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Chanyeol lies on his desk, resting his head on his arms that were curled on the wooden top. He was in the middle of class, World History, and their teacher was going off about some war in the 17th century, which Chanyeol hadn’t listened to at all. He’s too busy staring at the boy sitting by the window. Byun Baekhyun. With his black, thick framed glasses, and too large sweaters (that once fell of one his shoulders, and showed off his collarbone, and Chanyeol got hard because he’s a teenage boy and his body hates him). He has black hair that sometimes fall into his eyes, so he sweeps it away from his face with his fingers. And he has the Prettiest fingers.
Chanyeol wouldn’t say he’s obsessed, but he’s very much in love, and he’s been trying to tell that to Baekhyun, but every time he tries, his mouth gets dry, and he forgets how to form words. So, he’s been trying to show him, without having to actually tell him about his feelings. Chanyeol has taken him out to dinner, the movies, the arcade. He’s been driving him from school, he even bought him flowers once. But it all goes over Baekhyun’s pretty head, because he’s tutoring Chanyeol in English, and he thinks the taller is just being nice.
He doesn’t even need tutoring in English, but it’s one of Baekhyun’s best subjects, so Chanyeol did what any desperate man would do; he failed on purpose.
And if his mama ever found out, she’d murder him.
And if Baekhyun keeps missing his hints, he might just let her do it.
It’s killing Chanyeol.
Because as he’s staring at Baekhyun scribbling down notes of whatever their teacher is talking about, the sunlight is shining through the window next to him and it creates a halo around his head, and he’s so beautiful without even knowing it, and Chanyeol’s face breaks into a small smile, that he’s not even aware of.
Not until Baekhyun looks at him, and his eyes flicker between Chanyeol and their teacher, in a silent demand for the taller to concentrate on the lesson.
But Chanyeol doesn’t listen, he just wags his eyebrows at the other to try to make him smile too, but instead of hearing Baekhyun’s angel choir of a giggle, their teacher’s voice rang in his ear
“Mr. Park!”
Chanyeol shoots up in his seat. “Yeah?”
“If you’re done daydreaming, maybe you could join us in class.” The rest of the students laugh, and Chanyeol sinks down in his seat, the tips of his ears red from embarrassment.
But he takes one last peak at Baekhyun, and sees the other smiling.
It’s Friday, and Chanyeol is waiting in the school parking lot, his car is one of few cars still parked outside of the school. Friday means Baekhyun has a drama club meeting. They’re working on a play; a musical Chanyeol has never heard about but he’s excited because Baekhyun had been so excited when he told him about it. Baekhyun is playing one of the lead roles. He called it Dancing in the rain or something like that.
Chanyeol likes picking Baekhyun up from drama club. Baekhyun always in such a good mood when he leaves rehearsal, and every time he sees that Chanyeol is waiting for him, he smiles so big, and waves before running up to the car with a skip in his step. In the car ride, when he’s not busy humming the songs from the musical, he’s telling Chanyeol animatedly about the production. Chanyeol never understands a thing, but he always listens to every word, because he loves hearing Baekhyun talk about things he’s passionate about. Just like Baekhyun always listens when he talks about basketball, or his music, or dogs.
Chanyeol has practice every day, so now with Bakehyun’s rehearsal hours after school all week until the premiere, he gets to spend more time with the raven-haired boy.
Usually he just drives Baekhyun home, they’ll sit in his driveway and talk for a bit, before saying goodbye and Chanyeol waits until the shorter is inside the house before driving home. But not tonight. Chanyeol wants to take him out. It feels like they’re going on dates, even though that’s not how Baekhyun sees them.
Maybe one day.
When Chanyeol is brave.
The auditorium door open and the theater kids start streaming out. He sees Baekhyun walk out with his friends, he says goodbye to Seungwan and Yixing and a few others, because the boy is well liked by most students in their school. When he spots Chanyeol’s car in the parking lot, his face breaks out in a smile and he waves before running up to him. Chanyeol doesn’t get why he always acts surprised to see Chanyeol waiting for him. How does he not get it? How does he not see the love-sick gaze every time Chanyeol looks at him? His lingering touch, and that he smiles whenever Baekhyun smiles, because it’s just so contagious.
“Hey, Yeol!” Baekhyun hops into the car, and throws his backpack in the backseat. “Don’t you have anything better to do on a Friday than pick me up from rehearsals?” Chanyeol can hear the teasing tone in his voice. “No parties? No friends to hang out with?”
“Yeah, probably...But I’d rather hang with you.” Chanyeol winks at Baekhyun and starts the engine.
Baekhyun rubs his hands together and hide them under his thighs.
“You cold?”
Baekhyun nodded. “A little. It’s getting colder, I need to remember to bring a jacket tomorrow.”
“Here take this.” Chanyeol reached behind them, into the backseat and grabbed his letterman jacket. It was black and blue, their school colors.
“Oh. Thank you, are you sure?”
“Of course!” He watched as Baekhyun put it on. It was a too big, the sleeves reaching over his slender fingers, but it looked good on him. Chanyeol had to force his eyes away and start driving, so Baekhyun wouldn’t notice him staring.
He’s sure the red tint on Baekhyun’s cheeks are just lights coming in from outside.
Chanyeol drove them to a cozy corner diner. Baekhyun kept asking along the way where they were going, but the taller boy just told him it’s a surprise. As they drove, Baekhyun hummed showtunes under his breath, and Chanyeol kept having to fight the urge to put his hand on the smaller’s thigh, just above the knee, and rub his thumb there gently as he listened to him singing.
“What is this?” Baekhyun cheered as they parked the car. “I’ve never been here before.”
“My sister said they have the best burgers in the city, so I hope you’re hungry!” Chanyeol put a warm hand on the small of his back as he led Baekhyun through the door. A sweet waitress welcomed them and showed them to a table for two. Chanyeol let Baekhyun order for them and the waitress soon came over to their table with cheese & bacon burgers with fries. The burgers were juicy and tender, and the fries crispy and salty, perfectly combined with the strawberry milkshake Chanyeol insisted that they share.
They ate, and talked, and laughed for hours. As some point Baekhyun squeezed his feet in between Chanyeol’s, and they rubbed their toes up the other’s shins. Chanyeol couldn’t really tell if it was in a romantic manner or just to tease and tickle each other, but he didn’t really care. He enjoyed sitting so close to Baekhyun, away from people, from school. They talked video games, and Marvel movies, and bands they both listened to. Baekhyun promised he’d take him to a concert sometime. Chanyeol really liked that idea.
When Baekhyun’s mom started calling it was time to go home. Baekhyun whined the whole way to the car about wanting to stay longer, and that his parents were treating him like a baby. Chanyeol just laughed at him and without thinking about it, threw an arm around the petite boy’s shoulders, and pulled him closer. It wasn’t until he noticed how close they were, that Chanyeol got flustered. Baekhyun didn’t seem to mind and just kept whining, curling an arm around Chanyeol’s waist, and Chanyeol swears the tips of his ears are getting bright red.
The car ride back to Baekhyun’s house is comfortably quiet. The radio is on in the background, playing jazz songs in between a late-night host’s program. Chanyeol can feel Baekhyun looking at him, and at a red light he turns and locks eyes with the petite boy. Baekhyun is smiling.
“Thank you for tonight. I had so much fun.” Baekhyun speaks quietly. Gently.
“Good. I had fun too.”
“I always have fun with you, Yeollie.”
Chanyeol smiles back, it comes naturally. As it always does with Baekhyun.
When the light turns green again, Chanyeol feels brave, and he reaches out and puts his hand on Baekhyun’s thigh, just above the knee. He’s glad he has to look out at the road as he drives, because he’s not brave enough to look at Baekhyun and see his reaction.
Then he feels slender fingers caress his, and gather his hand in a gentle grip. In Baekhyun’s lap, their hands lay intertwined.
They don’t say a word the rest of the way home.
In the Byun driveway Chanyeol stops the car, his old battered car, that his dad says has character (but it’s just ugly). It smells nice at least, and its interior is clean, because Chanyeol would be damned before driving his crush around in a car filled with trash. Baekhyun reaches over to where Chanyeol’s hand is still on the car key and pulls it into his lap again.
“Yeollie,”Baekhyun starts and smiles. “I’m really happy we’ve become friends. Even if it’s just because I’m tutoring you.”
Chanyeol can feel his heart drop, and he sighs heavily as he pulls his hand away. Baekhyun’s smile falters.
“Wh-”
Chanyeol unbuckles himself, and turns toward Baekhyun, so he can look at him properly.
“Baekhyun, do you really think I’m just hanging around you because of my grades? You are the smartest person I know but, fuck, you’re so stupid sometimes.”
“What do you mean?” Baekhyun’s voice sounds small.
“Baekhyun I-” He was ready to say it. I’m in love with you. It seemed so simple, until he looked at Baekhyun, and he’s so pretty and his eyes are so beautiful. And the words just disappear. Like they always do out of his stupid mouth.
He can’t do this anymore.
“Okay, Baek. I’m gonna do something dumb, and if you don’t like it, feel free to push me away or hit me or whatever you feel like.”
Baekhyun doesn’t have time to respond before Chanyeol does the impossible and leans forward to press a kiss to his lips.
Chanyeol stays there, testing the waters, and mapping out the feeling of Baekhyun’s lips against his. Just in case he’ll never feel it again.
He leans back, and Baekhyun is staring at him.
“You didn’t hit me.” Chanyeol says, almost dumbfounded.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while.”
“Why?”
“Really, Baek? What do you think all of this has been? You think I buy flowers for my friends just because I feel like it?”
“I don’t know!” Baekhyun sound slightly panicked.
“And the touching?”
“I only did that because I wanted you to take the hint that I like you!”
“No! I did that because I wanted you to-. Wait, what did you say?” Chanyeol stare at Baekhyun, not willing to trust his ears. Did Baekhyun say he likes him?
“I-I was too nervous to tell you I like you, so I thought maybe if I got affectionate with you, you’d either get the hint, or get disgusted and leave...But you, you like me too. Right?”
Instead of answering, Chanyeol asks, “Did you like it? The kiss?”
“Yes.” Baekhyun says, without a beat.
They stare at each other for a while, Chanyeol notices Baekhyun’s eyes flicker down to his lips, so he leans in again, and this time Baekhyun meets him halfway. The press of lips is harder this time. Baekhyun kisses him back, and his lips are still so soft. A hand comes up to his cheek, and Chanyeol grabs it in his, so that the warmth doesn’t leave, as he snakes his other hand to Baekhyun’s waist.
They only break apart to breathe again, and then Chanyeol spots Baekhyun’s older brother looking disapprovingly at him from the kitchen window.
“I guess I should let you get inside.”
Baekhyun looks back at his brother in the window, and when he turns back to Chanyeol, the apples of his cheeks are pink. Chanyeol reaches out and rubs his thumb over the blush.
“What happens now, Baek? Are we still just friends?”
“What do you want us to be?” Baekhyun whispers.
“I want us to be together. We’d be good together, right?”
Baekhyun nods, and then he whispers, “Yeah. I think we’d be perfect.”. It’s almost just a breath, and had Chanyeol not sat so close, he wouldn’t have heard it.
They kiss again, and Chanyeol smiles into it. He can’t help it. All this pining, and not-dates, and awkward boners. Finally, he got what he wanted.
“I gotta go. Will I see you soon? tomorrow maybe?”
“Yeah, I’ll come over.” Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows.
“Maybe I’ll come over to your house, don’t want Baekbeom to stare at us the whole day.”
Chanyeol’s flickered his eyes up to the kitchen window, and yep, he was still standing there. Staring.
Baekhyun smiled shyly before pressing a kiss to Chanyeol’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”. Before he could get out of the car, Chanyeol grabbed his hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed the soft skin over his knuckles.
“Goodnight, Baek.”
Baekhyun smiled cutely, like he does when his cheeks get round and his eyes twinkle.”Oh.” His smile dropped. “You jacket.” He started slipping it from his shoulders.
“Keep it. You can give it to me tomorrow.”
Baekhyun’s smile spread across his face again.
“Goodnight, Yeol.”