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The school cafeteria is emptier than usual when Chanyeol takes a seat across his friends, Kyungsoo and Jongdae, who are eating their food silently without paying attention to the arrival of their friend.
“What’s up with everyone?” Chanyeol asks while his eyes wander around the room, looking between the empty seats to find the person he is looking for.
“It’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and the cooking club is holding an event. Everyone went there.” Kyungsoo mumbles between bites, his rounded eyes focused on the mobile phone inside his hands as he scrolls through the profile of a Tiktok chef.
“And you don't even participate in the cooking club’s event, because?” The taller lifts his eyebrows with a visible question on his face, assorted with some sort of surprise, since cooking is his best friend’s biggest passion lately and it is weird seeing him carelessly talking about it.
“Because I don’t have anyone to give the things I bake.” His friend purses his heart shaped lips, he hums and squints his eyes, in a state that seems like including a lot of thinking process. “None of us do.”
“I have someone, please.” The taller of them protests only to receive a sly, almost mocking smile from Jongdae who seems like a cat whenever he has this expression but to Chanyeol’s dismay, this cat bites and it hurts.
“You can’t even tell his name without going red as a beet and you look like someone has strangled you for minutes and you stutter. Remember that one time he asked you to pass the salt? I thought you were going to vomit.” Chanyeol is not sure how he does that but his friend embarasses him and he does all that without even taking a second of rest to breathe. “And also-”
“Enough, I got it.” Chanyeol’s voice cracks, his cheekbones flushed and ears turned red, his appetite is long lost.
“Just tell him and move on. I am tired of listening to your endless dreams about Byun Baekhyun.” It’s not that he needs his friends’ support on his crush but still hearing this from Kyungsoo hurts.
Chanyeol has a huge crush on Byun Baekhyun since he met him in the music club, and it’s been more than three years but he still can’t gather his courage to confess to him. He can’t even talk to him, to be more exact, he just turns into a ball of embarrassment and lets his heart melt over the beauty of Byun Baekhyun.
“I will tell him.” A sudden competitiveness rises inside him and he sends a challenging look to his friends, a made up fake grin decorating his pink lips while he hopes he looks bold enough.
“Is that so?” Jongdae teases and all Chanyeol wants to do is to punch him in the face, where he welcomes a sheepish smile.
“Yes, I’ll tell him and you’ll regret making fun of me.” There is something in the way Jongdae smiles and it bothers the taller, it’s creepy, it just sends shivers down his spine and he gulps not feeling well about it.
“Do it then, I want to see you die trying.” His friend’s voice is challenging as he lifts his hand up to wave before saying the name that causes Chanyeol to malfunction. “Byun Baekhyun! Come here.”
Chanyeol’s ears perk up with the mention of the familiar name and his eyes widen with realization. He turns back in his chair only to see a pair of sunshines burning a whole in his heart. There Byun Baekhyun stands in the entrance of cafeteria with his tray on his hands and an oblivious expression on his face, glowing like a star as always, his bleached hair neatly styled in an artsy way, he is wearing black cargo pants along with a baggy t-shirt and a bomber jacket. He looks like a piece of art, the way his porcelain skin shines and his cute button nose scrunches as he smiles, Chanyeol flies to heaven and then he falls back on earth.
And he falls hard.
“Yah, what are you doing?” Chanyeol whispers between his clenched teeth, his pupils shrink as he widens his eyes and mimics curse words towards his friend.
“I am helping you, you can thank me later.” The same annoying smile creeps up to Jongdae’s thin lips and it takes Chanyeol his whole willpower to stop himself from beating the shit out of his friend.
“Hey.” Baekhyun says when he reaches the table and even though it is so short, it sure sounds heavenly in Chanyeol’s ears, as if a choir of angels singing and it’s so sacred that it makes your heart flutter.
“Would you like to sit with us? Everyone is out there participating in the cooking event for Valentines.” Kyungsoo sends Baekhyun a warm and friendly smile, Chanyeol can’t help but envy the easiness, the way his friends talk to Baekhyun sounds so casual and careless while it takes a whole day of ted talking in front of the mirror for Chanyeol to greet him in the music club.
“Sure.” He places his tray on the table and sits next to Chanyeol, it sends shivers down the taller’s spine as their legs rub against each other and soon he shifts away with a restless heart threatening him to get out of its cage.
“So, do you have a valentine for tomorrow?” At this moment Chanyeol really wants to hold Jongdae’s neck and break it into two, detaching his head from his body and throwing it far away so he doesn’t speak again.
“Oh,” It’s a short answer but it can be interpreted in various ways and if Chanyeol had seen the way Baekhyun’s cheeks were painted pink, he could’ve made assumptions too.
But it goes unnoticed and Baekhyun continues. “I don’t.”
“Really?” Jongdae points the taller with his index finger, this time his smile is more of a mischievous kind and Chanyeol wants to rip it off from that smug face of his. “Chanyeolie doesn’t have a date too!”
“Oh, is that so?” Baekhyun mumbles, turning head to his side to meet Chanyeol’s red ears, and by red, they are really red as if someone threw a bucket of paint onto his head, but Baekhyun admits his big ears are the charm.
Maybe it’s the result of the three years long ted talks, maybe it’s the pressure caused by his friends or maybe it’s his competitiveness taking over after betting with Jongdae but like an explosion of confidence, Chanyeol turns his body completely to his side to face his longtime crush.
His heart skips a beat when he feels Baekhyun’s heavy gaze and his hands start sweating, his body trembles with cold despite the warm waves washing over his stomach, releasing thousands of butterflies just how it goes in the fairytales.
“Meet me in the music room at 5 after class tomorrow. It’s a date.” And just like he built a sudden boost of confidence fast, it breaks down into pieces and embarrassment takes its place when he stands up and runs out of the cafeteria, leaving three pairs of surprised eyes looking after him.
Chanyeol puts the strap of his guitar case on his shoulders and takes his backpack into one hand after the professor finishes the lecture. He is not very sure if Baekhyun will come, his friends have been teasing him nonstop for a day now, telling him how awkward his proposal was and such.
While walking down the corridors as his feet lead the way to the music room, the place he goes every evening to listen to Baekhyun sing from the corner of shadows, hiding as he enjoys the angel-like voice. To listen to him was dazzling, an extremely opposite irony as it feels like committing a sin while the voice itself is very purified from earthly delights and belongs to heaven.
Inside his body, his heart fights with his brain, and Chanyeol just listens to their endless bickering like a guilty little boy who hides in his room until his parents calm down. Having a crush for more than 3 years definitely sounds like an obsession in any other person’s ear, but Chanyeol desires Baekhyun with the purest intentions. Singing together, holding hands and maybe sharing a small kiss; in his head they fit each other perfectly, just as though they are soulmates who belong together.
After a long conflict between his heart and his brain, Chanyeol decides that he has nothing to lose, and enters the music room. He is welcomed by a pair of golden brown eyes, the dark bright lights of sunset dancing on the milky white skin and the smile playing on the small pink lips take Chanyeol by surprise.
“Hey.” He says waving his hand in front of Chanyeol’s face.
“H-hey.” Chanyeol stutters, amazed by the dazzling beauty of his crush. “I didn’t think you would come…”
“Why not?” Baekhyun muses as he sits on one of the chairs around the grand piano. “You said it was a date, I didn’t have a valentine.”
Chanyeol sheepishly smiles, hand around his neck, scratching the skin while he averts his eyes. He is not good at talking, he has never been. He is just clumsy and he doesn’t know what to say most of the time.
“So, anything you want to say?” Baekhyun asks with a gentle smile, eyes shining expectantly while his finger plays with the tiles of the piano impatiently.
“I, you see…” Chanyeol takes a seat across Baekhyun, unzipping his guitar case. “I am not very good with words, so I wrote you a song.”
“Oh.” Baekhyun’s mouth falls open, the taller man takes him by surprise and for a while he stays like that, not being able to say anything. But it’s touching, fluttering and he feels his cheeks are slowly turning into color pink. “I would love to hear.” He says after cleaning his throat.
“You see, I don’t have the courage to tell you… but with this song, let me open my heart to you.”
Baekhyun sees the stars inside Chanyeol’s eyes but it feels like they are galaxies apart when the taller steps back to fix his hold on his guitar. Baekhyun’s heart skips a beat, overwhelmed by the sudden surprise, a faint excitement threatens him, his body shakes with blended emotions.
To listen to Park Chanyeol is different, it’s different than anything else, it’s poisonous as his hoarse baritone captures your heart and holds it captive until every note of the song passes by your ears one by one, in such a gentle way that your ears melt into their own orgasm.
Baekhyun is mesmerized, overwhelmed, by everything around him, as he places a hand on his chest, trying to stop his heart from leaving it’s cage.
By the song finishes there is a gentle smile decorating Baekhyun’s lips and he rises up on his feet to take a step closer to Chanyeol who is now avoiding his gaze as he places his guitar back in its case.
After what feels like forever, the taller man gathers his courage to look up, only to see that the galaxies between them are now long gone, replaced by Byun Baekhyun, who looks at him in the eyes, blinking and the way his eyelashes brush through his silky smooth skin is hypnotizing.
They stay there, like this, none of them dares to move or break the silence, just examining each other.
Soon the inch long distance between them is closed by Byun Baekhyun, who presses his lips against Chanyeol’s, taking the taller by surprise as he clumsily wraps a hand on Baekhyun’s waist.
It tastes like heaven, so sacred yet so delightful, as their lips move in unison, Chanyeol sees the fireworks, colorful light beams lightening his darkness and his whole body is magnetized by the beauty of the sudden moment that he almost whines when the shorter man pulls back from his arms.
“I’ve waited for three years, and I thought you would never ask.” As soon as the words leave Baekhyun’s lips, Chanyeol’s whine stuck in his throat and turns into a gasp, surprised but touched. “The answer is yes, I’ll be your valentine.”