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He’s holding out on the “4th time’s a charm”, though it is probably his downfall. He’s aware it’s actually a third time, but it’s been way past three to rely on that at this point.
It’s tiring, really, repeating the day again and again. Waking up, eating breakfast with his mother and ugly step-dad, before kissing her goodbye and rushing to the bus to make his 8:30 am class. Baekhyun is already on the bus with a sleepy Jongin, trying to play off the fact that they banged last night, something Chanyeol is going to learn later that day.
Kyungsoo meets him in the classroom, and there is a surprise quiz (that’s not really a surprise at this point) which Chanyeol is most definitely over and most definitely going to ace, he’s done it 4 times at this point, and the class is dismissed for the weekend, with homework Chanyeol has already finished before it was handed out.
He didn’t realize just how much of a social life he had until he counted just how many of his friends he ran into just today. After the class, he and Kyungsoo meet up with his other friends, Jongin and Baekhyun (who slip out the fact that they banged, Chanyeol is the only one not shocked), Irene and Wendy, and of course, the star of the evening, Jongdae.
By the 4th time, he can tell Jongdae is a little freaked out by him. Chanyeol stares at him almost the entire time, and while this isn’t necessarily new (Kyungsoo told him the 2nd time around that Chanyeol is almost always staring at Jongdae), it’s definitely different. Why?
Once they finish their study group, it’s lunchtime. This is some alone time Chanyeol gets with Jongdae as the two of them (+ Baekhyun but he’s mostly texting Jongin through lunch) head out to get some food. Chanyeol had changed the restaurant every time, even eating the disgusting cafeteria food in hopes something would change every day. Nothing changes, even though this time Chanyeol splurges and buys Jongdae his favourite meal on campus, as a quiet way to make up for the creepy staring.
Even though Chanyeol is hopelessly in love with Jongdae, he’s starting to get real annoyed of him.
Chanyeol has a couple of classes left before the day is over, which go by pretty blandly as he already knows everything but is just there for the attendance mark, and he is told by Wendy that they are invited to Sehun’s party that night (”which Jongdae will be at ;P” as if he didn’t know that already).
The party goes as the party goes, Chanyeol doesn’t drink at all because the first time he threw up on Jongdae, and now, the two of them sit in the backyard.
It’s... annoying. Looking at Jongdae like this. He’s been staring at him all day because he is mad. He is angry at Jongdae. Jongdae sitting there looking at the starry night sky with his perfect cheekbones and pretty eyelashes, lips slightly parted because he is telling Chanyeol some fact about Egyptian mythology and he’s a little tipsy. Jongdae is a stronger drinker than Chanyeol, so he’s practically sober right now, but Chanyeol can see the slight blush on his cheeks, even in the soft light coming from the moon.
“Jongdae,” Chanyeol murmured, not even hiding the fact that he was looking at Jongdae rather than the sky. Jongdae is slow in the way his head turns, and even though he is probably creepy, he still looks at Chanyeol with that same adoring heaviness in his eyes that pisses Chanyeol off. After the last time, yeah, it really pissed him off. “What is it, Chanyeol?”
“This is gonna sound crazy to you,” He reached out and grabbed Jongdae’s hand, throwing everything to the wind because he didn’t know what to do. “All you have been is crazy today.” Jongdae’s voice was laced with a chuckle but it was clear he was saying it out of concern. “You’re always rushing, bored whenever anything happens, it’s like you just want today to be over with.” Now even Jongdae’s sparkly, pretty eyes are concerned. “Because I do,” Chanyeol said, with feeling, closing his eyes shut and looking down at their hands. “I’ve been stuck replaying this same day over and over again and every time I don’t know what to do because it just keeps going back. I think it’s because, well, because...” Chanyeol raised his eyes, looking at Jongdae’s. Instead of fear, instead of concern, Jongdae had a thoroughly amused smile on his face.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Keep going,” Jongdae mused, placing his other hand on top of Chanyeol’s. “You don’t believe me,” Chanyeol let go of Jongdae’s hand and his shoulders sagged. Of course, Jongdae didn’t believe him, why would he when this sounded like such a stupid concept out of a movie? Jongdae wasn’t an idiot and even though it was completely real and Chanyeol had no idea out of it, it sounded stupid. “Chanyeol, I-”
“It’s okay that you don’t, I know it sounds dumb.” Chanyeol bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think of a way to explain to Jongdae. “Even if you don’t believe me, that doesn’t change the fact it’s real. And every night I’ve been getting transported to this day and I don’t know what to do...” Jongdae closed his mouth, staying silent for a moment while Chanyeol’s hands started to shake, holding back his tears because he was truly upset over where he was, how this was going to go, how to get out of it. It was awful, the idea of waking up tonight only to replay the same day, never getting out of the loop...
“What’s something you feel like you want to do tonight, the first time you went though this night, what was that thing you wanted to do... But couldn’t?”
Jongdae’s hand, which was on Chanyeol’s through the silence, had now traveled to Chanyeol’s shoulder, to his neck, now on his cheek. This catches Chanyeol’s attention as he looks into Jongdae’s eyes, which are suggesting something.
“I wanted to tell you that... I love you.”
He winced, immediately, his body shriveling up and waiting for the clock to turn back, but nothing happened.
Instead, he heard Jongdae’s light laughter, still feeling his palm against his cheek. “You love me? It looks like it pains you.” Jongdae’s voice was so teasing, amused, but at the same time, it sounded like Jongdae didn’t hate the idea of Chanyeol loving him in the slightest. “It does,” Chanyeol quipped, pouting and not even realizing it. “It’s super annoying too. Because I wanna be with you and like... I don’t know, kiss you and stuff.”
When he looked up, his eyes went directly to Jongdae’s lips, that same lazy smile playing along with them. He really wanted to kiss Jongdae, with the cute cat-like lips.
“Well,” Jongdae whispered, and Chanyeol didn’t realize just how close they were sitting. “What are you waiting for?” Despite that, Jongdae leaned even closer, to the point he could almost feel Jongdae’s lips on his own. “Kiss me.”
And there is a part of Chanyeol that came up with the funny idea that Chanyeol shouldn’t pull away from Jongdae to maybe make the other whine or kiss Chanyeol himself. He pushed that thought aside for now, wanting nothing more to push forward and finally kiss Jongdae like he’s been wanting to for so long. And so he does, and Jongdae’s lips are softer than he expected, the feeling making his heart hurt in this chest. Jongdae’s hands move from Chanyeol’s cheek to his hair, turning his body completely and deepening the kiss in a way that told Chanyeol he’s been waiting for this just as much as Chanyeol has. Chanyeol reached out and brought both hands onto Jongdae’s waist, tugging him close so that Jongdae was practically sitting in his lap.
To catch his breath Jongdae pulled away for a moment, both of them looking at each other as their breaths were warm against their faces. “I should makle Tao apologize to you later for what he did to you.”
“What-”
Jongdae shut Chanyeol up with another kiss, and even though Chanyeol would be bugging him for answers later, he couldn’t deny this was a good way to shut him up.