me.”

“What?” Sehun asks, confused.

“It has literally gotten to the point where I cannot walk anywhere on set without walking in on people sucking face,” Jongin complains. “Or worse. I can never again look at Minseok and Jongdae the same way.”

Jongin shudders and takes a seat on the couch.

“Why is this entire set so goddamn horny?” Jongin wonders aloud. “Anyways, fun fact, Kris is sick so filming is canceled this afternoon. Poor guy almost looked like he was going to collapse and Minseok had to force him to go home.”

“He probably wants to make up for all the lost time,” Chanyeol sighs walking over to his vanity. He starts to organize his vanity, needing something to do after being caught red handed just seconds ago. Even though Jongin didn’t make a big deal about it, Chanyeol feels awkward about being found out in that way. Especially given the fact that Jongin probably isn’t going to let him see the end of it. “We’re almost two weeks behind schedule. If we don’t start filming those scenes in the second half script soon, I don’t even know if we can finish on time.”

“I’m sure he’ll make it work,” Sehun shrugs. “Apparently, this is a regular thing on his sets. According to Minseok at least.”

“It just means that the next two months are going to be particularly hellish.” Jongin slumps into the couch with a pout on his face. It doesn’t last very long, however, because his face brightens up as a thought pops into his head

“Oh, Minseok suggested that we all band together and do something because we have the night off,” Jongin says excitedly, sitting back upright. “We should do something touristy, how about Santa Monica?”

“Ugh, anywhere but there,” Sehun groans. “Santa Monica Pier is always crawling with tourists.”

“Exactly the point!” Jongin exclaims. “And we can eat at that Japadog stand.”

“There’s one in Little Tokyo too. Just as touristy but less painful,” Sehun suggests.

“Fine by me, as long as I get Japadog,” Jongin agrees quickly.

“What is it with you two and food stands?” Chanyeol questions.

“Jongin’s entire life revolves around food and alcohol. I just get dragged along because I’m the unassuming best friend,” Sehun explains. “Also, Jongin has developed some messed up theory that food stand food is tastier than regular food. I don’t understand how he’s made it through three years of college without gaining 40 pounds.”

“Let’s save that mystery for another day. I would also like to add that alcohol was pretty much the reason why you two are able to get sexy right now. Without it’s help, you would probably be pulling each other’s hair out instead, in a totally non-kinky way.” Jongin stands up and brushes imaginary dust off of his pants. “I’ll go tell the others our fabulous plan. You can go back to making out, but be ready to leave in 20.”

“It’s a rare but true occasion, but Jongin had a pretty good idea there,” Sehun whispers as he crowds Chanyeol’s space.

It had only taken a few days after their first not-date for Chanyeol and Sehun to realize that their not-relationship would be much more enjoyable if they made out all the time. They were able to keep it under wraps for almost two weeks, surreptitiously sneaking around set, surprisingly not getting caught. It was pretty easy actually, due to the amount of time they’ve been spending on set lately. Most days have been going an average of 12 hours, leaving them with plenty of time to sneak away and spend time alone together.

Honestly, Chanyeol knew better than to start something in the trailer, especially since Jongin was in and out so frequently, but Sehun didn’t feel the same way. What Chanyeol had come to realize is that Sehun always wins. Now that they were actually together, however ambiguously, Chanyeol was even more at a loss than before. It had quickly gone from the actor not being able to take his eyes off of Sehun to feeling the need to have his hands all over Sehun at all times.

“We have twenty minutes,” Chanyeol frowns as he starts to packs up his things.

“That’s plenty of time.” Sehun’s mouth is right against his ear and Chanyeol’s heartbeat speeds up.

“Fine,” Chanyeol concedes with a slight smile, turning slightly. “Do your worst.”

“Challenge accepted.” Sehun grins against Chanyeol’s mouth.

“I hate this place,” Sehun deadpans as the entire group makes their way down the boardwalk. The sun is setting, so the sky is glowing a pretty orange as the lights on the pier start to turn on.

“It’s cute,” Chanyeol shrugs. He’s shoulder to shoulder with Sehun and their hands are brushing with each step forward. Despite the fact that they were with almost 10 other people, it still feels intimate.

“The first time we came here was right when we started at USC. Jongin drove us down without realizing his car was on empty. We had to wait around here until Hakyeon hyung could come get us. It was so hot that day too. I think I ended up getting sunburned,” Sehun recounts.

“Hakyeon? The one over there?” Chanyeol points at the supporting actor that was talking to Jongdae up ahead of them.

“Yeah. An entertainment company picked him up that year, actually. He moved to Korea halfway through the semester and started his first drama project less than a month later.”

“You think Bomi would say yes if I asked her to take a walk on the beach with me?” Jongin suddenly appears next to Chanyeol making him flinch.

“I’m going to start calling you ghost, I swear to god,” Chanyeol hisses.

“Yeah, whatever. What do you think?” Jongin asks again.

“Eunji told me that Bomi thinks you’re hot, so it’s probably a green light,” Sehun replies.

“Thanks man, wish me luck,” Jongin grins, giving Sehun an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

“She didn’t say that did she?” Chanyeol asks once Jongin is out of earshot.

“Nope, but what he doesn’t know won’t kill him. He’s has the courage of a five-year-old so I gave him a little push,” Sehun says. “Watch, she’s going to say yes.”

Sure enough, about thirty seconds later, Jongin is holding out a hand and leading Bomi down the stairs towards the ocean.

“Well done,” Chanyeol acknowledges. They’re almost caught up with the rest of the group now, after having fallen behind earlier. Chanyeol finds himself next to Minah, talking to her about next weeks shoot schedule.

“I’m dreading shooting the family dinner scene next week. I haven’t been able to get the dialogue right yet,” Minah sighs.

“I thought we were shooting that later this month some time,” Chanyeol frowns. He has the shoot schedule completely memorized after staring at it so often at the beginning of shooting.

“Kris switched it,” Minah clarifies. “It’s next week now. He said it, like, four times today but you were too busy making googly eyes with Sehun to listen.”

“Oh.” Chanyeol knows that Minah only means it teasingly but the words hit him harder than she intended them to. It was true, though, that Chanyeol was definitely paying less attention on set. It wasn’t affecting his performance, but his head has definitely been out of the game for the last few weeks. He can feel it happening, but he doesn’t know exactly what to do about it.

“Don’t worry about it, Chanyeol,” Minah quickly adds after sensing Chanyeol’s concern. “You still know the script better than most everyone on set. You also wrap scenes with less takes than any of the other cast members. Having a little fun isn’t going to kill you. Let yourself go a little, it’ll be good for you.”

She rubs Chanyeol’s shoulder comfortingly.

“You’re the happiest I’ve seen you since filming began three months ago. It’s a good look on you. Makes you more handsome.”

“Is that even possible?” Chanyeol calms down a bit and joins in on the lighthearted fun.

“You know, I never imagined that narcissistic assholes could be loveable, but you have proven me wrong,” Minah teases back. They continue to walk in a comfortable silence; listening to the conversation Sehun and Kyungsoo were having about the FIFA Women’s Cup.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol says on an afterthought. “You’re really good at putting my head back on my shoulders.”

“I really am,” Minah agrees. “But seriously, you know that I’m here for you whenever. Even after filming is over, okay? I don’t want you to become a stranger; I know you’re capable of doing it. Junmyeon actually equated your social life to that of a hermit and that the only friend you actually spent time with in the recent past was someone named Byun Baekhyun. Which is concerning because the guy apparently forced you to let him live with you.”

“It wasn’t force,” Chanyeol reassures her. “Just bribery.”

“You are hopeless.”

“It’s one of my many charms,” Chanyeol smiles. Minah rolls her eyes in response, linking her arm in Chanyeol’s.

As he continues to make conversation with Minah and as he looks around at his friends having a good time, he realizes that he’s is too. The more time he spends on set, the more he lets little pieces of himself go. It’s liberating, really, and Chanyeol can’t remember feeling this free in forever.

It’s been too damn long since he’s felt this way.

“It says to take a left,” Chanyeol repeats, irritation seeping into his voice. “Google Maps never lies. Take a left.”

“We can still get there if we take a right, calm down,” Sehun waves off, ignoring Chanyeol’s advice and taking a right anyways. Chanyeol sighs in defeat and closes out his maps program, deciding that it’s not worth the effort.

After paying attention, he realized that he agrees with his friends more often than not. When it came to Baekhyun demanding to occupy his house, although begrudgingly, Chanyeol did say yes. Multiple times. The same thing applied to Junmyeon taking him sightseeing and Sehun pulling him into hidden corners on set for a little “R&R” left him less rested and relaxed than before. Nobody takes him seriously, except maybe Minah.

“We’re going to be late and everyone is going to tease us when we get there,” Chanyeol grumbles, shifting in the passenger seat of Sehun’s car. He’s become quite familiar with it since the two of them started unofficially seeing each other. Whenever they get a chance to go home these days, Sehun has been opting to drive the both of them to Chanyeol’s place to crash for the night. It’s nice to be able to eat a home cooked meal with Junmyeon and snuggle into bed right after. These days sleep has been coming faster than ever with both of them worked to the bone and tired to the core. Other than avoiding Junmyeon nosy mother hen questions, Chanyeol’s life has been pretty smooth sailing. The manager seemed to be incredibly proud of him for finally “getting a life” apart from his career. He was probably even happier that Sehun was driving Chanyeol around everywhere, leaving him with practically nothing to do in LA other than go to the beach. With just about a month of shooting in LA left, he was probably enjoying it as much as he can before they have to go home.

With how quickly the last month passed, Chanyeol was starting get nervous. The end date of filming was approaching fast and he didn’t know if he was ready to leave LA behind. Kyungsoo, Minseok, and Jongdae already have plans for Seoul, which he was looking forward to, but without Sehun and Jongin it wouldn’t be the same. Leaving Sehun behind was going to be incredibly difficult and he has no idea how he was going to do it. There never seemed to be a good time to bring up the fact that eventually there were going to have to say their goodbyes. With their ambiguous relationship status and absolutely no idea of what it would mean in the future, Chanyeol didn’t even know what to expect and it was scaring him.

“You’re being quiet,” Sehun observes. “What are you thinking about, Mr. Park?”

“We only have a month left,” Chanyeol says quietly. “I’m going to leave to Korea in a month.”

Sehun falls silent, and the air between them is heavy. Chanyeol waits for Sehun to say something but the words don’t come.

“Sehun, what are we?” Chanyeol breathes out, asking himself as much as he was asking Sehun. Sehun reaches out and grabs Chanyeol’s hand over the console.

“Why do we have to put labels on it?” Sehun answers his question with a question. It’s probably the exact opposite of what Chanyeol wants to hear.

“How can we just keep going without labeling it? I hate not knowing what exactly you’re thinking, Sehun. What is this to you?” Chanyeol raises his voice a little. “You keep pretending like nothing is really going on between us. Why do we have to keep doing that?”

Sehun is stunned into silence. Chanyeol is pretty shocked as well, not expecting those words to come out of his mouth. Normally, he would be the last person in the world to say those words because not knowing is always safer, easier to leave behind and easier to forget. Sehun, however, is different. Sehun makes him want to hold on and remember.

They finally arrive at the restaurant and Sehun parks the car. They sit in silence for a few seconds before Chanyeol makes up his mind to say what he’s been thinking for the past few weeks.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling, but I do know myself,” Chanyeol begins in a low tone. “And I know that I love you.”

Chanyeol feels weight lifting off his shoulders. A moment later he sees his world crumbling around him because, for some reason, Sehun isn’t saying anything.

“I love you, Sehun. It scares the hell out of me because I don’t even think I understand what that means,” Chanyeol continues. “I can’t keep doing this if I don’t know. I just-”

Chanyeol waits for Sehun to say something but the other just stays frozen in place.

“I have to go,” Chanyeol stutters out, flinging the car door open and stumbling out. His legs feel numb as he walks into the restaurant. When he finds the table that everyone is sitting at he calmly avoids question of where Sehun is as he sits down next to Jongin. He pretends not to see the concerned looks Kyungsoo and Minah send him and quickly orders the first thing he recognizes off of the menu when the waiter comes around. Conversation bubbles around him, yet he can’t focus on anything but his own thoughts. As he sits there, he tries to wonder where he went wrong. This entire time, he was pretty sure that Sehun felt the same way he did. Occasionally, he glances at the door; half hoping it will open to reveal Sehun and half hoping that it won’t.

Dinner is served and eaten and an hour later, Chanyeol is staring at the desert in front of him.

Sehun’s seat is still unoccupied beside him. The room is full of people, but Chanyeol has never felt emptier.

After being around Sehun for almost 24 hours every day for the last month and a half, it’s shocking to Chanyeol that it’s so easy to avoid the other. All he really has to do is rush off to his trailer the minute Kris wraps a scene and stay in there until the next one. Sehun doesn’t come to find him and Chanyeol doesn’t know if he ever will. Nevertheless, the ball is in Sehun’s court now and all Chanyeol can really do is wait and see, as painful as that might be.

“You look sad,” Jongin sighs, handing him his coffee. In the past few weeks, Chanyeol has upped his caffeine intake in order to support the ridiculous schedule Kris has them shooting on.

“I wonder why,” Chanyeol deadpans. In the last few days since him and Sehun stopped talking, he’s gone back to intensely studying his script whenever he has free time. It feels wrong to read alone after getting so used to and discuss scenes in great detail with Sehun.

“You’re best friend fucked up my life,” Chanyeol whines. “Nothing feels normal to me anymore.”

“He’s been avoiding me too, if that makes you feel any better,” Jongin mentions. “I think he knows I’ll try to weed it out of him. I’ve only seen him get like this once in my life before, and I’ve known him since I was eight years old.”

“When was that?” Chanyeol asks.

“College decision time. He was picking between going to film school and doing something more ‘respectable’,” Jongin explains. “It was really stupid, because everyone knew what the right choice for him was. Even he did, I think, but I guess he really needed that time alone to sort out his thoughts. In the end he made the right decision, as Sehun often does.”

Chanyeol knows what Jongin is attempting to tell him and tries his best to believe it’ll end up being true. He gives Jongin a little smile of thanks.

“Don’t be too happy, I never said that the right decision was being in a relationship with you,” Jongin teases, receiving a well deserved punch from Chanyeol in response.

“How long do you think it’ll take him?” Chanyeol asks, trying to keep his voice causal even though he felt anything but. Jongin shrugs a little, but gives him a reassuring look. He still feels uneasy, but there was probably no cure for that other than having a conversation with Sehun.

The waiting game, Chanyeol decides, is no fun at all.

“That’s a wrap for today guys,” Kris calls into his microphone. The entire set lets out a collective sigh of relief and immediately begins moving off location to get something to eat.

Chanyeol is about to do the same when a hand grabs his arm as he’s walking away. Sehun.

Chanyeol takes a deep breath and turns around to face him.

“Ready to talk?” Chanyeol says, half sincere, half sarcastic.

“Your trailer? We can order dinner from that Chinese place.”

Chanyeol feels like punching Sehun in the gut for acting so casual but he stops himself. Instead, he decides to be civil and agrees with Sehun’s plan. Chanyeol begins walking in the direction of his trailer with Sehun following behind him.

When they finally make it to the trailer, Sehun starts talking immediately.

“First of all, I’m sorry,” Sehun blurts out. “I’m really, really sorry.

“You better fucking be,” Chanyeol grumbles.

“I just needed some time to organize my thoughts,” Sehun explains.

“Would you like to explain exactly what thoughts you were organizing, because I don’t seem to know even one of them,” Chanyeol starts to get irritated. The frustration of the entire week is threatening to break through his somewhat calm exterior.

“You asked me what we are,” Sehun states. Chanyeol waits for him to continue.

“Any conclusions?” Chanyeol asks sarcastically.

“We’re happy,” Sehun says simply, reaching over and giving his hand a squeeze. “I don’t want to stop being happy just because you have to go back. I don’t want to stop being happy even after you go back. That’s my conclusion.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Chanyeol prods further.

“It means that I love you too,” Sehun speaks softly. He comes closer to Chanyeol and tentatively wraps his arms around him. It takes a few moments, but Chanyeol relaxes and does the same, holding Sehun close to him in a tight hug.

“Do you think we can do it?” Chanyeol voices his worries. “Long distance.”

“I guess we’ll have to find out,” Sehun hums, burying his head in Chanyeol’s chest. “Ugh, I missed this.”

“It’s been three days,” Chanyeol intones, trying to keep himself from laughing.

“Three days too many,” Sehun complains.

“And who’s fault was that?” Chanyeol pinches Sehun in the side, making the other flinch. Perhaps it was the newfound realization that Sehun was officially his and only his, but for some reason hugging Sehun like this feels better than it did before.

“So, what about that Chinese?” Sehun carefully mumbles, ruining the moment. “I’m really hungry, sorry.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“I vote that we keep the drinking to a minimum so I don’t have to cart all of you guys home at the end of the night,” Chanyeol attempts to yell over the noise of their group.

“Or you could get wasted also and we can all struggle to get home together,” Jongdae suggests, throwing his arm around Chanyeol’s shoulder. It’s the night after filming finally wrapped. Jongdae and Minseok decided that it would be a great idea to organize a cast and crew bar crawl in LA.

Miraculously, they were able to finish on time even after all of the delays. The moment that Kris called a wrap on the film was one of the weirdest blend of emotions that he’s ever felt in his life. It was a mix of happiness, relief, exhaustion, and sadness that he was going to have to leave it behind. With all that’s happened in the last four months, Chanyeol considers this movie to be a turning point in both his career and his life. From the few rough-cut scenes that Kris has shown him, Chanyeol has no doubt that the movie will be the talk of the industry when it releases.

As they walk down the LA street together, Chanyeol and Sehun stay close together. At Chanyeol’s request, Junmyeon managed to push back some of his commitments so he could spend a few more day in the city before saying goodbye.

With the number of projects Chanyeol has lined up and the fact that Sehun’s bank account perpetually only has enough money for gas and cheap tacos, they knew that seeing each other wasn’t going to happen again any time soon. No matter how many times Chanyeol tried to convince the other that buying plane tickets to Seoul every once in a while would be more for himself than Sehun, he refused. They were going to have to do it the hard way.

It was odd how despite the fact that Chanyeol’s future with Sehun is a complete mystery, standing next to him right now, he feels more comfortable and at ease than he ever did before.

“I don’t even know how I consistently managed to only make friends with people like you guys,” Chanyeol sighs. “You guys are such a mess. And you’re mean too.”

“Wait till you meet Luhan, it’ll get better,” Minseok laughs. The producer’s best friend was an investment banker in Korea that was swimming in money when Minseok was still trying to get his career in film off the ground. Apparently, the two had a lot of fun together, especially after Minseok met Jongdae through the industry. Sehun made them promise to drag Chanyeol out as much as possible so he doesn’t return to his hermit ways.

After Jongdae heard about Baekhyun, he’s been insisting on having a group bonding session with him, much to Chanyeol’s disdain. He can’t imagine what bar hopping with these four people would be like, but Chanyeol is already dreading the thought. As much as he enjoys the company of his friends, their drunken personalities just make him want to push them into oncoming traffic.

“Here we are,” Jongdae announces as they arrive at their first destination for the night. They all head inside to the bar. Their huge group disperses throughout the place, with Minah, Eunji and Bomi head over to a table while Kyungsoo and Jongin go straight to the bar. Chanyeol is thankful that Minah is around tonight because Kyungsoo’s “No More Kris, Good Riddance” celebration was most likely going to end in either a stupid decision or a blackout.

“How drunk do you think they’re going to get tonight?” Chanyeol wonders aloud, nodding towards the two of them.

“Absolutely fucked. Well, Jongin at least,” Sehun responds. “Jongin and alcohol have a very friendly relationship. Too friendly, actually.”

“Do you think Bomi can handle him?” Chanyeol worries.

“No, Bomi is probably going to slap him and leave him abandoned on some street,” Sehun laughs. “We should keep an eye on him tonight.”

“What about you?” Chanyeol wraps his arm around Sehun’s and leads them both to the bar as well. He might as well get a little buzzed; they have a long night ahead of them.

“Nah, I’d rather be able to remember today,” Sehun says, grabbing Chanyeol’s hand.

They all end up sitting around a table, sharing stories and making fun of each other when suddenly a questions pops up in his head.

“Wait, Minseok,” Chanyeol gets the producers attention. “Did you finally decide on a movie title? The last time I heard it was No Time to Waste When You Only Have One Life or something dumb like that.”

“Oh, yeah,” Minseok remembers. “We did! He actually came up with something that I didn’t hate.”

“I still don’t get why I wasn’t the one to name it,” Jongdae complains. “I wrote the goddamn thing, shouldn’t I have named it?”

“If all goes to plan the latest Kris Wu project, Betting Everything should be released this coming winter.”

“It’s a summer movie…” Jongin frowns.

“It’s always summer in California,” Sehun shrugs. “It’s going to be a good movie. From what Kris has shown me it’s going to turn out really well.”

“It better turn out well after all the shit Kris put us through,” Kyungsoo says. “I mean, I learned a lot, but never again.”

“Agreed,” Chanyeol chimes in, taking another sip of his drink. “At least we got lucky with our cast and crew.”

“We should have reunions,” Jongin suggests. “And go on trips together to Colorado or something.”

“What are we, a frat?” Sehun teases.

“Honestly, that’s not even that much of a stretch to describe what you guys are,” Chanyeol shrugs. “If Minseok, Jongdae, Jongin, Baekhyun and this so called Luhan get together, it would be pretty frat.”

“It really would be,” Sehun laughs.

“Yeah, and you two can be the nerdy kids who never leave their house and marathon the High School Musical on the weekends,” Jongin bites back.

“That’s you, like, every other weekend man,” Sehun chuckles. “Don’t even try to deny it, I have photo proof.”

Jongin goes silent as the rest of the table laughs. It only takes about another hour for people to start getting buzzed, or worse. Words are slurring together and people are stumbling over themselves and the people next to them.

Chanyeol and Sehun watch the night unfold in front of them, feeling content to be around their friends. Chanyeol doesn’t think about how he only has a few days left. All he can think about is how warm he feels with Sehun next to him, and that’s all that really matters.

“I’m going to try my best to come in six months,” Chanyeol whispers to Sehun. He’s got his arms wrapped tightly around the other.

“I know, you’ve told me 3 times. In the last 10 minutes,” Sehun laughs into his shoulder. “We’ll be okay.”

“We’ll be okay,” Chanyeol echoes, and he truly believes it too.

“As much as I hate to break this up,” Junmyeon interjects apologetically. “We’re going to be late if we don’t head through security now, Chanyeol.

Chanyeol nods and gives Sehun another squeeze. Before he can step away Sehun leans up and kisses him hard and fast.

“Bye, for now,” Sehun whispers against his lips. Chanyeol can feel the Sehun’s against his own and can’t help but grin in response.

“For now,” Chanyeol echoes Sehun yet again.

“Chanyeol would make a good parrot,” Jongin chimes from behind Sehun. Chanyeol lightly punches his arm and gives him a quick hug as well.

“Visit when he does,” Chanyeol tells him. “You can party it up frat style with the rest of the boys.”

“You tell me as if you think I won’t,” Jongin grins. “I’ll be there.”

“Good,” Chanyeol approves. He starts walking towards the security gate slowly after giving Sehun’s hand one last squeeze.

“See you soon,” Chanyeol says before finally turning around to walk towards the gate. He forces himself not to look back as he gets farther and farther away.

“You okay?” Junmyeon asks after they make it through security and walk towards the gate.

Chanyeol thinks about it for a moment. Being in LAX again, this time on his way home, makes him think about the entire trip. He’s grown more as a person in these past four months than he had during the five years of his career. As cliché as it sounded, this project changed his entire life, in a good way.

“You know what?” Chanyeol feels a small smile appear on his face. “I think I am.”

“Sehun!” Baekhyun grabs the cell phone out of Chanyeol’s hand, yelling into the receiver. “Come visit soon, you’re missing out on the fun.”

“Your definition of fun is annoying Chanyeol until he plays Call of Duty with you and then staying in his apartment for the night. And every night after that,” Sehun laughs.

“Exactly,” Baekhyun confirms as he stretches out on Chanyeol’s couch. The actor has officially given up on trying to get the smaller man out of his place. After countless attempts and failures in the three months since he’s gotten back, Chanyeol has just accepted his fate.

“You two should come here,” Sehun suggests.

“With what money?” Baekhyun raises his eyebrows.

“Exactly.”

“I see what you did there,” Baekhyun says as Chanyeol snatches the phone out of his hand.

“So finals are finally over?” Chanyeol asks. Filming had ended just a week before school started. After Sehun and Jongin had spent an entire summer on an exciting movie set, they had a rough time getting used to the grind of school but they managed to make it out alive.

“I think I failed all of them,” Sehun groans. “I don’t want to know what I got and I also want to just find out and be done at the same time.”

“I’m sure you did fine,” Chanyeol reassures him

“So, any changes on the trip?” Sehun asks after a pause.

“I don’t think so. It still doesn’t look like I can make it,” Chanyeol sighs. “I have to do too much promotional stuff for the movie.

Betting Everything is set for release during the holidays, which was the same time Chanyeol had initially planned to visit Sehun in LA. It would have been perfect, with Sehun and Jongin on break and Minseok and Jongdae wanting to take a trip there as well. The film was originally supposed to come out a week or two ago, but post production ended up taking longer than planned. According to Minseok, Kris was unsurprisingly being a difficult perfectionist.

It’s more than a bit regretful that Chanyeol wouldn’t be able to make it. It’s been about four months since the actor came back to Seoul and even though him and Sehun talk more than enough, he still wishes he had the chance to see Sehun in person.

“It’s okay,” Sehun assures him. “There’s always next month.”

“What’s happening next month?” Chanyeol asks, confused.

“Oh, Jongin’s favorite ballet is coming to Seoul and I figured we could all go and see it. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?” Sehun shares just as the doorbell rings. Chanyeol heads over to open it.

“Next month? In Seoul? You guys won’t be in Seoul next month though. Don’t you have school?” Chanyeol pushes the door open to reveal Sehun standing in front of him, phone held to his ear with one and suitcase held in the other. He puts his phone away and grins at Chanyeol.

“I do have school actually,” Sehun confirms. “So will Jongin, actually.”

“You’re here,” Chanyeol breathes out. His body is frozen in place with shock.

“I am,” Sehun grins. “People kept going on and on about how studying abroad is an amazing experience, so I figured why not give it a try? I had to pick KAFA in Seoul, obviously. The food is too good to miss. Knowing the language was a plus too.”

“The food, you say?” Chanyeol raises his eyebrows.

“Well, I’ve heard the actors are pretty cute too. Good kissers too.”

“Are they now?” Chanyeol asks, stepping closer to Sehun.

Sehun leans in and closes the distance behind him, lips pressing against Chanyeol’s.

“There’s only one way to find out, I guess.”

“You guys are fucking gross,” Baekhyun calls out from the living room.