13. Temptation
Phoenix RisingChapter 13: Temptation
When Baekhyun realized it was Monday, all hell broke loose.
While he scrambled into his clothes - which littered the floor from the door to the bed - Chanyeol lounged on the bed and made suggestions ranging from the simple and obvious: call out sick, to the creative: call out dead.
Baekhyun laughed despite himself, but the sound was strained.
Chanyeol's state of undress proved incensingly distracting to Baekhyun, and it wasn't until the guitarist got up, put on a shirt, and offered to walk Baekhyun to the nearest main street that the frazzled businessman calmed down - slightly.
The easy, albeit recalcitrant camaraderie they'd enjoyed before was now tenuous at best, though Baekhyun curbed his snippy retorts and even apologized once, deflating with a defeated expression. Fraught with nerves, he seemed to close in on himself, a receding nightflower shying from the light of day.
While Baekhyun fretted and dressed, Chanyeol made a cup of sulloc tea and observed him over the rim of his mug. It had become increasingly evident that Baekhyun's stress and frustration was a result of the very life he led, his anger aimed at invisible fetters, rules and pressures that bound him.
Chanyeol understood, only too well.
After putting Baekhyun in a cab to Kangnam, Chanyeol turned himself around, heavy boots crunching through the snow as he headed back down the street. He pulled out his phone and punched speed dial. Pressing his phone between shoulder and ear, he rubbed cold hands together and blew on them, attempting to pull the sleeves of his leather jacket over his knuckles.
"Hi."
"Tao."
"Nn."
"...Are you stoned?" Chanyeol asked, features contorting with suspicion.
"I had class." The bassist reminded dryly.
Chanyeol snickered. "You at your place? I was gonna come by and get my gear."
"Yeah."
"Cool."
It was a twenty minute walk to Tao's place, a small off-campus dorm house near the university. Long strides took Chanyeol from Hapjeong to Hongdae, and over the hill.
The bassist's van soon came into view - a clunking antique straight out of the 70's that served as the band's transport to and from shows. It technically belonged to both of them but Tao had a parking space - and was arguably the better driver - so he kept it between shows.
"He's stoned," Chanyeol observed as he stepped through the door and spotted Kai strewn haphazardly across Tao's couch.
Tao slid catlike eyes toward the vocalist and shrugged. Affirmative.
Chanyeol's lips twitched with withheld commentary and he turned his attention to Tao instead. The bassist had returned to his perch at the skinny breakfast bar--desk - one of the many economical ways Tao maximized his small space - and was crunching away at a red apple with a pencil poised in his other hand. He was poring over an open textbook and notebook which took up nearly the entire surface.
"Thanks for taking care of my stuff last night," said Chanyeol as he dragged the adjacent stool from under the table and straddled it. Sitting reminded him just how exhausted he was - and just how little sleep he'd managed to get. Regardless, he felt rejuvenated and upbeat.
Tao looked up under thick black fringe and the corners of his lips curled with a feline smirk. "You'll owe me one," he murmured good-naturedly. Gently accented, the soft spoken youth's demure voice contrasted heavily with his dark, lidded stare and thin, aristocratic mouth.
Chanyeol grinned, a warm blaze to Tao's black ice. "Of course."
", guys. You know what this means?" Kai piped up suddenly from where he lay nearly upside down; only then did Chanyeol notice the heavy recording headphones around his neck and the pad of college rule paper tucked between his body and the sofa. He eyed the vocalist with mild curiosity.
Kai sighed and laughed lazily as he swung his legs off the backrest. "We-- must be in' famous if Yeol got laid," he announced with a smirk. Rolling onto his side, he stood and ambled over, clapping Chanyeol on the back of the neck. "Who's the lucky duckling~" he cooed, hooking his elbow around the guitarist's neck as he leaned heavily against his side.
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