Baekhyun woke up to find yellow stars shining down on him. The room was dimly lit, and he was lying on a hard wooden surface with a soft pillow supporting his head. He propped himself up on to his elbows and saw the silhouette of a reclining, curly-haired man, asleep on an office chair.

Oh. Oh.

Realization hit him, and he hastily stood up, eyes darting up to the ceiling to find the glow-in-the-dark stars that he'd been staring at earlier. He smiled upwards before shifting his eyes back on the sleeping scientist. Chanyeol's shoulders heaved up and down gently with each breath. His mouth hung slightly open and his arms were folded sloppily across his broad chest. He looked rather angelic with his face framed by a mass of honey-colored ringlets.

Baekhyun could hardly believe that he was looking at Park Chanyeol. The Park Chanyeol. It almost felt like a dream. It almost felt like he was about to wake up and have the scientist stripped from him.

However, this notion fell when his gaze shifted to the unorganized dishevelment surrounding him. In the time Baekhyun had been sleeping, Chanyeol had managed to make a right mess of the lab. It looked worse than Jongin's room, which was forever strewn with empty pizza boxes, smelly socks, and besprinkled papers. 

The fact that Chanyeol (within 2 hours or so) had managed to surpass Baekhyun’s filthy roommate in levels of messiness was no meager achievement.

Foul-smelling beakers had been left sitting idly in the sink, test tubes filled with multicolored substances were scattered everywhere, microscopes covered in some sort of green slime were sitting in a corner, while broken crucibles sat in piles of ivory shards around a Bunsen burner. 

It was messy (and rather disgusting) but Baekhyun couldn't help but smile. It was in this lab that miracles happened. The dysfunctional junk meant something. There was a calculated method behind this madness, this recklessness. It sort of reminded Baekhyun of his personal pursuits and how he’d never had the liberty of leaving a place in a state like this. He envied the scientist's freedom immensely. 

Of course, this mess would have to be cleaned up eventually but at least Chanyeol didn't have to do it straight away. Back when Baekhyun lived with his Mom, Kyungsoo would constantly be on his case about the grimy state of the kitchen. The bug-eyed boy wanted everything to be clean 24/7 and it annoyed the out of Baekhyun. It didn’t matter anymore though. Since Baekhyun was out of that house and had no intentions of going back. Besides Kyungsoo was just a bug. He was short, he was pudgy and he was irritating. A soft chuckle escaped Baekhyun's mouth as he imagined his brother's horrific reaction to this laboratory.

The intern's laughter elicited a groan from Chanyeol who opened his eyes slowly.  For the 30 seconds that followed, he looked like he was going to slaughter someone. His eyes were narrow slits and his lips were pulled into a terse line. 

"Dr. Park?" whispered Baekhyun. The scientist's face relaxed at the sound of the intern's voice and he immediately leapt out of his chair like the Easter Bunny.

"Hyung!' he cried putting his hands together excitedly, "How do you feel?"

Baekhyun took a nervous step back. Chanyeol's eyes were like two gigantic chocolate balls. "Great, I guess." 

"Great? So you're well rested? Mind if I check you out?"

Baekhyun's heart skipped a beat, "Excuse me?"

"Check you out?" Chanyeol repeated, stepping forward to eliminate the distance Baekhyun had created. "As in check your pulse? Check your vision?" 

"Oh...well yes, but I haven't even done any work yet so-"

"Pish posh, whatever, now come along!" cried Chanyeol, grabbing the older boy's wrist and leading him deeper into the lab. Chanyeol’s grip was firm yet gentle, and Baekhyun's eyebrows furrowed together at the contradiction - but he didn't flinch (which was his usual response to physical contact).

The scientist gently dragged him into a small booth and motioned to a chair. Baekhyun felt extremely out-of-place as he set himself down. The white walls were flooded with kaleidoscopic optical illusions that made his eyes hurt and mind whirl.

The scientist took out a blue stethoscope from a desk drawer and quickly ed the top two buttons of Baekhyun's crisp, yellow shirt. The boy drew in a sharp breath as Chanyeol placed the stethoscope over his heart. Chanyeol listened and pursed his lips in confusion.

"What is it?" panted Baekhyun, not liking the worried expression on Chanyeol's face. 

"How odd...your heartbeat seems to be off the charts," said the scientist, his eyes flickering to the ceiling. "Then again ... that could be due to the uncomfortable situations I've been placing you in since we met."

Baekhyun almost released a chortle but Chanyeol's wrist accidentally grazed his bare chest. His body tensed up at the sudden contact and an audible gasp escaped from his parted lips instead of a chuckle.

"Oh s-sorry," stammered Chanyeol, removing the stethoscope and stumbling backwards.

"It's alright," murmured Baekhyun. His cheeks were scorching hot and his body felt as if had been alighted with fire. Exhaling deeply, Chanyeol got a hold of what appeared to be a small flashlight. "Okay well...I'm going to check your eyes now."

Baekhyun nodded, and prepared himself for Chanyeol's touch. The taller boy lightly leaned his hand against Baekhyun's face as he shined the light into his left eye.

Images of sensory nerves and fleeting splashes of color flashed around Chanyeol’s figure as the scientist angled the light into Baekhyun’s eyes.

Chanyeol did the same procedure with Baekhyun’s other eye and then drew back, a smile planted on his face. "Well your vision is absolutely fine." The older boy nodded and slipped out of the chair, blinking his eyes incessantly.   

"Can I ask you a question, Dr. Park?" 

"First of all, call me Chanyeol. Second of all, you just did."

Baekhyun found himself grinning. "Okay Chanyeol, can I ask you another question?"

The scientist smirked as he put away his stethoscope and flashlight, "Sure."

"What the heck happened?" 

Baekhyun immediately felt flustered for asking so bluntly, which was strange for him since he was the king of being brash. He never had a problem with being honest, even if he did end up being rude. Sure, it had gotten him into more than a few fixes, but who cared? Someone had to tell Jongin when his hair looked ed up or Luhan that he was being too whiny or Kyungsoo that his bulging eyes were getting annoying. Baekhyun just didn't give a damn about temporarily pleasing people with little white lies (or even big black ones).

But for some reason, he did with Chanyeol. And he had no reason to; he’d just been drugged by someone he'd just met! He should have been absolutely livid at the scientist for involuntarily putting him in what could have been a potentially dangerous situation.

What if the anesthetic killed him?! 

Okay, that was unlikely. But still! Even thinking about it made Baekhyun's toes curl. Why wasn't he angry at the tall, frizzy-haired man in front of him? And why did he feel guilty for asking a perfectly reasonable question?

"I guess I should apologize for that." said Chanyeol, coughing and then winking at Baekhyun, or wait, was that a twitch?

"A couple of months ago, I got a call from Seoul Hospital requesting an edible anesthetic for patients afraid of injections. It was a challenge, but I eventually developed an ice-cream based anesthetic and well, today was the deadline and I just wanted to double check if it would work-"

"It's okay, Chanyeol," said Baekhyun with a sigh. 

"No, I sincerely apologize for turning you into a science experiment. So to properly make up for my foolishness how about you stay for dinner?”

Baekhyun looked at his watch. 8:50.

He knew he should go home and finish his Chemistry lab report but he couldn’t let Kyungsoo’s hard work in making that care package go to waste, right?

*

Beyond the laboratory and medical rooms, Chanyeol’s Lab consisted of many more surprises. As Chanyeol opened yet another door, Baekhyun froze at the beautiful sight in front of him. Water rushed over their heads in an arc and the tube spread out in front of them like an electric blue tunnel with vibrant fish gliding through the waves.

“Whoa.” Baekhyun sighed in wonder, bringing his face dangerously close to the glass which reflected his expression of awe.

Chanyeol grinned, and brought his face dangerously close to where Baekhyun’s was.

“Would you look at that?” he cooed, pointing to two golden sea horses dancing amongst pink coral, “Sungmin and Sooyoung.”

“Sorry?”

“There, see those two seahorses? The one on the left is Sungmin and the one on the right is Sooyoung.”

“Do you name all your fish?”

“Yes actually. But right now you’re looking at my two favorites.’

Chanyeol was so close that Baekhyun could feel the hotness of his breath and feel it condense against his flesh.  The Scientists’s pale skin glistened in the light reflected off the striking blue water and Baekhyun found it very hard to look away from him.

“Why?”

“Why? Uh-” Chanyeol leaned his head against the glass and folded his arms, eyes flickering upwards as he pondered his answer, “because they defied the odds.”

“The odds?”

“It’s long been said that sea horses are the only fish that actually fall in ‘love’. There’s been evidence that suggests mated pairs stay together for the rest of their lives, as opposed to the usual practice of bearing children then going separate ways. But some big shots in the nineties gathered evidence disproving that. Out of curiosity I kept many seahorses and observed whether they interacted after mating – they didn’t. So I tried again. And again. And just as I was about to give up – Sungmin and Sooyoung proved me wrong, proved us all wrong. I guess you could say they sort of beat the odds by going against nature. That’s why they’re my favorite.”

Baekhyun dipped his head in understanding and then glanced back at the sea horses, forever loving each other in the blue water.

*

 As Chanyeol led Baekhyun deeper into the labyrinth that was his lab, he took on the persona of a tour guide.

“This is my room” he said, opening a yellow door that led to a white washed room that had a mustard mattress in one corner and a tattered acoustic guitar sprawled on top of it. Bright posters of 2NE1 hung on the walls, juxtaposing against portraits of ancient, serious looking men that Baekhyun vaguely recognized from his chemistry textbook. In place of a closet, Chanyeol seemed to have a gargantuan yellow suitcase overflowing with a multitude of crumpled sweaters and battered corduroys.

“Do you live here?

Chanyeol pursed his lips and tilted his head to one side, “Technically, no, but practically yes.”

*

At the end of the aquarium corridor was a Japanese tea room hidden by transparent golden shades. When Chanyeol opened them, a beautiful and spacious room laid out before them. The beige walls were gilded with sandy parchment that showcased striking Japanese calligraphy. The floor was marked with geometric red lines and created perfect squares and rectangles. The room was dimly lit, and almost reminded Baekhyun of his university’s coffeehouse, except that it wasn’t crowded or blusterous. It had a zen-like ambience imbued by the soft aroma of vanilla rather than the acrid stench of coffee.

“I usually eat in here,” explained Chanyeol, taking his shoes off at the entrance and then walking inside. Baekhyun did the same, and followed him to a table that had two level cushions on either side.

“Do you like to cook?” asked Baekhyun.

“I do—but something always ends up getting blown up.”

Baekhyun chuckled and pulled out the food from Kyungsoo’s care package. His eyes widened at the various dishes his brother had prepared. Four fat bowls of rice and noodles, and entire platters of bulgogi, kimchi, dumplings, and even a couple of cans of soda.

“Your brother prepared quite a feast.” said Chanyeol, grabbing a napkin and tucking it into his collar. Baekhyun thought Chanyeol looked rather stupid, but did the same, nonetheless.

*

Chanyeol filled his plate with so much that food that it dared to fall off the corners. He hovered over the table, and shoved large pieces of food into his mouth with his chopsticks, and much to Baekhyun’s dismay, talked while doing so. He almost made Jongin’s table manners look saintly.

In contrast, Baekhyun ate in small polite bites. But watching Chanyeol tear apart the food with such unashamed vigor inadvertently made his stomach rumble to do the same.  

With every morsel of food that entered Chanyeol’s mouth, his face brightened like to two candles being lit after years of darkness. Baekhyun documented this about Chanyeol: smiles frequently.

 “Do you not like your brother’s cooking or something?”

Baekhyun raised his eyes to meet Chanyeol’s questioning ones, “Excuse me?”

“It’s like the meal is torture for you!”

Baekhyun smirked at that one, and shook his head, “No I just tend to eat slowly I suppose.”

“If you don’t mind me saying hyung, there’s slow and then there’s slow. And quite frankly you’re the latter.”

Baekhyun was all set to feel offended when Chanyeol picked up a rather large piece of bulgogi and brought it to Baekhyun’s mouth.

“Eat” he commanded.

“What? No!”

The older boy’s skin was getting clammy now.

“C’mon! Eat it like you mean it!”

Chanyeol was unwavering in his attempt, so Baekhyun sighed and wrapped his lips around the piece of beef, chewed, and gulped it down.

“Now that’s what I’m talking ‘bout!”

Baekhyun found himself grinning, and stuffing his mouth more and more. It was fun, devouring the food like a savage. Chanyeol guffawed and continued to push as many dumplings in his mouth as he could.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, noodles surged out of nostrils and splatters of beef dangled out of happy mouths but Baekhyun couldn’t think of a time when he’d had more fun.

It was at that point Baekhyun remembered he hadn’t taken his meds. Hoping Chanyeol wouldn’t notice, he swiftly grabbed the two pills out of his pocket and chugged them down with large sip of soda. But unfortunately Chanyeol decided at that very moment to make an inhuman facial expression and three soggy, wheat-colored dumplings squirted out of his mouth. Baekhyun erupted with laughter, and snorted out the soda, drenching Chanyeol in coke and spit. And to his dismay, the two pills he’d just popped had sailed right into the scientist’s lap.

Any normal person would have been infuriated but Chanyeol bent backwards in hideously loud chortles. He thumped his hands together but Baekhyun could no longer laugh. His eyes were glued to the pills that lay in Chanyeol’s lap.

 Please don’t let him see.

“Chanyeol, I’m so sorry-”

“What’s this?” asked Chanyeol looking down.

.

“Nothing!” cried Baekhyun, snatching the pills from the scientist’s hands and shoving them into his mouth. “Just some –uh allergy meds.”

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, which were still soaked in soda, and grabbed a napkin to wipe his face.

“What are you allergic too?”

Enclosed spaces.

“Uh-dust. Yeah, the city’s got a lot of that so I have to take these so I don’t vomit all over the place.”

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes but shrugged his shoulders. Baekhyun sighed in relief.

“Hey, I’m really sorry about-“

“Don’t worry, hyung. Like I said—we might as well be friends right?”

“Right.”

Baekhyun’s insides felt warm, and as they returned to eating like civilized people, he couldn’t help but enjoy the notion that he’d made a new friend. And it wasn’t just any old fool but Park Chanyeol.

Park ing Chanyeol.

*

The rest of the meal was spent in silence, until Baekhyun spotted a framed photograph of a girl partially hidden behind a bonsai tree. She had thin, reliable lips and straight, sand-colored hair adorned with a yellow daisy.

“Who’s that?” he blurted, food spurting out of his mouth.

“Sorry what?”

“That picture. Who’s that?”

“Oh that?” Chanyeol pointed, “Flower girl noona. Sorry, I mean—Taeyeon noona. You don’t know her?”

“Should I?”

“Well she goes to your school.”                                                      

Then it dawned on him. Kim Taeyeon. Fourth year botany major.

“I know of her. She’s your noona?”

Chanyeol chuckled and took a chug of his soda. “No. Our families are close friends. But I guess she’s the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had.”

“Don’t you have a real sister?”

“Yes but we’re not particularly close. I’m not really close with anyone in my family to be honest.”

Baekhyun’s shoulders heaved downwards. “Neither am I.”

*

When the meal ended and it was time for Baekhyun to take his leave, a pang of pain spread through his gut. Words couldn’t describe how much he wanted to stay right there in the tea room, and figure out Park Chanyeol.

Needless to say, the scientist wasn’t exactly the man he thought he’d be. He was silly, listened to atrocious hip-hop, and carried out crazy experiments on a whim - but it made him no less interesting and no less a hero in Baekhyun’s mind.

It did make him mysterious though, and there was nothing Baekhyun hated more than mysteries. He liked to think he had everyone figured out and wrapped around his finger. He knew people were more than labels, but this strange man seemed to have more parts to him than anyone Baekhyun had ever met.

As they walked out of Chanyeol’s Lab and into Kris’ chic black and white office, Chanyeol turned to him.

“Can I offer you a ride home?”

“That’s okay. I can take the subway-”

“I’m certified to drive in 9 countries.”

Baekhyun chuckled and complied, wondering how anyone could say no to an offer like that.

*

The ride in the elevator was excruciatingly long (as rides in elevators always were) but when he looked up at the tall man next to him, the four enclosing walls didn’t seem as stifling as they usually did.

*

Chanyeol’s Volkswagen Beetle was the same fire-engine red that Baekhyun had seen on the lips of the 2NE1..

It looked worn and torn but had probably been kept out of sentiment.

“Nice car.” said Baekhyun, immediately reeling in regret, since his words came off sarcastic. Chanyeol just smiled, and even though it was incredibly dark, Baekhyun saw the white gleam of teeth under Seoul’s lights.

The car ride was silent except for the thumping beats emanating from the substandard sound system. At first Baekhyun found the music uncreative and boring, but as polychromatic colors swept past, and pulsating energy flooded the car through the open windows, Baekhyun started to bob his head to the staccato of beats. He felt kind of, dare he say it, cool.

“You into music?” asked Chanyeol.

“Huh? No not really. I’m too caught up in my studies.”

“C’mon there must be something you like?”

Chanyeol leaned back and perched one of his arms on the sill of his open window. They’d just got caught in a minor traffic jam, and the night wind whipped Chanyeol’s honey curls off his face.

“Girls Generation are kind of cool…I guess.”

“What about rap? Do you like rap?”

“Not really.”

Chanyeol chuckled and leaned back further into his seat.

“What about singing? You look like you have a nice voice.”

I do.

“I really don’t. How about you?”

“My singing voice is too deep to sound pretty…but I am a decent rapper.”

“Rapper?” Baekhyun really couldn’t wrap his head around that.

“Ch’yeah. Not many people know so shh, keep it a secret.”

For reasons unbeknownst to Baekhyun, he replied, “Only if you rap for me.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

Chanyeol sighed, in a deep breath and before Baekhyun knew it, the scientist was rapping. The boy he’d first encountered in that little bookshop all those years ago. The man who’d been to every corner of the world. The man who’d roamed the seas, and discovered the world. Was rapping. For Baekhyun. At 10:30 PM. In his car. In the middle of a traffic jam. In Korea’s most happening city.

The texture of his voice was smooth like hot caramel, and words bounced off his tongue perfectly. He also did some “gangsta” hand gestures that Baekhyun tried hard not to find funny. As he rapped, he transformed from a mildly awkward, eccentric scientist to a confident man with a blazing attitude. It both delighted and frightened Baekhyun.

When he finished, Baekhyun gave him an applause, “Wow.”

Chanyeol grinned but glanced down. “So what did you think?”

“That was mind-blowingly awesome.” 

 “Really?”

Baekhyun couldn’t believe he was saying this, “Ch’yeah.”

*

The traffic jam didn’t last as long as Baekhyun wished it would’ve, and when Chanyeol’s Beetle pulled up in front of his block of apartments, he almost asked Chanyeol to take him back to Park Enterprises.

“Thank you so much for the ride,” he said, turning to leave.

“You’re welcome but wait … I-uh have something for you.”

“Uh - okay.”

Baekhyun shut the door he’d just half opened and sat back down, toying with his fingers. His heart pumped loudly as Chanyeol leaned over into the backseat and dug around for something. His arms grazed Baekhyun’s as he did so, and Baekhyun pretended that the chills that coursed through him weren’t because Chanyeol’s cool flesh.

“Here.”

Through the darkness, Baekhyun saw a box of cookies in Chanyeol’s hands, “What’s this?”

“I-I got Kris to get me these for dessert but then I remembered something I read in a book about social conduct a while back. It said that when you care for someone, gifts help convey your feelings. And now that we’re friends, I figured I should give you this.”

Baekhyun accepted the box with the two hands and the scrumptious smell of chocolate filled his nostrils immediately.  

“Thank you” he whispered almost inaudibly. He wanted to say more but no words could justify the warm feeling Chanyeol had just given him.

“Okay, well…I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then? I promise I won’t perform any experiments on you and we’ll get down to work okay?”

“Sounds good” Baekhyun beamed and exited the Beetle. Before entering the building, he turned around and gave one last wave to the driver of the bright red car.

It was way past Baekhyun’s bedtime but he felt like he had the energy to run to the ends of the earth and jump off. He felt so invincible that he even considered taking the stairs to the eighteenth floor but decided against it from muscle-aching memories.  

After a long ride on the elevator, he came face to face with a rather flustered looking Kyungsoo.

“Soo! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Jongin had some people over tonight so-‘

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

“Your cheeks are all red. Did Jongin say something?”

“No! I mean – everything’s fine, hyung.”

“You want to sleep over?”

“No. I should get back home. How was the internship?”

“It was…interesting” replied Baekhyun, a smile hovering on his lips.

“Interesting good or interesting bad?”

“Both, I guess. The meal you made was delicious by the way. Thanks for that.”

Kyungsoo’s face softened, and Baekhyun took a brave step and placed an affectionate hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“My pleasure hyung.”

“Soo.”

“Yeah?”

“How’s mom?”

“She’s fine; she got promoted to manager recently.”

Baekhyun nodded, but didn’t probe further, “I’ll see you later okay. Take care.”

“Hyung, wait!” Kyungsoo’s voice was tentative and unsure.

“What?”

“Can I have a cookie?”

Baekhyun smirked and handed him the entire box.

“You don’t have to -”

“Someone told me that you should give presents to people you care about.”

Baekhyun hadn’t seen a look like this on Kyungsoo’s face in a good three or four years. His eyes turned a soft brown color and his lips parted as if he was literally breathless.

“Thank you, hyung”

“My pleasure.”

*

When Baekhyun entered his apartment, he found another flustered person recumbent on the sofa. Jongin raised his eyes and met his hyung’s momentarily.

“About ing time Byun Baekhyun. I was about to call the police.”

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes and smacked Jongin’s chest. “You look like you got hit by a pile of bricks.”

“And you look like you just made out with Hyorin from Sistar.”

“What?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I really don’t,” replied Baekhyun, eyebrows creasing together.

“Okay let me put it down another way: you look happier than Santa Claus would after chucking down one of Luhan’s cheesecakes.”

“It’s just been a good day, I guess.”

Jongin sat up, and grabbed an empty beer bottle on the coffee table. “What happened?”

“You first, you little alcoholic!” said Baekhyun, snatching the bottle from Jongin’s hand and rolling his eyes.

“No, you.”

“Jongin don’t be a –”

“Fine. Your brother told me he loves Kai.”

 “Does that really come as some sort of surprise to you?”

“No you don’t get it. He looked me right in the eyes … do you think he might know?”

“Know what?”

“That I’m Kai?”

“I can’t see how he would.”

“It’s just…I don’t know. When he left, he dropped another heart-shaped cutout of a Kai poem and there was black paint on his wrist-”

“Well I just ran into him and he did look kind of red in the face … were you guys alone?”

“For the past hour we were. Luhan and Sehun left a while back.”

“How in the world did you keep up a conversation for an entire hour?”

Jongin smirked, and folded his arms behind his head, “Being an alcoholic has its benefits.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and then recalled his unfinished chem lab report - which brought him crashing down from his high.

.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t done my report for Chen’s class.”

“Ah, just skip class tomorrow. Now tell me how the internship went.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

herro guys, this has been the longest update so far (and most fluffiest) so i hope you enjoyed it. Shout out to my beta LotusK for helping my sorry and coming up with this chapter's title^^

and thank you readers/commenters as well -showers all of you with hugs and kisses-

Chanyeol thinks y'all are mindblowingly awesome. (gif not mine).

~electricsherlock