“You’re an idiot, you know that right?” Baekhyun deadpanned.

“Yes, hyung. I know,” Chen hung his head in shame.

“Dude, grow some balls,” Chanyeol spoke through the sandwich he was currently eating.

“Channie-baby, don’t talk with you mouth full,” Baekhyun cooed at his boyfriend and wiped his cheeks with a napkin.

“Ewww,” Chen gagged, “Could you two be more public?” Chen gestured to the tables around them seated with people in the American-deli style restaurant.

“Well, since you asked…” Baekhyun smirked mischievously before jumping out of his seat and on to his unsuspecting-boyfriend’s lap, “ Feeed meee!”

“Oh god, I don’t know these people. Please take me away from them,” Chen groaned aloud and left the table, walking towards the bathroom.

Chen entered the seemingly empty, standardized bathroom unsure of what to do. Honestly, he was just trying to get away from Baekyeol. That didn’t mean he had to do anything. Sighing, Chen braced himself against a white ceramic sink and looked at himself in the mirror,

‘I’m not a real man,’ Chen rolled his eyes and slumped forwards, banging his head on the mirror…repeatedly…

“Hey kid, you ok?” An accented voice interrupted Chen’s self-pity/loathe session and put a (rather large) hand on Chen’s shoulder.

The other man pulled Chen away from the mirror and turned him around. Chen looked at the stranger only to be met with a very expensive looking jacket and jewelry. Looking up, he was very surprised by the man’s height. He was even taller than freaking-giant-Chanyeol. The man had honey-blonde hair and was quite attractive. He had a foreign air about him, but maybe that was because he looked like a millionaire in a healthier version of subway (hopefully most people will, get the reference).

“Yah,” The man snapped two long fingers in Chen’s face, “You okay there?”

Chen blinked and nodded, somehow the man looked familiar to him, “Yeah, uh…I have problems.”

“I’d say,” the taller quirked an eyebrow at Chen.

“Great mother of Transylvanian symphonies! What is wrong with me?” Chen slapped his forehead, “That came out wrong…” the brunette whimpered.

“I’m guessing you don’t get out much,” the accented male chuckled.

“You could say that. I’m Chen by the way,” Chen held out, but withdrew it before the other could shake it, “You washed your hands, right?”

The taller looked at Chen oddly before doubling over in a fit of laughter, “Oh my god…yes, yes I did.”

Chen glared at the blonde and opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by the other’s deep voice.

“Kris.” Kris took the other’s hand and shook it, “Did you wash yours?”

“Oh haha-haly treble clef.” Chen paled and looked over Kris again, “Holy- Kris. Kris as in-“

“World renowned rapper? Yep, that’s me,” Kris smiled amusedly.

“Oh gosh.” Chen blinked stupidly at the tall rapper.

“Ok, you do have problems…”

“Ah! No I- Oh lord,” Chen groaned, “This is like the fifteenth time in the last two days.”

Kris side stepped away from the door as another person entered the small bathroom. “Hey Chen, why don’t we take this outside. It’s kinda weird…um conversing in the men’s room.”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” Chen and Kris made their way back into the restaurant,” Um, I’m actually here with friends though-“

“It’s okay. I’m here with someone too. Maybe we can force them to sit together,” Kris offered.

“Ok, I'll tell my friends then," Chen nodded and was about to walk off when Kris grabbed his arm.

Wait, let me tell Tao first," Kris stated and pulled Chen over to a booth.

"Who’s Tao?"

Still wondering who “Tao” was, Chen let Kris pull him over to a booth hidden away in the back of the restaurant. Sitting in the red “leather” booth was a rather attractive, yet scary-looking man. He was a tall, almost-as-tall-as Kris-tall, and had shaggy black hair that covered his eyes when he looked down. His eyes were masked by said hair as he looked at his phone, while his other hand played unconsciously with his salad fork. Kris smiled lightly and walked up to the man taking his phone out of his hand.

“Hey!” The man’s head shot up when his phone left his hand. He then saw Kris’ face and realization crossed over his face, “Kreeaassssee.” The man whined cutely.

‘Hold your Gucci for like two seconds babe,” Kris chuckled.

The black haired male, whom Chen smartly guess was Tao, glared at Kris.

“
Ok, so Tao, Chen. Chen, Tao” Kris pointed at the respective people, “Okay, so I just met him in the bathroom and I’m going to take him on a walk and solve his life problems. That ok? You look hot, by the way. Very hot…” Kris smiled innocently.

“Uh…okay?” Tao stared dumbly at Kris, “Where exactly do I come to play in this equation?”

“You can sit with my friends, um…over there?” Chen piped in, pointing at his friends. Thankfully, Baekhyun was sitting like a civilized person in his own chair.

Tao sat up and looked in the direction where Chen was pointing, “Ok then, but you owe me one,” Tao smirked at Kris.

“You bet,” Kris returned the look while Chen stood there with a confused look.

--------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------

“Ok, so basically: You like this guy but can’t tell him because you’re too nervous and you make a fool of yourself every time you see him, which hasn’t really been that many times, and you may or may not have been stalking him for the past few months,” Kris summed up as the two walked along the brick sidewalks of the downtown district.

“Wait-what?” Chen choked,” I never said anything about a guy!”

“Seriously?” Kris gave Chen a knowing look,” You were obviously trying to hide their gender by using just that: a bunch of they and their’s. Trust me, I’ve been there.”

“Wait-what? You’re gays?” Chen gaped unintelligibly at the rapper.

“Are you kidding me? Where were you, like ten minutes ago, when I was totally hitting on my boyfriend?” Kris quirked an eyebrow at the other.

“You mean that Tao guy?” Chen thought back to the surprisingly tall, black haired male.

“Yes, I mean that incredibly attractive ‘Tao guy’,” Kris rolled his eyes.

Chen’s face screwed up in contemplation as he mulled over the new information. Kris just watched the other in utter confusion. (It was a pretty funny sight to be seen.) Suddenly Chen’s face contorted in surprise and realization.

“What kind of boyfriend are you?!” Chen suddenly shouted, gaining the attention of a few passerby.

“Dude, chill!” Kris exclaimed as he fumbled to throw on a pair of sunglasses and pull his hood over his head, “Don’t call attention!” (Yes Kris, because that will hide you…)

“What kind of man ditches his boyfriend for someone he just met?!” Chen whispered harshly, arms moving in a large gesture.

“Yah! Respect your elders! I took the precious time out of my day to help solve your life problems!” Kris argued back, “Plus I can just make it up to Tao at my place-“

“TMI! TMI! I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW!” Chen cut off the elder

Kris smirked at the blushing male from under his hood, “What you think I’d let-“

“NOPE! BACK TO MY PROBLEMS!” Chen covered his ears and shook his head furiously.

Kris laughed at the flustered male and gave him a playful shove, “Alright, alright, but let’s find a place to sit down.”

Kris and Chen ended up in a small public park. There went many people there, seeing how it was pretty cold outside. A few Secondary school kids ran around playing futball (soccer), bundled up in jackets and long pants. The two men sat on a wooden bench towards the slightly hidden by trees.

 “ I used to be like that around Tao—all shy and nervous-like,” Kris started as he slouched on the park bench, stretching out his long legs, “You know, minus the stalking,” Kris teased, giving Chen a sideways glance.

“Really? But you seem so… so confident and well, there’s no denying you’re pretty hot,” Chen glance over Kris to emphasize his point.

“Yeah, well so is Tao. Honestly, he was a bit scary when I first saw him too.”

“Dude, no. Your boyfriend freaking looks like a criminal or something,” Chen deadpanned.

“Yah! Don’t call him that! So what if he has a few piercings?”

“Six,” Chen corrected and was responded with an affronted look from Kris,” What? I had to look at something…”

“Anyhow, I first saw him a this Gucci boutique-“

“-dang rich kids,” Chen scoffed.

“ACTUALLY,” Kris spoke over Chen,” I wasn’t even there to buy anything. In fact, I rarely ever shopped there. I was there with a friend --and then, I just saw him.  I swear it was love at first sight.”

“So you saw him, what’d you do?” Chen nodded.

“My friend started up a conversation with him.”

“Not you?” Chen teased.

“Heck no. I probably would have fainted if I had to talk to him,” Kris admitted,” Anyways, so my friend started talking to him and I just kinda stood there staring at him. In just that small conversation, I learned that he shopped there often—his name was Tao—and he was freaking adorable, not even an ounce of murderer in his blood. Well, that is unless you buy the last Gucci-limited edition-men’s combat boots in stock…” Kris shuddered, seemingly remembering an unhappy instance, “So then I just started shopping there more often; just to see if I could catch him there at the right time.”

“Yeah, totally not a stalker,” Chen rolled his eyes at Kris’ last sentence.

“Yah! I did not!” Kris smacked Chen’s arm, “But yeah. I started going there more often in my free time, even on holidays. You have no idea how many accessories and jackets I have now… Anyways, so I got more confident the more I saw Tao in the store. A couple times he’d notice me and start up a conversation, but more often than not it was me. I learned things like: he wasn’t that in on celebrities (he payed more attention to fashion, he had no idea who I was, and he loves attention--but not from the mass public.”

Kris smiled softly, “In was scared at first. I wasn’t sure if he’d like me back or even agree to date me because I was a celebrity, because he doesn’t like kind of attention. Then again he didn’t entirely know who I was—I mean I never told him to call me Kris. It didn’t seem right with him…”

“Wait what? What did you say your name was then? You guys talked a lot right? Names should have come up sooner or later,” Chen questioned, but then remembered how he hadn’t even gotten his crushes’ name and probably didn’t say his either .so he took the whole sentence back.

“My birth name’s Yifan, but back to my story: The perfect opportunity to ask him out came one day. I was planning on doing it sometime that week (or month), anyways. “

“Just tell me what happened!” Chen whined, shoving his cold hand in his jacket pockets. Honestly if Kris’ story got any longer he’d probably scream.

“Geeze, ok calm your man. So I was going into the store and bumped into Tao at the door. He was in a rush so I could only say hi before he left. Dejectedly, I went into the store anyways.  The cashier ran into me as I came in. Apparently, Tao had left his wallet at the register. He had seen me with him before so he asked if I could get it to him.”

Chen nodded as Kris continued.

“Of course I said yes. So I pretty much ran out of the store looking for him. Eventually I ended up shouting his name and everything. I swear it probably sounded like I was looking for a lost dog. “

“So you found him, right. Then you asked him out?” Chen guessed.

“Yep, pretty much…minus the fact that he punched me…” Kris chuckled embarrassedly.

“He punched you. Why?” Chen gaped, imaging the situation in his head.

“Story for another time.” Kris cut off.

“Ok, ok. So what? I should just ask him out?” Chen asked, referring to his crush.

“Yep that’s pretty much it,” Kris smiled, “Let’s go back to the restaurant now. I don’t want to keep Tao waiting.”

Chen nodded and got up. The two men made the walk back to the restaurant.  The entire time Chen’s mind was filled with doubts and questions. He stopped Kris before they reentered the restaurant.

“Wait, what if he says no?” Chen asked timidly.

“Live some lose some,” Kris shrugged, “If he says no and you still like him, don’t give up. Better yet, make him fall in love with you.