The day of prom quickly approached and Chanyeol has never felt more out of place with his lanky limbs and bad posture. He twirls around in his hand-me-down suit from his father and frowns. The suit was very nice but he has longer legs and arms than his father and he unconsciously tries pulling the sleeves down.

He gives up and sighs as he looks down at his watch. He should leave in around five minutes to pick up Kyungsoo and unfortunately, Kim Jongin. His mother offered to drive him and while Chanyeol had been embarrassed at first-‘Mom, I can’t pick up Kyungsoo with my mother as the driver!’-he, unfortunately didn’t have enough allowance money to pay for a taxi ride. He also knows Kyungsoo is saving up for nice pair of new glasses and he didn’t have the heart to ask him to split for a ride either.

They arrive fairly early to Kyungsoo’s and Chanyeol feels so damn sweaty. His mother gets impatient and tells him to quickly get out of the car so he can get Kyungsoo. They still need to pick up a third person, she reminds him. Chanyeol frowns at that but gets out nonetheless. His legs feel like they’re turning into mush with each step he takes towards the front door. He rings the doorbell and holds onto the corsage tightly as if it’ll fly away once he loosens his grip.

The door opens and Chanyeol’s jaw drops. Kyungsoo looks….perfect. His hair is neatly styled up and he looks so damn good in a suit. Prim, proper, a gentleman. He wordlessly puts the corsage on his wrist and Kyungsoo laughs.

“You really got me this?” he asks as he fondles it. Chanyeol shifts from foot to foot.

“Yeah…you like it?” he asks, self consciously. He wasn’t sure if Kyungsoo would be offended or not because he wasn’t undermining him or anything like that, he just thought it’d be a nice gesture-

“Of course, it’s beautiful. Should we get going?” he asks. Chanyeol straightens his back and nods. He bashfully holds out an arm and Kyungsoo laughs again as he loops his arm around his. Chanyeol grins from ear to ear. Yes this is how it should be. Comfortable.

They both get into Chanyeol’s mom’s car, Kyungsoo giving a warm greeting and they both drive to Jongin’s house. The boy looks handsome as usual, Chanyeol thinks bitterly. He looks like he belongs on the red carpet and Chanyeol kind of wants to trip him and have in fall in a puddle of mud. But he refrains from violent thoughts because this is supposed to be a good night. He’s just going to enjoy the evening with his very best friend (and forget he ever even jacked off to him.)

But the evening already turns out not in Chanyeol’s favor as Jongin talks Kyungsoo’s ear off nearly the whole entire ride. He frowns and wishes he didn’t take the front seat but he didn’t want to be rude to his mother and sit in the back. He crosses his arms as he hears Kyungsoo’s laugh in response to whatever stupid thing Jongin has said.

They finally arrive at the venue and Jongin has the nerve to place his hand around Kyungsoo’s waist. Chanyeol waits for Kyungsoo to get mad, or push him away, or even move away from the offending hand. But the smaller boy does nothing but hand their tickets to the girl up front.

“Hi Kyungsoo,” she giggles. “You have two dates? Wow how lucky.”

Kyungsoo’s ears turn red and he shakes his head. “No, Jinri, we’re just going as friends.”

“Okay, sure thing,” she winks. “Have fun!”

Kyungsoo rushes in first in embarrassment while Jongin follows closely behind, but not before turning around and winking at Chanyeol as he places both hands on Kyungsoo’s hips and whispers in his ear. Chanyeol grits his teeth and quickly runs and rips his hands away from Kyungsoo. Jongin looks put off and shoves him away, pushing him into the smaller boy. The black haired boy turns around at the jostle and looks at both of them glaring intently at each other.

“What’s going on?” he asks. Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows but then gives a small smile.

“Ah nothing, I was just-”

“Hyung, let’s go dance!” Jongin interrupts as he tries to pull Kyungsoo to the dance floor. The boy looks hesitant as he looks to Chanyeol to finish what he was saying.

But the taller boy just shakes his head and smiles. ‘Go ahead’ he mouths. He thinks he sees disappointment in Kyungsoo’s eyes but he gets dragged away before Chanyeol could make something out of it. Of course. He knew this was how it was going to be, but why was he still so disappointed? He decides to stuff his face in the food bar. Maybe he should just leave early so Kyungsoo doesn’t feel obligated to stick around him. The least thing he wants is to have the boy pity him.

Yes, he will eat his fill, Baekhyun did get him a ticket after all, and then he will leave and go home and read his comics, maybe squeeze a drama in there, and then maybe cry himself to sleep.

Just as he sticks a whole stick of fried shrimp in his mouth he feels a hesitant tap on his shoulder. He turns around and is surprised to see Kyungsoo standing there, with a small amused smile at Chanyeol’s chipmunk cheeks. He nearly dies choking as he tries to chew and swallow as fast as he could, even though Kyungsoo advised him to slow down.

“I was wondering if you wanted to dance?” Kyungsoo asked, shyly with his hands behind his back. Chanyeol wanted to coo. He’s about to eagerly say yes but something completely different comes out.

“Where’s Jongin,” he grumbles out and he contemplates stuffing another stick of shrimp into his mouth. Even though he could care less where that perfect bastard was. 

Kyungsoo frowns at that. “He’s in the bathroom.” Chanyeol sighs and turns back to the food.

“No thanks, have fun with Jongin. He’s probably getting out right now,” he dejectedly says. He expects Kyungsoo to walk away and honestly, he would have too if he were him. He knows he is being rude but he can’t help it. But what he doesn’t expect is for Kyungsoo to pull his shoulder and turn him around. He gapes at him and sputters but Kyungsoo is having none of that as he drags him to outside to the courtyard.

“Chanyeol, what is wrong with you? You’ve been so weird these past few days. If you didn’t want me to come with you why did you even bother to ask?” Kyungsoo says. Chanyeol sees tears coming to his eyes and he wants to punch himself so bad. It was never his intention to make Kyungsoo cry. He shakes his head and wracks his head for the words to tell him. No, you got it all wrong. No, I love spending time with you.

“Because you’re into Jongin that’s why!” he shouts. He facepalms as Kyungsoo’s tear ridden eyes widen.

“What?”

“You like Jongin and do you know how much that to be around you guys when you’re both flirting? Like I get it, he’s good looking, he dances, he’s smart, why wouldn’t you want to be with him,” Chanyeol says. Kyungsoo is still standing there looking at him strangely. Chanyeol’s nervous mouth just decides to keep going if Kyungsoo isn’t denying it. “I thought maybe as a best friend I should just help you both get together. So that’s what I was doing. But don’t misunderstand. I really did want you to come with me. I was hoping it would just be you and me but you know, plans change.”

“Did you want us to get together?”

Chanyeol opens his mouth and closes it. He is knocked speechless yet again.  Kyungsoo is serious and is actually waiting for an answer.

“Uh…I don’t know-I-it’s your life-"

“Chanyeol.” He stops as Kyungsoo inches closer and grabs his face. “Did. You. Want. Us. To get together?” Chanyeol stares into Kyungsoo’s eyes and he’s pretty sure his face is heating up under Kyungsoo’s sweaty palms. But he’s never been this close to Kyungsoo’s face before, he’s certain, at least without feeling the need to faint. His face is so much prettier up close-he thinks- as he stares right at it. 

“No,” he breathes out. Kyungsoo smiles then and Chanyeol thinks he is missing something but then Kyungsoo says something right after that he almost misses because he thinks he’s breathing too loud.

“Did you want us to get together?”

Chanyeol rips his face from Kyungsoo’s hands and backs away. Unfortunately that was a bad move because the smile falls from Kyungsoo’s face and he awkwardly stands there, looking so out of place.

“Sorry, I must have misunderstood,” Kyungsoo says, voice cold. “I’m just going to go back inside.” He stalks past Chanyeol and the taller knows he is crying because he is walking too fast and his back is hunched and he doesn’t stop himself as he lunges towards the smaller and hugs his back.

“You don’t know how badly I-" he chokes back his own tears and holds the boy in his arms tight. Kyungsoo’s breath hitches and Chanyeol lets go and turns him around. Kyungsoo hurriedly reaches up to wipe his tears but Chanyeol does it for him instead. His huge palm fits the cheeks of his best friend perfectly and he wonders why it took him this damn long to realize how much he likes it.

“Yes I wanted us to get together,” he finally says. “I only just recently saw myself wanting to be with you and I was scared and Baek was saying all these crazy things about us being together and it just scared me.”

Kyungsoo laughs and the sound is so beautiful even though it sounds choked up.

“Is it crazy?” Kyungsoo asks. 

Chanyeol looks deep into his eyes and down to his plump lips, to his shining eyes, his cute little nose and smiles. He shakes his head.

“Not crazy at all.”

Kyungsoo shifts there awkwardly with Chanyeol’s hand still on his wet cheek and the other on his shoulder.

“So….are you going to kiss me or not?”

Chanyeol sputters and pulls his hand away. But he stops himself from backing away. No, he will not run again. He takes a deep breath and inches in. He closes his eyes right after he sees Kyungsoo’s pretty eyelashes close shut and places the softest of kisses onto those lips.

It’s pure in every sense of the word. They both smack against each other a couple of times, Kyungsoo’s small hand reaching up to grip onto the collar of his suit. Chanyeol pulls him closer and tries to breathe through his nose. They are both inexperienced but it makes it all the more sweeter.

Chanyeol Kyungsoo’s bottom lip while the smaller nips at his and Chanyeol has never tasted anything sweeter. It starts to get hot even in the cold evening air and he clutches tighter, breathes harder. His slacks start to tighten but by the time he actually notices, Kyungsoo feels it against his thigh. They both part and Chanyeol is so-so embarrassed. But Kyungsoo pulls him back again and kisses his cheek.

“Don’t worry, I am too,” he says with a sweet smile, in contrast to what he does next. He leads Chanyeol’s hand to the front of his pants and Chanyeol swears he gets even harder at that gesture. He massages Kyungsoo’s crotch making the smaller pant into his chest and clutch at his arms.

“Do you…” Chanyeol his lips. “Want to go back to my place?”