((A/N So, not much luck writing more for this or the like, so this might be the last chapter for a while. Fingers crossed I can figure something out for the last bit of the next chapter because that would be a much better haitus point than where this chapter ends. Wish me luck, because for some reason my writer's block is just with this fic, and not Three Halves or plottings for the fic I'll be working on once this one is finished. Which really because there are only a few more chapters left in this

Also, Angel had an interesting time trying to get me to not procrastinate with writing this chapter because it's cute and I couldn't deal with it ))

Chanyeol started an experiment after their third instance of falling asleep on the phone together. He went from taking one pill before bed every night to one on night and half the next, back and forth, and a month later he was only talking half of a pill each night. He had a couple of setbacks where he would wake up in the middle of the night and take the other half but the whole thing was going well for the most part. ZiTao more often than not would talk with him until he felt sleepy and then would sing to him until Chanyeol fell asleep before ending the call. Chanyeol started to wonder what cuddling against the other in the middle of the night would do for him.

“We should get pumpkins to carve and you should stay the night after.”

Well, that mystery would soon be solved, Chanyeol thought, looking up at ZiTao who was sitting on the bar like he usually did while they waited for Junmyeon to tell them they could leave- the owner had given up on telling ZiTao not to.

“I never took you for one for the Halloween spirit. You’re so easy to scare,” Chanyeol replied, ZiTao turning a pout to him.

“You don’t have to carve them into anything scary!” He argued, looking to Junmyeon who nodded to them to express that they could leave and he slid off the bar, taking Chanyeol’s hand and pulling him from the bar. The next morning ZiTao had showed up at Chanyeol’s apartment and he laughed as the blond ushered him to get dressed.

“You were serious about going and getting pumpkins?” Chanyeol asked, pulling on a pair of socks.

“Of course,” ZiTao replied, and Chanyeol stood, slipping into his shoes as ZiTao pocketed his mobile. He looked up at Chanyeol who shook his head, a smile creeping onto his lips. “What?” ZiTao whined Chanyeol draping an arm over ZiTao’s shoulder as he lead the way out of his apartment.

“You’re cute,” Chanyeol stated, causing ZiTao to look away from him and start messing with one of his studs, his ears turning pink.

They walked around for close to an hour before ZiTao found a pumpkin that was big enough to his liking. This ended up being almost the size of the younger’s torso and Chanyeol chuckled to himself as the blond tried to pick up the pumpkin on his own, slipping and getting his covered in mud. The pout that ZiTao gave him had him kneeling down to help the younger pick it up and get it back to the other side of the pumpkin patch where he had parked. Chanyeol started to open the passenger door when ZiTao grabbed his wrist and was dragging him back towards the pumpkin patch.

“You need to pick one out too!” ZiTao stared and Chanyeol shook his head.

“Mine won’t be as big as yours, that’s for sure,” He replied and ZiTao gave him as smile.

“As long as you pick it out, it’s whatever one you want.”

“So I have no idea how to do any of this,” Chanyeol said as ZiTao handed him a knife. They were sitting on the kitchen floor which had been lined with parchment paper for easy clean up after carving. ZiTao looked over at the perplexed look Chanyeol was giving his pumpkin, giggling before taking the knife from his hand and turning it to it was upright and looked less like Chanyeol was going to violently stab his pumpkin.

“You make a circle at the top with your knife pointed at an angle,” He explained, tilting Chanyeol’s hand to show him and he guided the other’s hand and knife to the pumpkin. “And after that you take the top off and dig out the insides,” He added, letting go of Chanyeol’s hand once the older had gotten his knife into his pumpkin. By the time Chanyeol had cut out the top of his pumpkin, ZiTao was elbow deep in his own and Chanyeol watched him for a moment before sticking a hand in his pumpkin, flinching at the sticky coldness.

“This feels so weird,” He stated, ZiTao giggling again.

“Take out the sticky stuff and put it there,” He said, pointing to the cookie sheet between them that already had a mound of pumpkin guts on it. “When we’re done carving we’ll sort out the seeds from the stringy stuff, and then we clean and bake them~” He explained, turning back to gutting out his own pumpkin. Ten minutes later he sat back, looking around for a spoon and it gave Chanyeol a chance to look inside ZiTao’s pumpkin and he frowned as he looked back into his own.

“I don’t think I’m doing this right.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because mine doesn’t look at all like yours-” he reached over to point into ZiTao’s pumpkin as ZiTao leaned over to look into Chanyeol’s, smearing the pumpkin guts on his hand all over ZiTao’s cheek. They froze, Chanyeol being the first to pull back, eyes wide.

“I-I’m sorry-” he hardly managed to stammer out an apology before ZiTao took a handful of pumpkin guts and mashed him in the face with it. Chanyeol wiped the guts off of his face the best he could, opening his eyes to see the playful glint in ZiTao’s. “So that’s how it’s going to be?” He asked, grabbing some of the sticky mess and ZiTao’s wrist then the other tried to get up and escape, shoving the mess down the back of the blond’s shirt, receiving a shriek.

It wasn’t long before they were lying beside each other, looking around the kitchen. They had managed to get pumpkin on every cabinet door, ZiTao’s hair was more orange than white blond and Chanyeol cringed at the slimy feeling that was coating his thigh from ZiTao’s retaliation in the form of shoving guts down into his pants. ZiTao rolled onto his side, shifting closer to Chanyeol.

“You’re really sticky,” He stated and Chanyeol laughed, looking over at him.

“You’re one to talk.”

“We should shower,” ZiTao said and Chanyeol stared at him for a moment.

“Like… together?” He asked, ZiTao giving a sheepish smile.

“Why not?”

“Shouldn’t w-we clean up first?” He asked, earning an eye roll from the younger who sat up when he did. ZiTao opened his mouth but Chanyeol was on his feet, cleaning the counters before he could say anything, missing the pout on the younger’s lips. ZiTao joined him in cleaning, putting the lids on the pumpkins to finish later and once the kitchen was clean ZiTao took Chanyeol by the wrist, dragging him out of the kitchen while he babbled about missing a counter in cleaning.

“We can take care of it in the morning,” ZiTao stated, looking back at Chanyeol when he halted just before the threshold of the bathroom. He paused before letting go of Chanyeol’s wrist, messing with the bottom of his own shirt. “We don’t have to shower together if you don’t want to. I just thought it might be nice,” He said and Chanyeol hesitated before taking a hold of his hand.

“I’m just… nervous. You’re my first serious relationship… And I don’t think we’ve even been shirtless around each other yet.” He admitted, looking away until he felt ZiTao’s hand on his cheek.

“This is new for both of us,” ZiTao replied and Chanyeol felt his shoulders relax a bit. “How about this? I get into the shower and you can decide if you want to join me or take one after me,” ZiTao suggested and Chanyeol nodded.

Chanyeol pulled back from ZiTao, closing the bathroom door until it was open just a crack with his back to it. There was a soft creak before he heard the rush of water through the faucet then a small thunk like noise before the sound changed to the water pouring through the shower head. The light headed feeling made him realize he had locked his knees and he peeked over his shoulder. Through the crack in the door he saw the shift of the curtain as ZiTao disappeared behind it and he took a deep breath, opening the door and fully closing it once he had stepped inside.

Chanyeol took his time discarding his shirt and pants, fingers toying with the waistband of his boxers. He was tempted to leave them on, he had a change of clothes since he had been prepared to stay the night, and he bit the inside of his lip when he didn’t see ZiTao’s on the floor with the rest of his clothes. He rubbed his face with his hands, his heart thundering in his chest as he padded to the shower. He took one final deep breath before pulling the curtain back enough to slip in, his back to ZiTao and he jumped a little when he felt hands on his hips.

“I made the right choice keeping mine on,” ZiTao said, rubbing his thumb over the band of Chanyeol’s boxers. He pressed his forehead between the older’s shoulder blades as he moved his hands from Chanyeol’s hips to take Chanyeol’s hands, feeling him relax a little. “I figured it would freak you out less,” He added and Chanyeol reached out with ZiTao’s fingers intertwined with his own, ZiTao stepping forward so his chest was against Chanyeol’s back, and Chanyeol wrapped their arms around his waist.

Chanyeol’s frame was still tense, and a few minutes passed before he felt the vibrations in ZiTao’s throat as the younger started to hum one of the lullabies that Chanyeol loved him singing, nudging Chanyeol slightly to sway side to side. ZiTao lifted his head to kiss the back of Chanyeol’s head before he set his chin on Chanyeol’s shoulder, the older relaxing a little more in the other’s hold.

“You doing alright?” ZiTao asked, Chanyeol squeezing his hands and nodding. “I can feel your heartbeat,” ZiTao mused and Chanyeol swallowed hard before letting go of ZiTao’s hands, the younger shifting to step back. Chanyeol turned to him, wrapping his arms around ZiTao and pulled him against his chest, catching the younger by surprised though he was still quicker to melt into the embrace than Chanyeol had been.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol mumbled into ZiTao’s neck and the blond paused before soothing his hands up Chanyeol’s back, kneading his shoulders with his fingertips.

“For?” He prompted.

“Being so patient and caring,” Chanyeol said, pressing his face harder against ZiTao’s neck to block it from the stream of the shower head. “I know this was something you wanted to do, but you didn’t try to force me to get undressed and climb in after you.” ZiTao frowned a little, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol and holding him tightly.

“That’s being a decent person, I don’t think I would call that being patient,” He said,  feeling Chanyeol’s arms shift down to encircle his waist and he felt Chanyeol pull him closer against himself.

“It means a lot to me either way. You seem a lot more ready for things than I am.” ZiTao pulled back a little and Chanyeol lifted his head, ZiTao pressing his lips lightly to his.

“I want you to be comfortable, and I want to make you as happy as you make me,” He stated, smiling at Chanyeol. The older watched him for a long moment before releasing ZiTao’s waist and placing his hands on either of the other’s cheeks, pressing his lips hard against ZiTao’s. ZiTao’s hands settled on Chanyeol’s shoulders again, fingers starting to kneed at the skin against as he pressed back into the kiss until Chanyeol broke it and he pressed his forehead against Chanyeol’s as he took in how the other’s breathing had been quick to become ragged. ZiTao reached up, taking a hold of one of Chanyeol’s hands and pulling it back enough to kiss his palm. Chanyeol opened his eyes as ZiTao ran his hands up his arms and the over Chanyeol’s chest to settle on his hips, for once not tensing.

ZiTao watched his face for a little while before he leaned down, grabbing his bottle of shampoo and pouring some into his hand, setting the bottle back down. He reached up to Chanyeol’s head, starting to lather his hair with the shampoo and Chanyeol laughed a little, taking a small step back and lowering his head to make it easier for ZiTao to kneed at his scalp. He was doing it in such a soothing manner that Chanyeol was sure he could fall asleep to it.

Eventually ZiTao stepped back as far as he could, pulling Chanyeol so his head was under the spray of the shower head, rinsing out the suds. Once he was content with the wash, ZiTao let Chanyeol straighten back up and push his hair back and out of his face, giggling when Chanyeol reached for the bottle to lather ZiTao’s shorter hair with it, his giggled turning to laughter when Chanyeol dripped some of the orange colored shampoo onto his nose in the process. ZiTao tilted his head back into the shower stream, letting Chanyeol run his fingers through his hair as it was rinsed.

ZiTao pulled the shower curtain back a little, Chanyeol shivering at the cold air that flowed in while ZiTao grabbed a washcloth from the rack, closing the shower curtain and turning back to Chanyeol. He pointed to the white bottle behind Chanyeol and the older picked it up, cracking a smile at the label.

“Did they not have peach scented body wash?” He teased handing the bottle bled vanilla to obtain who rolled his eyes and poured some of the soap onto the washcloth.

“I like more than just peach flavored and scented things, you know,” He replied, massaging the cloth so it foamed a bit before he started washing Chanyeol’s chest with it, reaching around to sooth the cloth over his back before down and up each arm. Chanyeol took the cloth once he had been sudsed up, returning the favor and he felt warmth in his heart when ZiTao rinsed out the cloth and used it to clean most of the suds off of him.