Flames erupted in the quiet library. The fire spread rapidly, catching on the wooden bookshelves and thousands of books. Everyone had run for safety, but Yifan just couldn’t bring himself to move. His eyes were glued on the young man standing in the middle of the inferno, looking at his hands like he couldn’t believe what he had just done. Yifan wouldn’t have believed it either if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. The fire-bender, seeming to have just understood his power, looked up to lock eyes with Yifan, a small smirk on his face. A smirk that was directed right at him.

Wait, no. Smirking doesn’t really suit him. Maybe he would smile at him rather. But… smiling wouldn’t suit the situation, would it?

Yifan sighed. Another one of his boredom-induced fantasies destroyed by his own fussiness. Well, at least it was more interesting that the previous one he had involving that sweet woman and her kids that had bowed in unison to him when they entered the library. Something about spies and tyrants and gadgets, he couldn’t really recall.

Yes, Yifan was bored. Bored and sure that he was going a little crazy.

At first he had thought that being a librarian would be an awesome job. He loved books. For years he’d loved books, so what could be better than being surrounded by something he loved? Apparently, a lot. After a mere two months of working at the library, Yifan just couldn’t handle it anymore. He was at the point where reading just one more paragraph would cause him to snap.

Maybe he didn’t really like books after all. Maybe he loved the stories they told. The fantasies. He figures that was probably why, as he started reading less, he instead started spending more time in his own head. Daydreaming. Fantasizing.

Which is why he started developing head-canon stories for anyone who walked into the library.

The super spy mother and kids was one of these fantasies. The fire-bender story was another. It had been based on the hot guy with the long legs and pointy ears that periodically flashed him big, toothy grins from his position at one of the desks. Similarly, he had immediately pegged the old man reading the fishing book as a water-bender, but he had no idea where to take the story from there. Once again, he was a stickler for detail in these fantasies.

Sighing, Yifan leaned his head on his arms, wishing for time to go faster. Ooh, that’s an idea; maybe the next person to walk into the library could control time.

He lifted his head to look for his new protagonist, only to come face to face with y, long-legged, fire-bending Yoda, looking startled and retracting his hand which seemed like it had been a split second away from touching Yifan.

The librarian cleared his throat, trying to seem professional and not at all like he had very nearly been sleeping on the job, “Can I help you?” he asked quietly.

The boy nodded and held up a small notepad with the words ‘Do you have the Maximum Ride series?’ written on it.

“Uh…” Yifan scratched his head. He didn’t remember reading that at any point in his life, “What kind of book is it?”

Fire-bender looked a little taken aback before he glanced around nervously and started doing exaggerated martial arts punches then stuck his arms out a little and started ‘flapping’ his hands. By the time he put his arms straight out and turned his body in a gliding motion, flapping occasionally, Yifan could no longer hold back the laughter that involuntarily bubbled up.

The boy dropped his arms to his side, defeated and Yifan immediately composed himself, turning his attention to the PC on the counter, “I’m sorry. Lemme check if we have it.”

He searched for the book on the library’s database, his gaze lifting every few seconds to see if the silent boy was upset at his lapse of manners.

“Y’know,” the librarian started, “we tell people to be quiet in libraries, but you can still speak. Just don’t speak loudly.”

The boy opened his mouth and then shut it straight after and shook his head vigorously, his hair whipping around wildly before settling perfectly back into place.

Narrowing his eyes a little, but choosing to just accept the unusual behavior, Yifan located the book on the system and stood up, motioning for the other to follow him, “We have it. Let me show you where it is.”

The boy followed obediently behind as he led him to the fantasy section. They scanned the shelves for a few seconds before Yifan pointed to the section that held all the books in the series that the boy was looking for, “Here.”

Fire-bender clapped softly before giving Yifan a 90 degree bow as thanks.

“Have you read these books before?” the librarian asked.

The boy nodded and held up 3 fingers.

“3 of them? What’s it about?”

A sigh and a frown was all he got as an answer.

“C’mon, we’re far from anyone else,” Yifan reasoned, “you can speak.”

The boy’s expression gradually turned darker until he was full on glaring at him.

Yifan put his hands up defensively, “Okay, sorry. I’ll just… leave you to it.”

He sighed as he walked back to the counter, silently mourning his failed attempt to make the day less boring by chatting with the only person in the library that seemed to be around the same age as him. Didn’t university students use libraries anymore?

He paused at the counter briefly, suddenly feeling physically sick at the thought of spending the rest of the day in that chair and instead bolted for the door, figuring he’d leave the place in the capable hands of his fellow librarian – a wrinkly old woman who constantly looked at people like she was judging them. Hard.

As he stepped out of the building he was hit with a gust of cool, fresh air. And he was hit with the force of a small body colliding hard with his.

“Ow.” The small man clutched his nose, “Dammit, Yifan, watch where you’re going!”

“S-sorry.” Yifan leaned down and removed the other’s hands from his nose to inspect the damage, “Ah, you’re not bleeding. You’ll live.”

“Thanks doctor Wu.” The smaller grumbled, “What’s the rush anyway?”

Yifan grabbed the other’s face with both hands dramatically, eyes raking over long eyelashes, high cheekbones, a strong jaw and pretty, kissable lips. And a scowl, but… yeah, he was beautiful and Yifan was good at ignoring things that he didn’t enjoy.

“Jongdae…” he started, lowering his gaze to the ground, “I can’t take it anymore.”

The younger peeled Yifan’s hands off his face, “Don’t be such a drama queen, it’s been two months.”

“It’s horrible.” The older muttered miserably before leaning in to touch his forehead to the other’s, “Come over tonight.” He said lowly.

Jongdae raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah. Almost busting my nose and whining like a is such a turn on for me.”

Yifan sighed, pulling away with a soft ‘ you, Jongdae’ under his breath.

Before the inevitable ‘you wish’ came, Yifan turned around to walk back inside, only to walk straight into someone again. The silent fire-bender.

Thanks to their similar heights, he didn’t cause any damage this time.

“Channie?” Jongdae piped up before Yifan could even open his mouth to apologize.

“’Channie’?” Yifan echoed in confusion. Jongdae seemed to take that in a mocking way and the older was awarded a sharp smack on his arm.

Fire-bender eyed the now sulking librarian wearily before flashing a sweet smile at Jongdae and pulling out one of the books that he had checked out.

“Oh, you got it.” The smallest of the three stated, “I told you they’d have it.”

The other nodded and gave Jongdae a thumbs up before turning his attention back to Yifan.

“Oh.” Jongdae spoke up again, “Channie, this is Yifan. Yifan, Chanyeol.”

They shook hands and Yifan blurted out, “Sorry, I didn’t even ask you for your name earlier.”

This earned him another smack from the tiny man next to him, but Chanyeol just smiled, bowed to both of them, then left, leaving Jongdae waving at his retreating form and Yifan clutching his aching arm.

“What was that for?” the elder whined.

Jongdae sighed, “He’s mute, you idiot. Don’t ask him questions he can’t answer.”

Yifan suddenly felt very stupid. And very guilty. He should have known from the moment Chanyeol showed him writing on a notepad as a form of communication that something was off. He also should have had enough sense not to pry, but apparently he was an idiot.

An idiot who needed to apologize for being an insensitive .

An idiot who now had a reason to see his fantasy’s y, fire-controlling protagonist again.


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Chanyeol’s books were not due for another two weeks, but after only five days, he had gone back to the library to return them.

Yifan had been planning this encounter since he found out about Chanyeol’s disability. He would apologize like a true gentleman and then be all suave and ask him out. Chanyeol would agree, they’d have an amazing date and he’d land himself a gorgeous guy.

But, no. That didn’t happen.

Instead his mind seemed to shut down as soon as he laid eyes on the younger man. Okay, maybe ‘shut down’ isn’t the correct term. Exploded is much more appropriate.

Chanyeol wore a white button-down shirt with the top few buttons undone, black jeans and black thick-rimmed glasses and Yifan knew he was screwed.

He had legitimately tried to keep focused and be professional, but his mind had instead conjured up more fire surrounding the younger. Only this time, he wasn’t confused by his power or even looking at Yifan. This time he had his head tipped back, the orange glow from the flames tinting his skin as sweat dripped down his face, trickled down his throat and over his exposed collarbone and- oh, , he’s leaving.

Yifan sprung up and sprinted to the door, just barely avoiding a collision with Chanyeol’s back as soon as he crossed the threshold. He should really stop doing that.

“Chanyeol, wait.” Yifan reached out to grab the other’s shoulder only to pull his hand back abruptly. Gentleman. Remember.

Chanyeol turned to him, a small smile gracing his face.

“U-um.” The older started, hoping he didn’t look as much like a scared sheep as he felt, “Hey.”

The younger quirked an eyebrow and waved slowly.

Yifan mentally slapped himself because, yeah, suave gentleman. Sure. “I just wanted to apologize. Y’know, for being an insensitive douche.”

Chanyeol laughed and raised the ‘OK’ finger sign to him.

Yifan took a deep breath and let it out slowly; part one of his plan was complete – with questionable success, but still complete – now he just had to turn on the charm and proceed with part two.

He cleared his throat, “Chanyeol. Let’s… you wanna… how would you like to have lunch with me?”

Smooth.

The younger just laughed more and nodded his head, again holding up the ‘OK’ sign.

Yifan made a mental note to check if his heart hadn’t made a dent in his chest.


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“You are… completely hopeless.”

Yifan flopped face-first onto the bed and whined pathetically, “Thanks Jongdae. It’s always a pleasure talking to you.”

“No, really,” the younger continued, “you’re an idiot. What, did you expect him to make conversation?”

“I didn’t know what to do!” Yifan flailed his arms in a way that reminded Jongdae of a squid having a fit.

He totally knew what squid fits looked like. He had spent enough time with Yifan.

He sighed, gingerly sitting down on the bed next to the giant defeated body, “Look, I get it, it’s difficult to deal with something you don’t understand, but try and look at things from his perspective. If you were unable to talk, how would you want people to speak to you? To treat you?” he ran his finger’s through the other’s hair, working out the upset-squid-fit-induced knots, “Treat him that way and he’s bound to open up to you.”

Silence fell over the two until Yifan let out a muffled “Wow” turning his head to look at Jongdae, “When did you grow a heart?”

“You , I’m trying to help you!” The younger stated, yanking on Yifan’s hair, “Just ask ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions and don’t ask him to explain anything because that’d be pointless.”

Yifan laughed and Jongdae just pulled harder, unable to resist the temptation to laugh along with the older and his cries of ‘abuse’ and ‘’ and ‘why have you never done this before?’


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“Will you go out with me?”

Yifan mentally congratulated himself. That was a very good ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.

Jongdae giggled from somewhere off to the side and Yifan resisted the urge to flip him off in favor of keeping his attention on y Yoda in front of him.

Chanyeol again quirked an eyebrow at Yifan. He pointed at the librarian, then at Jongdae, then back again with an utterly confused expression on his face.

“Oh.” The eldest started, “No, we’re not… we’re just friends. Well, like… friends… like… ual friends… uh.”

“We kinda have a ‘friends with benefits’ thing going on.” Jongdae explained, much more helpfully, “It’s nothing romantic though.”

Chanyeol still looked skeptical, so Yifan, being the perfect gentleman that he really was not, decided to take full advantage, “See? We’d learn interesting things about each other if you’d go out with me. Let’s have dinner tonight.”

Jongdae, very unsuccessfully, attempted to mask his laugh by coughing as Yifan flashed Chanyeol his best smile.

It was the second time in a span of less than ten minutes that Yifan resisted the urge to flip Jongdae off.


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The look of awe in Chanyeol’s big, pretty eyes was totally worth the ‘way-too-over-the-top-for-a-first-date’, ‘oh-my-God-do-restaurants-really-cost-that-much’ venue.

Yifan had been pretty proud of himself thus far; he had managed to greet Chanyeol, sit down at their fancy table and order their drinks and appetizers without screwing up.

Things were going too well. Yifan was sure it wouldn’t last.

“So, were you born mute?” the older asked, pushing his food around with his fork.

Chanyeol shook his head and motioned toward his throat.

“You damaged your throat?”

Chanyeol shook his head again, moving the tip of his finger up and down in the junction between his collarbones.

It took all of Yifan’s self-control not to fall into another vivid, r-rated fantasy about the man in front of him.

Because that would be rude.

“Your… voice box?” Chanyeol nodded and Yifan once again mentally patted himself on the back for being so amazing. “So, you damaged your voice box. Was it a car accident? How did it happen?”

Chanyeol’s expression darkened instantly as he looked down at his food, not bothering to even acknowledge the question.

Yifan felt his heart sink. He’d ed up again, hadn’t he?

Silence loomed over them, only being broken when Yifan asked Chanyeol if he wanted dessert, which the younger refused. They paid the bill, walked out together, Yifan said a soft goodnight and Chanyeol simply nodded before they took off in different directions.


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It had been a week since he’d seen him. Sure, a week wasn’t that long, but considering the note they left off on, every hour of having no contact with the other man was torture for Yifan. It not knowing exactly how and how badly he’d screwed up.

He was almost at the ‘go to Jongdae’s and flop around like a dying whale’ point, until he noticed a small white piece of paper on the library counter, near his PC. Sitting down in that dreaded chair, he flipped over the strip of paper. A single short sentence was scribbled onto the page:

‘I’m sorry about the other night.’

That was it. No greeting. No name attached, although Yifan knew who it was instantly. It was a simple apology – something Yifan thought he should have done once again – but it lifted a huge weight off his shoulders.

There was so much left unsaid though – or, unwritten if you will.

Did that apology mean that Chanyeol would go out with him again? Would he even want to see him again? Or was that apology just a way to end things in good standing because Chanyeol was a nice person?

Yifan hoped it wasn’t the latter. He wasn’t sure he could handle not seeing his fire-bender again.  The fact that he was so hung up on a guy he had known for only a few weeks and had gone on one and a half dates with didn’t even bother him in the slightest.

Which is why, when he found another, slightly larger, note on the counter the next day, he felt something bubble in his gut.

Something akin to happiness.

‘Really, sorry. I overreacted. I hope you’re not too upset.’


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By the third day, Yifan was expecting the note. What he wasn’t expecting was the glass sculpture next to it. It was in the shape of a stack of books, big – about a foot squared – and detailed perfectly, even down to the side of the books looking like each page was individual.

‘Yifan, I made you something. It’s books made out of glass. I work at a glass factory. I usually just make your average drinking glasses and bowls and stuff, but I like doing these artsy projects now and then. I don’t know if you actually LIKE books, but I associate you with the library, so… I hope you like it!’

The giant grin plastered on Yifan’s face was proof of just how much he liked it. After all, he loved books. Yup, that was why.


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‘Yifan. Incase you’re wondering, I’m able to leave these letters on the counter via your librarian counterpart. She’s nicer that she looks. You should talk to her more. Anyway, I’ve written your name twice now and I don’t even know if it’s spelled correctly, so forgive me if it’s wrong. I don’t know what else to say. I don’t feel like I’m ready to see you face to face yet. It’s nice being able to actually communicate with you. I know I make things awkward when we’re together and I’m really sorry for that. It’s better this way, right? Anyway, see ya! Hope you’re doing well!
(for that matter, I hope you’re actually reading these things and not thinking they’re some stalker love-letters)
(wait, are they??? XD)’


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Chanyeol was not expecting this. He’d thought Yifan might try to confront him to speak to him and he’d been preparing for that.

He didn’t though. Instead, when Chanyeol was let into the library by the nice, stern-looking lady that always let him in, he was met with a folded piece of paper with his name written on the outside.

A reply letter.


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Yifan paced back and forth nervously, feeling like a teenage girl who just left an ‘I like you’ note on her crush’s desk.

Which is technically what happened. Except there were no teenage girls involved. And it was his own desk.

Jongdae had threatened several times to electrocute him with the wires he was fixing. Of course, there was no electrical charge in wires that were not connected to anything, but he had hoped that Yifan was just distracted enough – and just dense enough – not to notice.

“What the hell did you write in that letter that you’re so nervous about?”

“I was so cheesy.” Yifan whined, “I said he’s perfect the way he is and I promised I’ll find a way to make things comfortable between us and that I have feelings for him and- what the , I’ve only known him for three weeks and it’s not like he’s given me any reason to think he feels the same about me!”

He proceeded to hit his head against the wall repeatedly and, as amusing as the whole situation was, Jongdae had enough.

Needless to say, the very unmanly squeak that left Yifan’s lips was an indication that he had clearly not expected that hand slipping into his pants.

Clearly.

“This is not the time.” He warned, once he was sure he could speak without his voice cracking like a pre-adolescent boy.

“This is the perfect time.” Jongdae replied, “You need to relax.”

Yifan sighed and gave up, choosing to go with Jongdae on that. He closed his eyes, letting images of big eyes, a pretty smile and long legs fill his mind.


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Another note.

A longer one this time, written on fancy gold-bordered paper.

Yifan sat back in his chair, unfolding the letter slowly. His gut told him that this one would be much more serious than the others, especially considering his cheesy, near love confession the day before.

‘You asked me, the other day, if I lost my ability to speak in a car accident. I didn’t.

I didn’t answer you back then because your question triggered so many bad memories in me. Sorry.

I lost my voice a few years ago when one of my best friends killed himself. You already know that my voice box is damaged, so no, it wasn’t due to trauma or depression or anything like that.

My friend jumped out a window. Well, he jumped through the window. Literally. He shattered it and then fell twelve stories to the sidewalk below.

I was stupid and scared and I panicked, so I tried to follow him. My other friend that was with us grabbed my leg to stop me. I lost my balance and my neck hit the window pane. The broken glass lodged itself into my throat.

I don’t know exactly what happened after that, but I survived, I woke up in a hospital and I was told I could no longer speak. Looking back on it now, if losing my voice was the exchange for keeping my life, then I’m incredibly grateful to whoever’s watching out for me.

Kyungsoo (he’s the friend that grabbed my leg) felt really guilty about everything. He blamed himself for my being mute and I, being immature and stupid, blamed him too. I haven’t seen him since, but I’d really love the chance to apologize and tell (write?) him thank you for saving my life.

So yeah. That’s how it happened. I hope I didn’t scare you off with this, it’s a little much to take in all at once, I know.

Thank you for trying to understand me. I really appreciate it, Yifan.’

The corners of Yifan’s vision blurred, his heart pounded madly against his chest. Suicide, guilt and estranged friends? Chanyeol had seemed so happy for someone who had gone through all of that. Yifan had known that something terrible had to have happened for Chanyeol to damage his voice box beyond repair, but… well, he hadn’t expected it to be so heartbreaking.

All he wanted to do in that moment was protect Chanyeol. Hold him and wrap a fuzzy blanket around him and give him stuffed animals and just keep him safe.

And maybe track down that friend of his so they could lay the whole thing to rest.


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It took Yifan a few moments to process just what, or rather who, he was staring at. It had been a day since he’d received Chanyeol’s last letter and, truthfully, he hadn’t expected to see the man himself so soon after.

Yifan gulped and climbed over the counter, unable to take his eyes off the younger long enough to use the actual exit. They stared at each other in silence before Yifan wordlessly wrapped his arms around Chanyeol’s shoulders, pulling him in for a hug which Chanyeol immediately returned by wrapping his own arms around the elder’s waist.

“I’m sorry.” Yifan whispered, breaking the silence. He felt Chanyeol shake his head against his shoulder, “I mean, I’m sorry you had to endure so much.”

They detached from each other slowly. Chanyeol smiled, his hands lingering just a little too long on Yifan’s hips.

The elder cleared his throat, “Why… I mean, I’m glad you told me, but… why would you? Why would you open up to me so much?”

Chanyeol smiled wider and placed his hands over each other on his chest and sighed.

Yifan tilted his head to the side in confusion, causing Chanyeol to roll his eyes.

He pointed to himself, crossed his hands over his chest then pointed to the other man.

Yifan fake gasped, “Oh my God, you love me?”

Chanyeol’s expression changed from happy to something that oddly resembled the ‘you’re an idiot’ look that Jongdae gave him on a daily basis. That was not good.

“Okay, I know, you like me.” He laughed, “I like you too. Oh… well… you kinda already know that, huh? From that cheesy letter…”

The smile returned to Chanyeols face while Yifan nervously scratched the back of his neck.

They both knew that something had changed between them then. Both were incredibly happy that it did.


----------











If Yifan had taken Chanyeol home a few weeks ago, his mind would have been going to places it really shouldn’t. Half-opened white shirt and sweat and collarbones and what…

No. Instead, much to his own amazement, he’d been completely focused on the man next to him instead of the one in his head.

They had gone to Yifan’s apartment after deciding that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo needed to meet up in order to acknowledge what happened and move on. Chanyeol didn’t know where Kyungsoo had gone after the accident and that’s where Yifan came in. Despite Chanyeol’s initial reluctance, Yifan had convinced him that his Google-Fu was amazing.

“This might take a little while.” The elder stated, “Make yourself comfortable. There’s… not much in the fridge or cabinets but whatever you find is all yours. I’ll order pizza later, okay?”

Chanyeol nodded, flashing him a thumbs up and Yifan went back to his task.

Four hours, a large Hawaiian pizza and the conclusion that Yifan’s Google skills later, they still hadn’t made any progress.

Yifan yawned as a mug of steaming hot coffee was placed on the desk in front of him.

“Thanks.” He looked up at Chanyeol and almost kneed the underside of the desk on reflex as the younger swooped down and pressed their lips together.

It was soft, innocent and lasted less than three seconds, but Yifan was thoroughly satisfied. Even more so when Chanyeol smiled sweetly and mouthed ‘thank you’ to him, dragging his thumb across the elders bottom lip.

Yifan had an even harder time focusing on Google after that.


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Chanyeol spent the night on Yifan’s couch – in Yifan’s clothes, much to the elder’s giddy delight – after they had finally tracked down Chanyeol’s old friend. However, neither had even heard of the town that he supposedly lived in, let alone knew how to get there..

Which is how they ended up enlisting some help…

“Do you remember that time in the back room of the library? Or behind the counter?”

Yifan face-palmed and sunk further into the passenger seat, chuckling softly as Jongdae decided that it was the perfect time – when the they along with Chanyeol were stuck in a car together – to recount every ual encounter they’ve had.

“Or that time you tied me up, suspended me from the ceiling and used all those vi-“

“Jongdae!” Yifan yelled, causing the driver to grin madly but otherwise shut up.

He looked in the side mirror to the man in the back seat. Chanyeol stared out the window with a deep frown etched on his face.

Jealousy?

Yifan really shouldn’t have been so happy about that, but he was. Ecstatic. On the verge of squeeing.

He really needed to stop with all these teenage girl emotions.


----------












The apartment was small and cozy with lots of exotic-looking plants adorning it.

Kyungsoo… did not look how Yifan had pictured him. The man that had saved Chanyeol’s life and, in turn, become a hero to Yifan was… tiny. Tiny and cute with big eyes and pretty lips.

On seeing Chanyeol, Kyungsoo’s eyes widened beyond what Yifan thought was possible. They stared at each other for what felt like ages, Kyungsoo mumbling Chanyeol’s name softly.

Eventually the taller of the two broke the stupor and handed his friend a letter with both hands, bowing slightly.

Kyungsoo took the letter and Chanyeol bolted to Yifan’s side, grabbing his hand and entwining their fingers. He received a gentle ‘I’m here’ squeeze in return.

Yifan had seen the letter, Chanyeol had him read it before they left that morning. It was both an apology and a forgiveness letter. Apologizing for blaming him and pushing him away when they both needed each other and forgiveness because he knew Kyungsoo still blamed himself and Chanyeol wanted him to know that it was no one’s fault.

The silence was deafening as Kyungsoo’s eyes took in each word. Yifan Chanyeol’s hand with his thumb, feeling as nervous as the other man for reasons he couldn’t explain, but trying to act strong and collected. For Chanyeol.

By the time Kyungsoo looked up from the letter, his eyes were b with tears and it took Chanyeol 0.1 seconds to detach himself from Yifan and embrace his friend.

They held each other tight, both sniffling slightly and Kyungsoo spilling things like ‘I missed you’ and ‘we’re alright’ repeatedly.

Kyungsoo pulled away a few moments later. He looked at Yifan and bowed in delayed greeting which Yifan returned ten times as awkwardly.

“So…” the small man started, “are you guys..?” he made exaggerated motion with his eyebrows.

Chanyeol and Yifan glanced at each other, stupid grins plaster across both their faces, and shrugged.

Kyungsoo laughed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, “Okay, well, just an early heads up: he’s a lot to handle. He’s crazy and hyper and has a habit of biting people. Don’t put anything you cherish near his mouth.”

Yifan snorted at the accidental (?) innuendo in that last sentence while Chanyeol didn’t seem to notice, opting instead to pout like a kicked puppy. Ironically enough.

“Don’t worry.” Yifan started, cracking his knuckles and working the kinks out of his neck, “I got this.”

“Wait, what?!” everyone’s attention turned to the small figure that seemed to have only just entered the room, “So you guys are actually together?” he smacked Yifan’s arm, “Why didn’t you tell me this before I listed off all the crazy times we fu-“

“Jongdae!” Yifan again interrupted before clearing his throat, “Jongdae, this is Chanyeol’s friend, Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo this is… Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo waved, Jongdae stared.

“Bro,” Jongdae turned to Yifan, grabbed his hand and shook it, “it’s been fun.”

Yifan raised an eyebrow as the younger winked at him before slithering over to Kyungsoo, “Hey.”

“No.” Kyungsoo shot him down immediately, his face dropping from the cute, wide-eyed look to something that sent a shiver down Yifan’s spine.

Seemingly undeterred, Jongdae continued to spill greasy, cringe-worthy pickups until Yifan just couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

He put his hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder, gently coaxing him to look at him, “So, are we… together? I mean, officially?”

Chanyeol smiled, pointed to himself, crossed his hands over his chest then pointed to Yifan.

That was it. That was all Yifan needed. He ran his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair before he wrapped an arm around him, both turning back to look at the train wreck that was Jongdae trying to flirt with Kyungsoo.

Yifan briefly thought of the fire fantasy he had when he first saw Chanyeol. It turned out that y, fire-bending Yoda was nothing like what Yifan had originally thought.

He was better.

Sure, he came with his share of issues and baggage, like everyone, but Yifan knew he wouldn’t trade him for the man in his head. Ever.

Real life may not seem as exciting, but one person can make it seem like the greatest fantasy ever.


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Masterlist