Chanyeol buries himself in studying. He’s been sleeping in class far too much and it’s time he started to work harder. He studies until the wee hours of the morning and wakes up with dark bags under his eyes even though he doesn’t remember falling asleep. But it stops him from thinking about the Exo Pit, shady gangsters and dead beat morons betting their paychecks on him to win. It stops him from going there too. Right now, he doesn’t need the sweaty heat of the ring and the smell of blood. He needs to get back to normal; get back to his old self again, normal, whatever that means. To work harder at college, to be young and free again, discover the unexplored, just to be human again instead of some shell of a person struggling to make ends meet.

It’s with heavy eyes that he looks up from the textbook and notes he’d been taking when his doorbell rings. Chanyeol is surprised to hear it ring at all; it’s sometime in the afternoon and he never has vistors. Unless it’s Kris but wouldn’t he come so early, would he? He traipses to the door and opens it to find it is, indeed, Kris on the other side. Chanyeol’s grin is instant and he quickly ushers his friend inside.

“What’re you doing here?” the redhead asks, rubbing at his sleep-deprived eyes.

Kris looks at the pile of open textbooks and various sheets of paper covering the dark coffee table. “Saving you from endless studying,” he says with a quirk of his lips.

Chanyeol chuckles, scratching through his hair as if to rub out the sleep through the strands. “I appreciate it, hyung, but I really can’t—”

“Nope, no ‘ifs’ ‘ands’ or ‘buts’, you’re coming with me mister!” He’s about to grasp the shorter’s wrist and drag him out but Chanyeol jumps back just in time with a laugh.

“Alright alright! Let me clean up…” He disappears into his room and returns fifteen minutes later or so in a fresh set of clothes with his maroon hair combed neatly. Kris smiles at him before they leave and makes Chanyeol feel so warm and confused. Don’t read too much into it, he tells himself.

Their first stop is lunch at a small street cafe where they order too much food and eat it all quicker than lightning. Kris orders more just before they leave too and despite saying he was full, Chanyeol helps him finish it off.

With full stomachs, they burn it off at the arcade. When Chanyeol has spent everything he brought with him on silly games, he uses the puppy dog eyes on Kris and his wish is easily granted. Chanyeol’s barely holding onto all the silly stuffed toys he managed to win whilst Kris tries to keep a cool air, despite the stuffed llama under his arm.

The skyscrapers had just about obscured the sun as it descends into the horizon, hues of auburn and crimson filling the streets and buildings. They passed a cinema on their way to find more food and Kris decided it’d be a good idea to go and watch a movie. He of course, had to pay, since Chanyeol blew everything in the arcade. He felt bad; having Kris pay for everything made him feel uncomfortable but he also felt as if he was being spoiled. It was good to be a little bit selfish every now and then, right?

Chanyeol thinks he has not had this much fun at the cinema before. Not only was the movie good, he spilt all the popcorn thanks to his giraffe of a friend but they laughed it off, and Kris also fanboyed with him when it was finished. It started to hurt, all this laughing and smiling. It was a damn sight better than studying though.

Afterwards, they headed downtown to another little restaurant, that Kris had raved about, saying the food there was better than anything. So it’s there, surrounded by their (mostly Chanyeol’s) toy animals from the arcade, that they stuff their faces yet again. Kris had the temerity to steal food from Chanyeol’s plate though. But even after a mini row about whose food is who’s, they end up feeding eachother anyway, since they ordered different dishes. And yes, Chanyeol has to agree, their food was pretty exceptional.

With the sun gone for the night and the moon starting to rise, they head back to Chanyeol’s. He hasn’t drunk for a couple of weeks now, but they crack open some beers and being to talk about nothing and everything. Kris fishes out his acoustic guitar from his bedroom and demand that Chanyeol plays. The redhead hasn’t really played for a while; now and then he strums into lazy Sunday afternoons but it’s different with Kris demanding that he sings.

So he covers some popular songs, fingers stumbling over certain notes now and again but it doesn’t look like Kris cares, it makes his smile that little bit wider. Soon his fingers hurt and he props his guitar up on the wall with a fond smile. It felt good to play. It felt good to hang out with Kris and have some much fun. He’s going to upload all the selcas they took together on Facebook with dumb captions and tag Kris in every one just to annoy him later. He sits himself down next to Kris with a contented sigh.

“Today was fun,” he states, dragging his hair away from his face and smiling softly. Kris agrees with a hum, setting his empty glass on the coffee table where, textbooks and notes still lie. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” the brunette replies with a grin as he turns to face Chanyeol. Chanyeol smiles back, his heart swelling up for affection for his friend. Kris is so good to him. He doesn’t know what he would do without him.

He doesn’t really notice Kris inching closer or that his smile has dropped. He doesn’t notice that Kris is staring at his lips either. Ironically, or maybe by some sort of telepathy, his tongue darts out to sate his parched lips. The next thing he knows, Kris’s full pair of lips were upon his. The touch was tender, testing the waters, and yeah, it gave Chanyeol a fright — he wasn’t expecting it. But… It dawned on him as Kris’s lips slowly moved against his, why is he fighting this? Why has he been fighting this for so long? He’s sick of fighting it, sick of pretending he doesn’t feel this, sick of waiting for a chance he thought would never come.

As Chanyeol began to respond, Kris parted in surprise, looking into Chanyeol’s eyes. The shock was evident in those chocolate depths but Chanyeol was sure now. As he looked into his friend’s eyes, he had the answer. He wasn’t going to fight anymore. It was his turn to close the gap, and when his lips landed on Kris’s he felt complete. This was okay, in fact, it felt right. The more they kissed, the more eager he got, their lips meshed together in a frenzy. Too long… He had been denying himself this for far too long. His long fingers carded through cocoa coloured hair, and his nails dragged across his scalp. Kris’s large hands gripped and pulled at the collar of Chanyeol’s plaid shirt.

He had to stop for second, just to see that this was really real. Kris in front of him, panting ever so slightly with plump lips painted swollen red with abuse, his hair which he cared so much for was now in a mess, and he delighted in this view. Chanyeol grinned at him, thinking he must be in a similar flushed state. Kris smiled back dumbly, his lips moving to form words, but before he could say anything, Chanyeol surged forward and stole those words from him. He didn’t need any words now. They didn’t need any words right now. They both just knew.

☄

The room was lit by the city lights and nightlife outside of tall windows but grew slightly brighter when his lighter sparked into life. The flame met with the end of a cigar, burning the tobacco. He inhaled it deeply before letting out the stream of smoke. It swirled up to the ceiling in a mesmerizing dance. Then he leaned back into the tall, plush, leather office chair, resting his elbows on the arms, and stared into space, thinking.

“And Baekhyun told you this?” Sehun nodded from his place, atop the elaborate, dark wooden desk. Sehun watched him, deep in thought with his knotted eyebrows. But he on the cigar with a hum. “You’re a good boy, Sehunnie.” He patted his jean clad thigh, savoring a few more minutes with his cigar. He looked at the blonde from the corner of his eyes and smirked. “Fine, you can have a kiss, come here.”

Sehun leaned across, pressing his lips against the other’s gently before kissing with vigor. He had to push the boy back to get him to stop. “Don’t be greedy,” he tutted, on the cigar again.

“Sorry, Joonmyun.” He hung his head sheepishly, biting his bottom lip.

“It’s okay. You’re young.” The elder idly traced his fingers along Sehun’s knee and thigh in a lazy waltz.

“What are you going to do about Chanyeol-hyung?” His fingers stopped in their dance as he glared into his dim office.

“I’m going to remind him,” he offered the cigar to Sehun who made sure his fingers lingered on Joonmyun’s as he took it. Joonmyun took hold of his hips, turning the fraction so they were face to face as he looked up at the younger who was on the cigar, and he swore it was one of the iest things he ever saw. “I’m going to remind him what he is.”

Sehun smirked as he exhaled smoke into the office. It twirled around them.