do kyungsoo swears that he is not a bad boy nor a troublemaker nor some kind of delinquent.

it bothers him, a lot, the fact that the people in school keep labeling him as such and that the hottest gossip is always about him supposedly doing terrible things (there was a time when the principal almost suspended him because he heard someone talking about kyungsoo bringing a ing knife to school, like... what)

it has been going on since his freshman year, this… characterization.

realistically talking, he understands the reason behind it all: he literally attracts problems. like a magnet.

and he tries, really hard, to keep out of any kind of trouble. it seems to be impossible though.

but the worst of it all comes in the form of his shyness.

how could he stand up for himself when he gets all flustered just by the thought of speaking out loud? so of course everybody is afraid of him: he has the looks (a resting face and a powerful glare that he can’t stop (the reason behind it is that he has a really bad eyesight but he feels self-conscious when he has to use his glasses)), the reputation (and if he thinks about it, that reputation is not unfounded) and has never said anything in his own defense.

one of the saddest things about being catalogued as a threat™ is that he has been lonely for quite some time, and he hates it. he’s always left out of group projects, always sits alone at lunch and is even left alone when he goes to the bathroom (when he told his mom about all of that she told him that he didn’t need people who didn’t want him and suggested him to do stuff outside school so he could meet some new folks and then took him to get ice cream to cheer him up) (kyungsoo knows that after that she cried for him a lot and thus he decided to never bring the subject up again, because the last thing he wants is to hurt his mom, ever) but if there’s something that makes him feel terrible is the way park chanyeol purposefully ignores his existence.

-

it all started two months into sophomore year.

kyungsoo was walking to his english class thinking about god knows what and was distracted when he all but crashed with a guy who coincidentally was fighting with another guy.

“I’m really sorry” had said kyungsoo, trying to get out of there quickly. the guy had none of it and with a yell of you want some of this too, ? he let go of the kid he was fighting first and punched kyungsoo really hard on the stomach.

it all ended in kyungsoo and the guy throwing punches at each other until a teacher came to stop the fight and with kyungsoo sporting a black eye, bloody knuckles and a split lip (that guy knew how to hit, damn)

he then proceeded to angrily explain the situation to the teacher, she merely shook her head and sent him to the nursery.

when he got there, he took a seat and waited for the nurse to show up for like fifteen minutes, his lip was stinging and his head palpitating so he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. god why did the world always decided to do this him? he only wanted to go to his class quietly!

then, he heard some footsteps and stranger asking something to him.

kyungsoo opened his eyes “huh? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you”

a very tall boy stood in front of him, big doe eyes examining him, pouty mouth in a frown, “I said, are you okay? where’s the nurse? I came here to speak with her but I saw you here all beat up and got worried!” he explains.

this guy, kyungsoo thinks, talks with too much hand expressions and smells really fragrant, like a flower. it somehow bothers him because of his headache, but he is the first person to willingly speak to him since last year when he got into that really big fight with an who was molesting a girl, so he’s going to be as nice as he can with him.

“oh! I’m fine! I’ve been waiting for her for a while” he smiles. wrong move, his lip splits even more and starts bleeding crazily.

“man! what the hell! you look horrible! god, let me help you, you can’t keep waiting for her!” the boy is all frantic, fishing some keys out of his pocket and unlocking the door of the nursery and taking kyungsoo’s wrist to guide him inside, “please sit there, I’ll just go find some things” he starts searching through the nurse’s cabinets.

kyungsoo’s first thought is torn between why does this guy have the nurse’s keys and I can’t believe he’s here helping me wow, he chooses to voice his second thought though, “what’s your name?” he asks curiously.

the boy turns around with a winning smile on his face, hands full of antiseptic, cotton and band aids “I’m park chanyeol!” he chirps happily.

wait a second, kyungsoo knows that name.

of course this guy has the keys of the nursery, he’s park chanyeol, president of the student council. he gapes a little. “and you? what’s your name?” continues chanyeol, taking a chair and putting it in front of kyungsoo so he can treat his wounds.

“I-I’m do kyungsoo…” he whispers, watching chanyeol’s face intently.

chanyeol wets a cotton ball with antiseptic and holds it close to his lip, “well, it’s a pleasure, kyungsoo, this is going to sting a little, but it’ll help! so hang in there!” he smiles and then starts tending kyungsoo’s injury.

it does sting, a lot, but kyungsoo keeps quiet, still watching chanyeol’s face. he’s very pretty, eyes and nose big, ears sticking a little, dark hair combed showing his forehead and his mouth is also big and plushy.

five minutes later, chanyeol is finished and kyungsoo can’t help but feel sorry about it, he was having a good time just looking at him.

“ready! just be careful and try to not smile too much and you’ll be like, super fine” he grins softly.

when chanyeol returns everything to where he found it, kyungsoo panics, now is when he asks what happened and kyungsoo has to tell him that he was involved in a fight, crap.

“so,” says chanyeol returning to his previous seat, “are you a freshman? sorry I’m asking but you are really small and cute!”  he looks sheepish, hands gesticulating again.

kyungsoo notes that he is really a big guy, from his height to his hands to his ears, big all over.

“I- what?” surprised by the random comment, kyungsoo shakes his head, oh god. “no! I’m a sophomore! and I’m not small” he practically whines the last part but damn, he is not small!

chanyeol laughs, lifting his hands in surrender “alright, alright. not small. but yes cute” chanyeol winks and kyungsoo is at loss.

oh my god, is he flirting with him? that’s what it seems. does kyungsoo know what to do about it? hell no.

he opens his mouth hoping for the best but is met with his voice saying “I can’t be cute looking like a punchbag” and shrugs.

chanyeol laughs again, his eyes twinkling. then falls silent and just keeps looking at kyungsoo with a soft smile, “you are”

kyungsoo is about to say something but the nurse enters the nursery excusing herself, when she notices the two boys.

she smiles at chanyeol and frowns at kyungsoo, “you again… mr. do, you need to stop picking fights. you can’t keep coming back like this, what does your family think about your behavior?” she says sternly.

kyungsoo flushes and sighs, saying sorry. chanyeol frowns, confused.

they get shooed by the woman and, standing outside, chanyeol asks the question that kyungsoo thought was forgotten, “wait a minute. what did she mean? what happened to you?”

“n-nothing I mean…” kyungsoo is really embarrassed, god.

“did you… fight with somebody?” he sounds genuinely astonished, kyungsoo wants the earth to swallow him right in the moment.

“i- yes. but it was an accident! he started to beat me up because I crashed with him!” he knows that he just sounded the epitome of childish but he really does not want park chanyeol to think the same as everybody else, he wants to make a good impression on the guy who kindly helped him without hesitation, is that so much to ask?

chanyeol looks at him in an undecipherable way, then hums, nodding. he doesn’t look very convinced. christ, why.  but then smiles tentatively at him again “I’m glad you’re okay, be careful?”

that day, both boys part ways with a soft bye and a handshake and kyungsoo finds himself struck by the marvel that is park chanyeol. kind park chanyeol who treated his wounds and called him cute. he feels so lucky, even his shyness took a rest and had let him have the best day ever.

 

the next time he saw him, though, a week later, the boy acted like he didn’t know him and gave him a short hello when he greeted him.

kyungsoo spent his lunch recess holed in the bathroom thinking about it and came to accept the obvious: when they met, chanyeol didn’t know who he was and that now he did know, he heard all the rumors and bad stuff about him, so of course he didn’t want to have anything to do with kyungsoo (to accept it didn’t make it any less lamentable)

that day, two months and a week into sophomore year, kyungsoo realized two things: now he had a puppy crush on park chanyeol and that he had to do something about that horrible reputation of his.

however, sophomore year ended being worse than how kyungsoo thought it would be and problems still kept chasing him making him as lonely as ever.

 

that summer, kyungsoo took his mother’s advice and started to do stuff, more specifically, he started volunteering in the local shelter and a week into the job, he made his first friend since middle school.

oh sehun was as much of an outcast as do kyungsoo.

in fact, kyungsoo found that sehun was more or less in the same situation as him, people evaded him too but people also bullied him because he is gay and somehow the entire school found out, so he was all alone except for his boyfriend jongin who went to another school.

(kyungsoo once unintentionally wondered out loud how haven’t he ever seen him not even at lunch period and when sehun answered that he usually eats alone in the man’s bathroom on the second floor (the smelly one nobody uses) because he gets a little scared of someone hurting him, he thought sehun should really stand up for himself, and subsequently thought the same about himself)

they became friends quickly, bonding over videogames and favorite smoothie flavors.

it felt really nice to have someone to talk to, to complain about his luck and to voice his frustrations about his hopeless, dumb school crush.

and for the first time in a long time, kyungsoo felt happy. not happy like he made his mom believe he was but really, really happy.

when the summer was about to be over, kyungsoo felt different, more capable, fiercer, less lonely.

with sehun’s support, he made a resolution for his junior year: he was going to put a stop to the rumors about him and he was going to get park chanyeol in the process.

 -

two weeks into junior year, though, his plan was not going as good as he was hoping for.

first of all, he already got into three fights and two misunderstandings with the principal, so he was still as ‘bad boy’ as ever and now, people knew he and sehun were friends, so they started gossiping about it, too.

second, he has seen chanyeol, he sees him like, every day. they even have classes in classrooms that are in front of the other, but he has not mustered the courage to talk to him.

sehun gives him all the encouragement that he can, but not even all the cheering up in the world seem to be capable of defrosting kyungsoo when he sees park chanyeol with his newly dyed pink and also now longer hair, tall figure strolling through the hallways.

so, kyungsoo sort of gives up with the reputation thing.

he thinks that he only needs to prove himself to chanyeol and all the other people can go screw themselves. sehun approves the plan and also does jongin (now, he is also friends with sehun’s boyfriend, and almost all the time asks him his opinion because jongin is like, super cool) and so kyungsoo starts thinking ways of captivating chanyeol’s heart.

he spends a whole weekend on the phone with sehun and jongin talking about it and they all come to the conclusion that being smooth and romantic is the only way (kyungsoo hopes his shyness will let him, god, he wants chanyeol so much)

on monday, kyungsoo goes to the student council at ten thirty, when he knows chanyeol will be there (he asked about it in the secretary) with his heart beating wildly and his ears burning red, hands full with a little box of chocolate and a handwritten note (trying to be romantic, he compared chanyeol with a peach (soft and pretty and with a pretty skin color) and he hopes the boy will not take it the wrong way, he even wrote that in the note)

he enters the door and automatically all eyes are on him, he starts sweating. great.

“hi! how can we help you?” says a short boy with red hair, smile inviting. his resolve automatically disappears.

“um, hi. can I please talk to chanyeol?” he mutters, knees shaking. holy he’s going to faint soon.

“oh! yeol, of course” the boy smirks, “are those for him?” he signals to kyungsoo’s hands and okay, how about getting out of there before dying of suffocation?

“yes. you know what? can you please give them to him? yes, yes do that, take this and give it to him, bye.” kyungsoo shoves the stuff on the boy’s arms and scurries out of there, knees still shaking.

“wait! what’s your name!” he shouts, but the door is closed without answer.

“who was that?” asks jongdae, curiously.

baekhyun hums, looking at the box and envelope, “I don’t know, but he left this for yeol. how sweet! when will I ever have somebody that does this for me!” he sighs dramatically.

jongdae laughs, “man, just give that to him and go back to your business.”

“” is all baekhyun says before knocking on chanyeol’s door.

 

kyungsoo has been giving chanyeol little gifts for over a month through that redhaired boy when he notices that not even a single time he has said his name before he left. he solves that sending a bouquet of daisies with a little card that reads I’m sorry this took that secret admirer turn, but this is do kyungsoo :). (his heart was beating so fast when he gave the bouquet to the redhaired guy he thought he was going into cardiac arrest)

 -

two months later, kyungsoo has still to utter a word to chanyeol, he keeps sending him stuff, sometimes entire bouquets of colorful flowers, but he hasn’t spoken to him.

so, it’s only natural when, one day, chanyeol confronts him after his literature class.

“hello, do kyungsoo,” chanyeol greets when he steps out of the classroom, he sounds a little scared, mouth in a frown, “can I talk to you?”

kyungsoo’s heart starts doing this thing where it beats like it’s going to explode, “o-of c-course, are you okay?”

chanyeol stands to his full height, he’s wearing a little makeup and oh god he’s beautiful, “I meant, in private?”

“yes. yes whatever you want” kyungsoo says eagerly, ears burning.

chanyeol grabs him by his wrist and takes him to the student council which is coincidentally deserted.

kyungsoo stands there, dumbfounded meanwhile chanyeol secures the door.

then chanyeol stands directly in front of him, frowning. kyungsoo is getting distracted with how much he wants to touch his face, kiss him a little so he would stop frowning.

“alright,” starts chanyeol, making a face, “so, I really don’t want to be rude, but why have you been asking baekhyun to give me all those things?”

kyungsoo stares confused, sweating “w-why wouldn’t I? I told you in my notes, I think I like you a lot…” perhaps the cardiac arrest that didn’t happen all of those times when he was giving redhead boy his gifts for chanyeol is going to happen now.

chanyeol raises his brows, “why would you?”

kyungsoo takes a step back, because chanyeol is irradiating a mix of confusion and awkwardness and it is making him dizzy, “well, I- you- I think… you’re really pretty… and I know for a fact that you’re really kind…” he hopes chanyeol knows he’s saying this because of when he helped him last year? “and I would love to k-know you better…” overall, kyungsoo is proud of himself for not getting tongue-tied.

“what?” chanyeol shakes his head, fluffy hair bouncing, “why would you like me” he signals to himself. kyungsoo notices he still keeps talking with a lot of hand gestures.

“why do you say it like that? why wouldn’t I?” kyungsoo frowns, his heart is breaking a little, he just noticed that this is when chanyeol rejects him.

“I’m the president of the student council and I know you. you’re just the resident troublemaker” chanyeol’s tone is not rude and his standing is almost as if he’s afraid, but his words stab through kyungsoo’s heart.

“what? you know me?” he spits, all of the anger he has accumulated over the years for this exact matter suddenly coming to his mind, “what are you even talking about, park chanyeol?”

chanyeol’s eyes grow wide and now it’s him who takes a step back.

“what do you know about me, park chanyeol? what you heard in the hallways? the gossip about me being an ? is that what you know?” his face is red and his fists closed tightly.

“I-I’m sorry it’s just. that’s what everyb-body says about you, I-“

“no! why would you even believe all that? why does everybody believes in that, oh my god! this is stupid, I’m stupid” kyungsoo’s heart is sad, but he’s going to accept this rejection like a man because he doesn’t want to make a scene and-

“are- are you crying?” chanyeol asks, voice soft, hands reaching for him.

oh no, he’s crying. .

kyungsoo covers his eyes with his arm “I’m not! I’m sorry I didn’t want to bother you! I’ll go now and I’ll leave you alone”

when kyungsoo is leaving, chanyeol takes his wrist “don’t cry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to make you upset, you don’t bother me at all” kyungsoo downs his arm and through his watery eyes sees chanyeol’s expression, soft and worried. he wants to cry even more. “what’s wrong? why are you crying? please stop or I’ll cry too!”

kyungsoo giggles at that “I’m just so mad, I wish you didn’t believe all that” he answers.

chanyeol smiles sadly “it’s just… there are so many things people say about you...”

“I know, but none of them are true, I wish I could show you”

chanyeol looks at him silently, as if he was pondering. then he lets go of his wrist.

“why don’t you? show me, I mean” he says uncertainly.

kyungsoo flushes, is he suggesting…? “would you… chanyeol would you go out with me?” he asks in a breath, hands trembling, eyes still watery.

chanyeol smiles, softly, lowering his head a little to the right, “yes, let’s go out”

kyungsoo’s heart leaps, holy . park chanyeol agreed to go out with him.

 -

after all of that, kyungsoo and chanyeol trade numbers and kyungsoo plans the best date that he could imagine.

on saturday morning, he asks sehun and jongin for fashion advice and asks his mom for some money and if she could lend him her car. at three in the evening he goes for chanyeol and almost has a heart attack when he sees what he is wearing (a too big on him and soft pink sweater which combines with his hair and floral jeans, he looks so beautiful, kyungsoo’s heart feels weak)

chanyeol greets him when he gets into the car with an awkward hug (they’ve been talking over texts all week and even though he still feels a little insecure, he knows he can win chanyeol’s heart if everything goes alright)

 

 

the first stop in the plan of the best day ever is the aquarium.

and it’s a huge success.

they spent twenty minutes at the ticket line bickering about a comment made by kyungsoo about why was the line so long because he thought nobody went out on a Saturday, “dude, in which world do you live in? saturday’s are literally the day when everybody goes out!” chanyeol had laughed.

realistically talking, kyungsoo hoped chanyeol would like his idea, but nothing prepared him for a hyper six-foot-tall boy going from here to there the moment they stepped inside the compound.

chanyeol is amazed and pointing to all the fishes and babbling about how much he loves the ones that are colorful (“look, soo! a clownfish! like nemo!” giggles chanyeol, kyungsoo almost dies with the new nickname he was given) and makes jokes about his friends, saying things like that the ugly ones look like them.

kyungsoo is having such a good time. he buys chanyeol some popcorn and instead of looking at the fishes, he looks at him and wishes with all his heart he will be able to win him over because he likes him so much, he likes the way he childishly gets mad when the moraine keeps hiding from him or when he pulls kyungsoo to the tank of the starfishes because those are his favorite and how his smile is really big all the time.

when they have seen all fish tanks (the shark one was an experience, chanyeol clung to him like a lifeline, a real experience) they decide to go to the gift shop and end up buying matching bugs that read sea buddies! with little drawings of octopuses. chanyeol whines about how could something so cute exist and kyungsoo unintentionally ends up saying that he thinks the same about him. both of them blush so hard they have to take some fresh air for a moment.

on the way to the exit, kyungsoo sees a photo booth and shyly asks chanyeol if he wants to take some pictures to which chanyeol answers hell yeah, soo! and when they have taken the photos, kyungsoo feels ashamed because chanyeol made a face so pretty that he just got distracted and started looking at him and the camera captured it and oh jesus, there goes his dignity.

three hours later, they leave and go to stop number two in the plan, all the while chanyeol talking about how much fun he’s having had kyungsoo smiling like crazy.

 

stop two makes chanyeol scream really loudly.

kyungsoo thought that it would be a really good idea to take him to the shelter where he volunteered all summer and once again he was right.

“soo! this is literally the best! holy I’ve been blessed” he shouts over the barks of the dogs.

chanyeol plays with the puppies and names them all. taking his phone out to take a lot of pictures and sending snapchats to his friends (kyungsoo also takes his phone out, but he only takes one picture of chanyeol, smiling radiantly with a white puppy between his legs)

chanyeol also asks him a lot of questions about the puppies and how did he end up working in there in the summer (to which kyungsoo answers that he always has loved dogs but his mom is allergic and he couldn’t get one, so he decided he would work with them) and then smiles at him in a certain way.

they spend more time in there than kyungsoo had anticipated, feeding the dogs and playing fetch in the dark with them at some point, and after stop number two, chanyeol looks at him in a way that has kyungsoo feeling a little self-conscious, ears burning and hands shaking.

“chanyeol hyung,” kyungsoo says when chanyeol falls silent on the passenger seat, looking at the console’s clock, “it’s a little late and I wanted to take you to eat some ice cream, but I don’t think there’s any ice cream shop open this late?” chanyeol hums, nodding, “would you like to go home now?” kyungsoo feels a little sad because he couldn’t finish the perfect date plan, he hopes chanyeol has had as much fun as he has been claiming.

“what about us, going to a 24hr store, buying ice cream and eating it in here?” chanyeol smiles and looks at him mischievously, as if he’s talking about an evil masterplan. kyungsoo adores the idea.

so, they go, buy the ice cream and spend hours sitting in the car just talking. well, mostly chanyeol talking and kyungsoo listening, making an effort to contribute more when chanyeol jokingly says I’ve been talking about myself for hours, you really don’t talk too much, do you?

kyungsoo learns a lot about chanyeol. now he knows that chanyeol is really happy that this is his last year in high school because now he’s almost free to pursuit his dream studying music, that he has one older sister who babies him like he’s five, that he’s afraid of things like thunder and cockroaches and so much more, and the best thing is, everything new he learns is just something new he likes about chanyeol.

kyungsoo tells him about his dream of becoming a chef, how much he enjoys doing gardening stuff with his mom and talks about sehun and jongin and when chanyeol asks about all the gossip about him (sounding totally confused and intrigued) kyungsoo tells him that he has the worst luck because problems are practically drawn to him (chanyeol laughs softly at that and takes his hand, encouragingly) (kyungsoo almost dies in the moment)

when kyungsoo takes chanyeol to the door of his house (because he’s a gentleman, nothing less), chanyeol looks at him that certain way again, and leans in to kiss his cheek.

kyungsoo flushes so hard his hands start sweating and his heart does somersaults, chanyeol giggles.

“I had so much fun, soo. thank you so much.” he takes kyungsoo’s hands “I’m so sorry for what I said about you, I should have never believed all that stuff, soo. I hope you can forgive me” his eyes are sad, kyungsoo wants none of that.

“please stop! I don’t want you asking for forgiveness, it’s okay, we are okay!” he shows chanyeol his heart shaped smile and he swears chanyeol’s eyes are sparkling.

“alright, cutie” says chanyeol, hands intertwined with kyungsoo’s, “then this is goodbye” kyungsoo is hoping for a kiss, oh god he wishes with all his heart. however, chanyeol kisses both of his cheeks and then he’s gone, leaving a flushed kyungsoo standing outside.

he didn’t get the kiss, but his heart is racing so much that he doesn’t get any sleep that night.

-

it’s been a week since their date, and even though they’ve been talking over texts back and forth and chanyeol always greets him with a kiss on the cheek in school when they see each other, the topic of another date has yet to be discussed.

kyungsoo doesn’t want to seem desperate nor annoy chanyeol. but he can’t help but wonder… did chanyeol really have a good time last time? was it a friendly date for him?

he’s getting restless and really wants to ask him about it, something along the lines did you friendzone me?

sehun told him to stop whining and do something about it instead, but he really doesn’t want to bother chanyeol.

he’s on his bed, doing his homework on friday night when his phone vibrates with a text from chanyeol asking if he likes carnivals.

from: park yeol

ik it’s a weird question but theres one in town!

do you wanna go w/ me??? :D :D

kyungsoo’s heart soars, holy chanyeol just asked him out.

he obviously says yes. hugging his pillow excitedly.

from: park yeol

:* :* it’s a date then

see you tomorrow soo!!

kyungsoo can’t sleep from excitement that night.

 

on saturday, kyungsoo is ready really early, and now is chanyeol the one who goes to get him (it’s super funny because chanyeol’s mom’s car is a little white spark, and chanyeol’s big being looks squished on the driver’s seat)

they get to the carnival and stand in the line for the tickets. chanyeol starts rambling about his biology professor saying  instead of organism when he was teaching about the human body last week and kyungsoo can’t stop laughing.

their first stop is the carousel, full of color and lights even though it’s barely eleven in the morning. they’re the only grownups riding it, and also are the only ones screaming in there. it’s super fun, they end up dizzy and decide to take a quick break to drink some water.

the water break results on them eating two big cotton candies, and then promptly throwing them up when they try the roller coaster.

it’s almost two in the evening when kyungsoo realizes they have tried every amusement in the carnival except for the ferris wheel and he thinks about how much he wants to kiss chanyeol at the top of it.

“yeol hyung, let’s go to the ferris wheel!” he asks excitedly to an agitated chanyeol, he’s been bouncing from here to there.

chanyeol nods and then takes his hand.

it feels so especial to kyungsoo. chanyeol animatedly talking and calling him cute in the middle of the sentence when he sneezes and holding hands in the middle of the carnival.

oh yes, kyungsoo is so ready to kiss him at the top of the wheel.

when they’re waiting in the line, though, a black cloud appears in the sky and as suddenly as it appeared, it starts raining.

chanyeol yelps funnily and yanks him quickly to stand under a roof, “! our date!” he complains.

kyungsoo frowns, “what if we wait for a little while? I’m sure the rain will stop soon!” he smiles optimistically. chanyeol looks at him and smiles sweetly, “alright, soo. let’s wait.”

ten minutes pass. then twenty. then thirty.

the air is really cold and chanyeol has already given his sweater to kyungsoo (cue kyungsoo’s death) but the rain shows no signs of stopping soon.

kyungsoo sighs loudly, mouth in a frown, “I think we have to go… I’m sure you are hungry and this stupid rain is set on ruining our day” he whines. god his bad luck is back.

chanyeol shakes his head “but soo! I was having so much fun… I don’t want to go” he whispers.

honestly kyungsoo is mad, he didn’t get to kiss chanyeol at the top of the ferris wheel and now even though none of them wants to go, they will have to go.

kyungsoo sighs again, “I’m so sorry hyung, I wanted this date so much and I was having so much fun” he then hugs him, tightly. he’s really mad about leaving.

“hey, hey, soo. don’t apologize. it’s okay, baby” the endearment leaves his mouth without his consent, but he likes it a lot. he would love for kyungsoo to be his baby (kyungsoo flushed really hard when he heard it), “what about us going to my house to have lunch? I mean I know it’s not the same as the carnival but I want to spend more time with you, soo”

kyungsoo agrees instantaneously, excitedly nodding on chanyeol’s chest.

so, they hold hands and start running to the car, trying to avoid getting soaked.

when they get to chanyeol’s house, it is empty, his parents out for the day, which means that there’s no food ready.

“we could cook something, hyung!” says kyungsoo excitedly.

“but I don’t know how to cook, soo! the master chef in here is you.” says chanyeol taking a seat on one of the kitchen counter stools.

“what if you are my assistant? I would teach you!”

chanyeol agrees because kyungsoo’s eyes are twinkling and his smile is super pretty when he suggests it.

so they end up making some basic kimchi.

kyungsoo demands that chanyeol cuts the onions because those always make his eyes itchy while he cuts the carrots, and they work efficiently as a team. soon enough, chanyeol has finished his task and now it’s all in kyungsoo’s hands, so he just sits back and enjoys the view.

chanyeol thinks that it feels pretty domestic to have small, pretty kyungsoo cooking their lunch and thinks back to last year when after he helped him that day on the nursery, he let himself believe what junmyeon told him about him and started avoiding him for the sake of his reputation, not because he thought kyungsoo was a bad person at all.

they haven’t talked about it, but chanyeol feels so bad about it that for him it always feels like there’s an elephant in the room.

“kyungsoo,” he starts, walking up to him, “I’m really sorry” he says sadly when he’s a foot away from him.

kyungsoo turns to face him “what? why are you sorry, hyung?” he frowns.

“I-I, I’m sorry for avoiding you last year. I truly am, I just was so scared. I’m the president of the student council and I cared about my reputation a lot but avoiding you was the dickest move of the moves, and I am really, really sorry” he finishes, reaching for kyungsoo’s forearms, he feels like he needs the proximity.

kyungsoo’s eyes grow softer “I forgive you hyung, it’s all in the past. I promise” he shows his pinky, to make his point across.

“but how can you? and so easily?” chanyeol laughs pitifully.

kyungsoo smiles really wide, “because I like you a lot, hyung. and every second we spend together is the best second ever. of course I forgive you. I understand, and as I said, it is in the past.”

chanyeol gulps, kyungsoo’s eyes are so sincere, his smile so dashing and he is overall so pretty, so lovely standing there. he doesn’t know if their kimchi is ready but he mindlessly shuts the fire of the stove off.

then, he uses his hold on kyungsoo’s forearms to corner him against a counter and to put kyungsoo’s hands on his neck, “soo” he whispers, one of his hands goes to his waist and the other to cup one of his cheeks.

kyungsoo breathes, “yeah” and they’re so close, breathing the same air, out of focus, eye to eye.

chanyeol is leaning in, kyungsoo is anticipating. god he wants to kiss him so much.

their lips graze and they both close their eyes and it’s all perfect.

when the front door suddenly opens. “chanyeol! are you here, honey? I saw the car in the garage!”

they pull apart of each other as if they were burned, faces red like tomatoes and breaths ragged. they both curse internally, so close.

“yes” chanyeol croaks, he clears his throat “yes!” repeats.

after that, with the mood killed, kyungsoo meets chanyeol’s parents and finishes the kimchi while chanyeol goes to the bathroom to take a minute and calm himself down.

they all eat and talk and yes, it’s all good but neither of them can’t stop thinking about that almost kiss.

when kyungsoo asks chanyeol to take him home, it is still raining.

the trip is silent, both flushed but chanyeol takes kyungsoo’s hand over the console and caresses it with his thumb. kyungsoo feels as if he won the lottery.

when they get to kyungsoo’s house, kyungsoo kisses his cheek two times and whispers a goodbye before he gets out of the car.

it takes chanyeol approximately 0.01 seconds to realize that he’s not going to let this day end without kissing kyungsoo just the way he wants.

so he gets out of the car too and stops kyungsoo’s run to his house.

“soo! wait!” he calls and runs to where he is, standing in the middle of the pathway to his home.

kyungsoo turns around, eyebrows raised. chanyeol reaches to him and without further ado, cups his face in both hands, leans in and kisses kyungsoo right there, under the pouring rain.

kyungsoo puts his hands on chanyeol’s neck and happily kisses him back, smiling into the kiss, and when they pull away to catch their breath, kyungsoo confesses him that he has been wanting to kiss him since a very long time ago, and that he was hoping to kiss him today on the ferris wheel.

they end up soaking, making out right there without any care. and between all the snogging, chanyeol kisses his cheeks, his nose, his eyelids and forehead and calls him all kind of things like beautiful and precious.

they only separate ways when kyungsoo sneezes and they notice that yeah, they’ve been standing under the rain for at least twenty minutes.

that night, kyungsoo calls chanyeol over the phone and they talk about the kiss and say stuff like your kisses are really sweet, babe and I really, really like when you bite my lips, hyung.

they end the call with racing hearts and wide smiles.

(in the end, both of them catch terrible colds, but it was all, without a doubt, worth it)

 -

after that, chanyeol fixes himself on kyungsoo, so where there is a kyungsoo, there is also a chanyeol, and he takes upon himself to clean kyungsoo’s reputation.

it’s not an easy task but he does his best, and now, kyungsoo is never alone (more like, alone with sehun) because now kyungsoo is friends with his friends and it’s all really great.

chanyeol’s goal is to make everyone understand just how great is kyungsoo, because he is literally an angel.

 -

three months into this… wonderful thing with chanyeol, kyungsoo gets into a really big fight.

and this one is nothing like the previous ones, all by coincidence.

this one is kyungsoo willingly throwing punches at a guy who was harassing sehun in the boy’s bathroom, saying horrible things to him and who punched him in the face so hard that sehun’s nose wouldn’t stop bleeding. so kyungsoo knocked the out.

he gets suspended, obviously, but he’s past the point of caring. he would do anything for his best friend.

kyungsoo takes sehun to his house and sehun’s mom makes them cookies and cries when she thanks kyungsoo for protecting sehun. he gets all embarrassed but accepts her thank you kisses because she’s as dear to him as his friend.

-

when he goes back to his house, chanyeol is sitting on his porch, looking at his phone, intently.

“hyung, what are you doing here?” kyungsoo asks slowly when he reaches him, taking chanyeol’s hand to help him stand.

“you weren’t answering my calls” he says simply, eyes sad, mouth set in a frown.

he checks his phone, is dead. of course he wasn’t answering, “I’m sorry hyung” he says and invites him to his house, his mom is working. it is a Wednesday night after all.

they stay silent for a while, just looking at each other in the middle of the living room.

“what happened today? baekhyun told me you were suspended” chanyeol’s voice is sad, almost disappointed.

“some jerk was bothering sehun and I knocked him down, I’m sorry” kyungsoo is still angry, but now he knows he shouldn’t have made justice by himself (he doesn’t regret it, though)

chanyeol seems to think differently, because suddenly his frown disappears and his eyes twinkle, “you did what?” he asks, smiling.

kyungsoo is confused but he grins, chanyeol’s smile is really contagious, “I knocked him out, hyung”

chanyeol starts laughing and keeps doing it loudly for some minutes, kyungsoo can just look at him, frowning curiosly.

“I’m sorry i- I shouldn’t say this given that I’m supposed to be a model student and person and all that blah blah blah but! but babe! well done, oh my god!” he’s gesticulating wildly with his hands again (now, kyungsoo knows he does that only when he is really excited or nervous) “god, I was so sick of people bothering sehun. I don’t think anybody would dare to even look his way again, babe” he smirks.

kyungsoo laughs then, delighted and walks to him until they’re as close as they can be. he wants to kiss him so bad.

chests touching, the mood changes totally from lighthearted to something different, heavier, hanging in the air between them. kyungsoo suddenly feels electrified, fingers trembling a little with the way chanyeol’s stare changes to something more intimate.

chanyeol takes his hand and plays with it a little, “you know,” he whispers, as if he was about to say something that should be kept as a secret “the first time that I saw you, your hands where bruised just like this, baby. your face was all wounded and you were in obvious pain, but you were as cute and pretty as you are right now” he continues, and leans in to rest his forehead on kyungsoo’s, he sighs “soo, I like you so much.”

there, standing in the middle of his living room, red from head to toe, kyungsoo notices something really, really important: he is falling in love with park chanyeol.

and park chanyeol seems to be falling in love with him.

he can hear the sound of his own voice saying something, then something more, but it’s all blurry because his heart is pounding wildly, his blood rushing to his ears and chanyeol is kissing his neck softly, big hands secured on his hips.

“yes baby, I am.” is all chanyeol says. uhm, did he say all that out loud?

it doesn’t matter at the moment, really. chanyeol’s kisses are too distracting.

later, kyungsoo’s mom comes home to her son sleeping soundly on the living room sofa, all wrapped in blankets and being held close by this chanyeol boy that she knows makes him so happy.

 

kyungsoo is suspended for two weeks, so he isn’t surprised when he wakes up a little after noon. what does surprise him is that chanyeol is sleeping beside him.

he looks really pretty, kyungsoo thinks, fluttering eyes and open mouth, a calm but somehow funny expression on his face.

he detangles himself from the boy and goes to the kitchen to find a note from his mom in the counter saying that she bought eggs and cereal yesterday. he blushes thinking about his mom seeing him last night, all tangled with chanyeol.

chanyeol wakes up a little later, yawning his way to the kitchen and without saying anything he sits on the counter and watches kyungsoo working on the stove.

“you look so lovely, soo. would you feed me too?” chanyeol jokes and startles kyungsoo who was unaware of his presence. he turns around and smiles at him.

“I will, hyung. don’t worry” he stands on his tip toes and yanks chanyeol down to kiss him square on the mouth (it always feels like the first time, butterflies erupting all around their stomachs)

kyungsoo is about to go back to the stove when chanyeol, all wild hair, rumpled clothes and big smile takes his hand, kisses his still bruised knuckles softly and yanks him back in his embrace “you know, baby, you look really pretty with those love bites I gave you” kyungsoo flushes deeply and makes a mental note to check those out in the mirror “I wish we were at school so everybody could see them” he sighs.

that lights a bulb in kyungsoo’s head “hyung! you should have gone to school!”

chanyeol shakes his head “it’s okay, I wanted to stay with you.”

kyungsoo looks at him on the eyes and smiles softly, “you are so sweet, I like you so much” and hugs him tightly.

chanyeol hugs him tightly too, cheek resting on kyungsoo’s hair and hums, “I know we haven’t talked about this but, soo, I need to know. are we boyfriends? I mean I really want you to be my boyfriend, will you?”

kyungsoo can’t even form words, so he nods eagerly into chanyeol’s tummy and chanyeol kisses the top of his head many times.

in that moment, with chanyeol there with him in his kitchen on a Thursday evening, kyungsoo thinks that his junior year resolutions are nothing compared to what he got in reality.

the toast he was making burns, the smoke is probably going to set the fire alarm off, but it doesn’t matter.

kyungsoo stays in chanyeol’s embrace and, with a small smile on his face, he really wishes that this, what he has with chanyeol, lasts forever.