~*~

Smiles.

If there was one thing that could make the almighty Park Chanyeol crumble, that would be it. A smile, just ONE smile, and he’d be a goner. Being a passionate freelancing photographer, he could never let a beautiful smile pass. That’s probably one of the reasons why his gallery is filled with smiling faces.

To him, it doesn’t matter if a smile is genuine, fake, forced, crooked or in pain. A smile is a smile, and each has its own beauty and message to portray.

He himself had quite a bright smile. Having a dentist as a father and a mother who had a beautiful smile really made his smiling-genes toothpaste-commercial-worthy. Even so, he wasn’t exactly fond of his smiles. He’d always thought his smiles were a bit creepy. The twitches and too-white teeth weren’t exactly helping either.

He used to be known as The Happy Virus because of his big and contagious -eating grin smile. Everyone started calling him that the moment he first stood up from his seat and introduced himself to his class on the first day of first grade.

And because of his too-white-and-too-straight teeth coupled up with the awkward twitch and the whole of his face in general, he used to be bullied. Now that he’s all grown and towering over most of the human population, people don’t bother him that much. Still, his feelings for his own smile never changed.

He still feels insecure of the way his face expressed his happiness.

Thus the reason why he doesn’t smile that much.

But that’s it. The only exception for his smile was his own. He hated his smile but would never cease the opportunity to capture another’s.

Which explains why he’s leisurely walking down a sakura-filled lane in the middle of a park on a beautiful Sunday morning with a DSL-R hanging over his right shoulder. The air smells like sakura petals, freshly brewed tea and cinnamon rolls, and the spring sun is pleasantly warm on his pale skin.

He’s been there since early morning watching kids play and couples holding hands. He watched a family having a picnic under one of the many sakura trees. He watched an old couple sitting together at a bench, reminiscing about old times together. He watched an ahjusshi selling rice cakes his wife had made earlier that morning. They all smiled, and he captured every single one of them.

Chanyeol huffs as he settles himself under a fairly big sakura tree, having thought he had captured enough smiles for the day. Glancing at his watch, the time read 11.30 a.m. Maybe I should stay here for awhile longer. I’m already here anyway, might as well enjoy the beautiful weather.

Sitting back, he stretches his long gangly limbs and closes his eyes, enjoying the pleasant sounds of children’s laughter and leaves rustling with the wind, and the warm rays of sunlight beating down on him through the tree branches.

He feels so relaxed and comfortable, he thinks maybe he should take a nice nap. Besides, he had stayed up late the night before just to finish up his assignment and had woken up early that morning just to drive up to the park.

Just as he feels himself drifting off to sleep, he suddenly feels something land on top of him, pawing his shoulders and sniffing his face. The feeling continues for another 5 minutes and he frowns, because he really wants to take a nap and the wet nose digging into his cheek tickles and he really doesn’t want to be molested by something while he’s asleep under a tree in a public park.

Begrudgingly, he cracks his eyes open and finds himself face to face with a very white and very furry face. He pulls back a little to see who the molester is and gets in the face in return. He pulls away, sitting up and frowning on the thing that had now slipped onto his lap.

It turns out his molester was a cute and fluffy big dog that seems to really like him. He almost smiles as he pats said dog’s head. A faint voice causes him to look up.

“Sang Chu-ah! Oh God, SANG CHU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Chanyeol watches as a boy runs up to him and bows deeply, apologizing and trying to pull the white dog away from him, afterwards.

“I’m so sorry. He somehow managed to escape his leash. I’m so sorry.” The boy looks up after finally pulling the white dog to his side, flashing a precious eye-smile at Chanyeol.

You know how sometimes in those dramas, the lead guy bumps into the lead girl for the first time on a busy street and he sees her smile and suddenly it’s like the world suddenly stopped for awhile, and it feels like it’s just him and the girl that mattered at that moment and he feels his heart thump and throb uncontrollably in his chest.

Chanyeol thinks so this is how it feels.

He feels all funny inside, he finds himself staring at the beautiful smile and he can’t seem to look away. It’s beautiful, prettier than any smile he’s ever seen in his life. His mind is telling him to say something. Anything. Just stop staring and creeping him out dammit.

He tries, but he finds himself tongue-tied.

He finally snaps out of his stupor when he feels his right hand tightening around something hard. He looks down to see his DSL-R firmly gripped in his right hand. He looks up at the boy in front of him and finds the boy still smiling at him, albeit with a little glint of unsureness.

“U-uhhh…I-I…I-I’ts okay. Uhmmmm…” Chanyeol tries to form a coherent sentence but his mind is still scattered and all over the place and think Chanyeol, think.

The boy tilts his head to the side and smiles some more, frowning at the same time. Chanyeol thinks the boy has got to be the cutest thing on the planet and before he realizes it, his lips are turning up and his teeth are showing and oh god I’m smiling. . Stop it mouth. STOP IT.

He blanks out for a while when he hears a beautiful tinkling sound and it takes him a while to realize it’s the boy’s laughter. He can’t help but notice the way the boy’s eyes form pretty little crescents when he laughs.

“Wae? Why are you laughing?” Chanyeol asks, having already given up trying to stop himself from smiling. That’s it, scare away this boy too. Your life is already damned anyway.

“Your smile,” the boy giggles, and Chanyeol feels his heart drop. “It’s so bright. I’ve never seen a smile so bright, before.”

Chanyeol blinks. So is that a good thing or a bad thing?

“So is that a good thin or a bad thing?” He mentally slaps himself for saying that out loud.

 The boy chuckles. “I think it’s a good thing.”

The boy smiles again and this time Chanyeol can’t stop himself from grinning his almost-forgotten -eating grin. He’s different, this boy is different, Chanyeol thinks, and he doesn’t know why he feels giddy at the thought.

“Can I take a picture of you?” Chanyeol blurts out before he can stop himself, and he kind of expects the boy to freak out and walk away.

Instead, the boy smiles brighter and replies a simple “sure.”

Chanyeol blinks again and it registers to him that the boy agreed and he scrambles and stumbles over his gangly limbs to stand up. The boy chuckles again.

Chanyeol makes the boy stand exactly where and how he is; smiling under the sakura tree with Sang Chu beside him, his hand holding Sang Chu’s leash. Chanyeol  tries to adjust his camera lens but then realizes that everything already looks perfect as it is.

He takes the picture and finds himself smiling as well. The picture turned out prettily and Chanyeol thinks he should probably put it in the largest frame he can find and hang it in his gallery.

The boy awkwardly smiles at Chanyeol as he steps out of the shade of the tree, pulling Sang Chu along with.

“Yeah well it was nice to meet you,” The boy says, walking backwards to the direction he first came from. Chanyeol smiles at the boy and nods, waving a little.

Chanyeol suddenly feels his heart drop from his ribcage down to his stomach and he thinks This is it?Wait, no. Do something, Yeol. Don’t let this beautiful person who actually appreciates your smile slip away.

“W-wait!” Chayeol calls out, jogging towards the boy, who had stopped walking and turned around to look at him, flashing a beautiful smile again. Something clicks inside Chanyeol and he thinks this is supposed to happen, his life will never be the same again.

“I-I’m Park Chanyeol. M-May I know your name?” Chanyeol stutters, but oddly he doesn’t feel embarrassed about it. He just feels like grinning and laughing. This boy is starting to have affects on him. He can just feel it.

“Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.” He boy says, beaming up at the taller, and Chanyeol feels all funny all over again.He thinks he likes the feeling.

“Okay then, Baekhyun-sshi. Would you like to come to my gallery exhibition sometime soon?” He knows he’s pushing his luck, but something tells Chanyeol he has to do this.

“Are you asking me on a date, Chanyeol-sshi?” Baekhyun chuckles and Chanyeol just grins.

“If you want it to be.”

Baekhyun seems to ponder as he smiles up at Chanyeol who grins down at him for awhile. It felt like forever before Baekhyun opens his mouth to answer.

“Sure.”

Chanyeol can’t remember the last time he’s smiled and grinned so much.

~*~

He looks around. The room was filled with people, all well-dressed and scattered around. He feels a little bit out of place but continues to walk through the gallery anyway. A few people glance at him and smile, and he doesn’t even know why so he ignores them.

He walks further into the room, going through a doorway and he finds himself in a larger room. A few people who were inside the room, glanced at him and smiled as well. He frowns and walks further inside.

He looks around and takes in his surroundings. The room is filled with pictures, with frames bigger than the ones he saw in the previous room awhile ago. The pictures were beautifully captured and their vibrant colours bathed the room in a calm ocean of life.

But what caught his attention the most was a large frame propped up in the middle of the room. The picture was bigger than any other picture in the gallery and the frame was made of gold coloured wood carved with magnificent patterns and swirls.

He walks up to the large frame and stares up at the picture, and his face suddenly feels a lot warmer. He continues to stare at the picture, thinking why?

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he hears someone say beside him. He turns around and finds himself face to face with the owner of the gallery himself.

“U-uhhh…C-Chanyeol-sshi…Why is my face there?” He asks, blushing when he sees Chanyeol the smile in the picture. His smile.

Chanyeol smiles. “Because you have the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen, and I think it’s a masterpiece.”

Baekhyun feels his heartbeat quicken and butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He smiles up at Chanyeol, and Chanyeol grins down at him.

Click, they both felt it.

Something clicked inside them, as though everything had fallen into place. Like puzzle pieces fitted together to form a perfect picture. They continue to smile at each other, even though they both  know there will be more smiles and more perfect pictures to come.

Yes, if there was one thing that could make the almighty Park Chanyeol crumble, it would be smiles. Especially Byun Baekhyun’s.

And vice versa.

~*~

*edited~

a/n: lol sorry for any errors.obviously rushed coz it's 3:40 a.m right now and i have classes  tomorrow >< thanks for reading and tell me what you think,okay? ^^