Baekhyun has spent his entire lunchbreak sneaking sly glances at Chanyeol. As usual.  

And as usual she is stunning. Her hair is tied up carelessly and her tangled ponytail is swept in front, hanging over her right shoulder.  She's wearing an oversized cream knitted sweater which hangs off her slim frame, but she somehow manages to make it look cute.

She sits in the middle of her group of friends, gesticulating wildly as she recounts her tale. He's once again fascinated by how her expression changes from wide-eyed and scared to vituperous and angry. He wishes he could hear what she's saying, what's getting her so worked up. He's sure he could listen to her voice all day long and never get tired of it.

Chanyeol doesn't try to make her voice high and sugary sweet like those popular girls in TV shows do, she speaks with rich chocolatey tones, melifluous when happy and dynamically explosive when not. 

His perfect view of Chanyeol is suddenly interrupted by a sea of white being pressed violently into his face. He protests, struggling against his foe. Or should he say foes, judging by the collection of sniggers and giggles coming from his right. 

"Baekhyun, you were drooling again so we decided to help you out," Jongdae chortles, finally releasing him and leaving him redfaced and panting. Baekhyun kicks him, 

"You're a , you know that?"  Baekhyun announces, wiping the corners of his mouth as discreetly as possible,  much to the others' amusement. 

"Excuse you, if it wasn't for me, your little crush would've noticed you blatantly staring at her, like, months ago!"

"...Your point being what exactly? " Baekhyun squints at his friend. 

"My point is, my dear, that you need a gameplan- a strategy!" Jongdae slaps his hand down on the table,  making the cups of water and coffee jump. 

"What?" Baekhyun frowns at him, then looks again at Chanyeol who is doubled over in laughter. He looks away after just a moment, she's too much for him to bear.

"A strategy! Alright first, we need to get you talking.  And you need to ask for her number- " Baekhyun cuts him off before he starts getting excited, 

"Nope," he shakes his head, fear beginning to seep into his mannerisms at the prospect of truly talking to her.

Jongdae watches him speculatively for a moment, then grins sadly and pats his shoulder,

"We need to work on your self-esteem, mate. Why don't you think she wouldn't go for you? You're a decent looking guy,"

"She's taller than me, though. Girls don't like short guys," Baekhyun curses his not-long-enough legs and looks again at Chanyeol who has covered up her pearly white smile with her hand. Her face is rosy pink from whatever it is she's laughing at, and he finds himself, not for the first time, wanting to be the cause of that smile. 

"That's complete bull; my sister told me lot's of girls actually prefer boys that are the same height as them because it's easier to kiss that way,"

"Well, Jongdae, I don't really see how that helps me in any way, since im about a meter shorter than her!" 

"Ok, calm down! No need to get so upset," Jongdae placates him, "we'll figure something out, don't you worry," he pats his head condescendingly, with a 'let the parents sort it out' attitude, and Baekhyun smacks him away furiously,

"Look I already know I've basically got sod-all chance with her, alright? One thing I really don't need is you being an about it!" he spits, instantly regretting his outburst as Jongdae flinches away, contrite and apologetic.

"Ok, I'm sorry," he frowns worriedly, "but I just think drooling over her from a disctance and never saying 'hi' is a bit a a waste,"

"I've said hi to her before," Baekhyun protests, embarrassed by how much of a wimp he's being made out to be. Jongdae swivels his head towards him  sceptically,

"Oh really. And what did you say after that?" he raises one eyebrow in such a manner that has Baekhyun wanting to punch him in the face repeatedly. He wants to usurp him, but he can't make any retorts since he hasn't technicially said any more than that, so he just opens and closes his mouth a few times, blushing intensely from the mortification.

"Yeah, didn't think so," Jongdae smirks smugly and Baekhyun is so tempted to just get up and leave, but then he would never hear the end of it later, so he reluctantly stays put, staring the beast down with severely unimpressed eyes.

-

Jongdae is actually friends (if indirectly) with Kris. So he considers it his duty to tease Chanyeol's mobile number out of her, for Baekhyun. Which is why he's sat at a table of only girls, during his only free of the day, when he could be either working on an essay he has due in this week, or hanging out with people he actually knows. Good thing Chanyeol isn't here, that'd be pretty awkward, considering his next question;

"Can you please give me Chanyeol's phone number?" he asks pleasantly, fingers interlocked on his lap.

"No," Kris barely even spares him a glance and he visibly deflates, and he receives pitying looks from some of the other girls. Kris rolls her eyes, and tips her head in his direction scathingly, "why do you even want it anyway?" she sneers. Ok, he does not know what he's done to offend this girl, but this attitude is surely unnecessary.

"U-um, for a friend," he stutters, cursing himself for showing weakness when faced with this dragon's glare. Kris raises her chin arrogantly, and looks around at all the other girls, clearly trying to make a spectacle of him. She probably thinks that that's an excuse, and that really he's the one with the monster crush on Chanyeol. The things he does for his friends.

To his intense shame, he can feel red blooming on his cheeks now that everyone is looking at him interestedly. One girl, with her hair tied up in a bun that surpasses messy and is encroaching on the realms of natural disaster zone whispers something into another's ear, and they both giggle. Why must girls be so intimidating?

"Really. And which friend might that be?" 

"Um," Jongdae replies intelligently. "Uh," he looks around desperately. He beckons for Kris to lean closer so that he can whisper the name in her ear and she looks extremely put-upon, but she acquiesces. Jongdae half stands up too, and covers his mouth from overly-inquisitive people with his hand and grudgingly whispers, "It's Baekyun," hoping that his best friend doesn't kill him for this. Or worse, shave off his eyebrow again.

That had not been fun.

Kris pulls back with a much less agressive expression gracing her face, and she actually looks quite pretty when she isn't scowling. He doesn't understand her reaction, if he's honest; he's not sure what he expected, but it wasn't this. She's biting her lip to stop herself from smiling too widely,

"Really? Seriously?" she laughs, and Jondgae looks around nervously, wondering if he's missed something important. He nods,

"Mhm, yeah, he's had the biggest crush on her for ages and I decided it was time to do something about it," he chuckles,

"Oh my god, this is brilliant!" she exclaims, slapping her hands on the table in front of her. Jongdae feels lost in a sea of confusing girls. 

"...Why?" 

"Because Chanyeol really likes him too!" Jongdae raises his eyebrows in shock, and a gleefull grin settles onto his face. She's right: this is good news. 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he smirks, and Kris nods,

"Truce?" she offers her hand to shake,

"Truce," he takes it, though he has no idea why, "we need to get those to together,"