“Get down, Park,” the brunette hissed, lacing his fingers in the tall man’s auburn hair and shoving him down behind the wall.

Chanyeol cursed as he blew a strand of hair out of his eyes and glared up to the other man. “They couldn’t see us from over here even if they knew we were here.”

“Anyone can see you and your stupid little grin from miles away. Calm down before you get us kicked out of here for being suspected of planning to rob the place.” Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol with a grimace. “And how could you wear such bright and disgustingly unfashionable clothes? What part of undercover do you not understand?”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes behind his large sunglasses that truly did nothing to help him hide his identity. It wasn’t as though his friends couldn't notice him from his long, bow legged stance, or the bright, wiry hair that covered his large eyes that were currently squinted with annoyance as Baekhyun pushed him down, leaning on the top of his head to peer into the large window.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he got roped into this situation, being drawn out by Baekhyun early that morning just to be stuck here when he’d rather still be in bed.

“I didn’t sign up for this type of abuse,” Chanyeol muttered, wincing when Baekhyun gripped his hair tighter.

“Yes you did; now shut up and watch them.”

 

Baekhyun wasn’t necessarily someone that Chanyeol hated – wait, scratch that. Yes he was. But that wasn’t the point. The feeling was mutual, and it wasn’t a fact either of them felt a need to hide. Contests and competitions between the two of them were spent together bickering and picking apart the other’s ideas and work, and even simple games of soccer turned into full blown wars. It wasn’t a rivalry as much as it was just a strong dislike of the other person’s existence, nor was it past experiences that led them to their current relationship of teasing, obvious glares, sarcastic jeers from across the room, and rude insults from time to time. It was a mutual extreme dislike for each other that just sort of… happened.

So whatever possessed the small, boisterous man to approach him, Chanyeol couldn’t say, but he was definitely regretting his terrible decision of joining the sketchy plan ever since Byun Baekhyun had come up with the idea only about a week ago.

 

“Park!” Baekhyun’s voice had boomed throughout the quiet library that Thursday evening, immediately drowned out by the harsh “shh” of librarians and other busy students as Baekhyun skidded over to Chanyeol’s seat.

Chanyeol had looked up from his book with a sigh to the small brunette who scowled at the others in the library before he swiped all of Chanyeol’s papers from the desk, and sat upon it. “I have a proposition.”

Chanyeol glanced down to the books on the floor and up to him. “I was reading those.”

“So as I was saying, I have–”

“I was reading those. As in I’m busy.”

“And now you’re busy listening to me, so hush up.”

Chanyeol gave him an unamused glare and bit back his own sarcastic remark, figuring that listening to him would be the fastest way to get him to leave, so he pressed his lips into a thin line as he picked up a single book from the floor and flipped through the pages. “What do you want, Byun.”

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

Chanyeol blinked for a second before accidentally letting out a disbelieving puff of air, but Baekhyun’s fingers were curled in his collar faster than he could defend himself, tugging Chanyeol up from his seat until their faces two inches apart. “Don’t say a word.”

Chanyeol held up his hands, dropping the textbook from his fingers. “I didn’t; I didn’t.”

Baekhyun snarled as his fingers tightened in his shirt. “I wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t a request from a friend. Don’t let it get to your head, Park.” He let out a soft sigh as he let go of the fabric and backed away from the man, pushing himself back up on the desk. “Anyways. That friend of yours… Do Kwangsoo?”

“Kyungsoo.”

“Whatever. I know someone that kind of likes him.”

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow. “And why are you telling me about your unrequited crush on my friend?”

Chanyeol barely held back a curse as Baekhyun swung at his head with one of the thicker, hardback books. “It’s not me, dumbo. It’s my friend. Chen.”

“Oh your friend.”

“Shut up unless you want your nose shoved down your throat.”

“I don’t think that’s humanly possible.”

“I’ll make it humanly possible.”

Chanyeol’s jaw set. “Calm your man s; I know of Chen. Kyungsoo’s been glancing at him a bit too. It’s been rather annoying, actually,” he added with a sigh, recalling whenever Kyungsoo would pause in the midst of a walk to catch a glimpse at the taller, poodle-haired man and then slapping Chanyeol away whenever he questioned it.

Kyungsoo’s and Chen’s blooming romance story definitely wasn’t anything new. Although Chanyeol had found out about Kyungsoo’s crush much more recently, it had started months ago with Baekhyun finding his friend zoning out in the middle of his conversation by staring across the lunchroom, mindlessly poking at his food with his chopsticks as he let out a dreamy sigh, laughing it off with a quick shake of his head and a soft “it’s nothing” when Baekhyun asked who he was staring at. However, his odd behavior continuously occurred – staring out the window, not focusing on his studies in class, looking out in the stands for a certain person during a soccer game – Baekhyun quickly became more than slightly intrigued by the guy who had taken Chen’s simpleminded interest, until he noticed that he had been staring at Park Chanyeol’s table of all places. Why even. It took him a bit to realize that Chen’s heart-eyed love-locked vision had been completely zoomed in on the cute little raven haired man sitting next to Chanyeol, currently holding him in a chokehold, and with a smile, Baekhyun immediately approved, because anyone that wouldn't think twice about hurting or embarrassing the elf-eared giant was worthy enough to call themselves Chen’s boyfriend. The only problem was actually getting the two together. And that’s where Chanyeol came in.

“So,” Baekhyun sighed, lying back against the long, library table, “despite how much I’d detest having my friend in your little clutches, this isn’t about me and you. It’s about Kyungsoo and Chen.”

Chanyeol hummed as he adjusted his glasses. “So you’re asking me to help you play matchmaker.”

“I guess you could look at it like that.”

“And? Why should I help you? What would I get out of this?”

“Another week to live,” Baekhyun responded, sitting up and glaring down his nose at the tall man with a challenging look in his eye. “I already took enough time out of my day to come see you; don’t make it be in vain. Not to mention, you don’t need anything out of this; isn’t your friend’s romantic happiness enough?”

A small, teasing smile tugged upward on the corners of Chanyeol’s lips. “Aww, look at you, doll face. Even someone like you can do a few nice things every once in a while.”

Chanyeol wouldn’t have taken that extra harsh tug on his ear from Baekhyun so easily if he had known it would land him here – stuck crouching behind the old concrete wall of Super Smoothies, getting their hands dirty with dust and the orange paint that peeled from the walls as they peeked in through the large windows to observe their friends. Chanyeol let out a harsh sigh, trying his best to ignore the obvious judgmental looks from suspicious passersby as Baekhyun stood on the tips of his toes, making faces into the window as he watched Chen and Kyungsoo sitting awkwardly at a small table in the corner of the restaurant.

“Tch,” Baekhyun muttered, adjusting his sunglasses on his face, “they ordered separate smoothies.”

“This is just their third fake ‘date’, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said, pushing him away and clapping the dust off of his hands, “what did you expect?”

“That they’d share a romantic Sunday morning sipping a passion fruit smoothie together as they stare lovingly into each other’s eyes and slowly realize that they’re in love… Maybe their hands would accidentally brush against each other’s or they’d shyly laugh and look away from each other to hide the blush on their face…” Baekhyun sighed blissfully, earning a glare from Chanyeol who opted to slap the back of his head, coloring his shiny brown hair gray with dust and earning a devil’s glare back from his thin, annoyed eyes.

Ever since Chanyeol agreed to help him, their plans had gone as smoothly as riding a rickety motorbike with a couple of loose bolts and a deflating tire over an endless uneven dirt trail of loose pebbles and broken glass in the rain. From the first date – a simple lunch period spent at the same table playing a card game that quickly turned to a full blown competition between Chanyeol and Baekhyun that ended in disaster – to the second – an awkward (supposedly accidental) meet up in the park that Baekhyun and Chanyeol had tagged along to, lying in the freshly cut green grass that scratched at their faces as they pointed toward the sky, arguing about the shapes of certain clouds while Kyungsoo and Chen awkwardly avoided each other’s gaze and sat in silence until it began to rain – Chanyeol had figured that this wasn’t necessarily their area of expertise. It wasn’t Chen and Kyungsoo that had problems, but considering how the four of them didn’t necessarily make the most perfect bunch of the stereotypical happy buddy-buddy best pals, the tension in the air stretching between all of them didn’t provide the best atmosphere to cultivate romance and catalyze their fragile relationship.

He turned back to the scene, watching as Chen probably cracked another cheesy joke that Kyungsoo was trying his best not to laugh at. Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile. The two had chemistry; they just didn’t know it yet.

“Look,” Baekhyun sighed. “They’re so perfect together. I’m so good at this matchmaking business. If you did my homework for a week, I could probably even find you a match to that sour personality of yours.”

Chanyeol nudged his shoulder, nearly pushing him off balance. “I don’t want you to try to hook me up with someone. Anyone you choose would be distasteful and annoying, like you.”

Baekhyun turned to him, a sneer set heavily on his lips. “They couldn’t be like me because you and I would never match, even in an alternate universe. I’m too good for you, Park.”

“Since when have bossy, annoying, and unintelligent been a good qualities?” Chanyeol asked with a roll of his eyes that had Baekhyun tugging at his hair again.

They tumbled into a mess of insults, too busy bickering about the size of Chanyeol’s elephant ears and the irritating pitch of Baekhyun’s voice to notice the glass door open, until a rush of cold, fruity slush poured over their heads.

“What are you two doing,” Kyungsoo asked, his voice devoid of any emotion except annoyance, glaring lasers down to the duo as he held his cup upside down over Chanyeol’s head, letting the last drops drip onto his hair.

Chanyeol shook his head like a wet dog and pointed to Baekhyun. “His idea,” he coughed out as he ran a hand through his hair and flicked the remaining smoothie on his fingers at Baekhyun.

“What idea?” Baekhyun asked, at the corner of his lips as he shot a glare to Chanyeol before innocently trying to look up to his friend between the clumps of Chen’s pink smoothie gathered on his eyelashes. “It’s coincidence. Hey, Kyungsoo. Didn’t know you were coming here, today.”

“Like hell you didn’t,” Chanyeol muttered, trying to clean the smoothie from his glasses.

“You red-headed nerd,” Baekhyun spat back contemptuously turning toward him as he curled his fist, cut off only when Chen held him back by the collar with a sigh.

“Don’t fight in public. That’s not classy.”

Chanyeol glanced to him, wanting to make a remark about how they already weren’t classy, dripping with smoothie and sitting on the curb in torn jeans and t-shirts, soliciting outside of an old smoothie shack, but he just rolled his eyes and drew a few clumps of mangoes from his hair.

“Blame Byun for whatever,” Chanyeol said with a sigh when Kyungsoo gave him a disappointed stare. “He’s the only reason I’m here.”

“What, did you get smoothie in your ears too?” Baekhyun asked, tugging on Chanyeol’s ear sharply as he gritted his teeth, growling, “I said I didn’t do anything, Park.”

Chanyeol curled his lip in a snarl, pushing Baekhyun away from him with a scowl, about to tell him to stop pretending when they were obviously caught, shamefully sitting, dripping with thick smoothies that dried on the hot pavement, but Kyungsoo interrupted with a loud sigh. “Whatever. I’m going home. I’ll see you around school, Chen,” Kyungsoo said, waving nonchalantly as he walked off.

“Nice going, Baek,” Chen said, pushing his friend softly with a disappointed frown before walking in the other direction.

“Well that didn’t go as planned,” Chanyeol sighed, pressing his fingers into Baekhyun’s cheek. “Way to go, loser. I swear your dates just get progressively worse.”

“Will you stop?” Baekhyun sneered, taking the extra smoothie on his shirt and smearing it on Chanyeol’s face.

Chanyeol smeared his own mess back on Baekhyun’s face with a grimace. “Because meddling and interrupting their date was the perfect way to start their Sunday.”

“I said stop.”

Chanyeol groaned with a soft “whatever” as he stood up and patted his pants, giving a final swipe of his fingers through his hair as he walked away without another glance, followed by the hopeless romantic waddling behind him.

 

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

 

“Come,” Baekhyun sighed, tugging on the back of Chanyeol’s shirt, interrupting his lunch time and game of Egyptian war as he pulled him from the bench.

Chanyeol dropped his cards on the table, fidgeting as he tried to regain his footing. ”What the– let go of me– come where?”

“After that last failure two days ago, we have to plan their next date.”

“Next date? Why are we getting involved in this again?”

“Because it’s obvious they’re helplessly in love and too dense to realize it or make a move on their own.” Baekhyun said, shooting a sharp glare to Chanyeol as he tripped. “And I don’t want my friend to die old and alone. ...God, you’re an idiot.”

Chanyeol gave an irritated groan as he stood up and patted the dust from his pants. “Shut up. We’ve had three strikes already, Baekhyun. I swear, your meddling is probably just making their chances worse.”

“It's really not that bad.”

“My hair still smells like mangoes.”

“At least it smells better than it usually does.” Chanyeol opened his mouth to complain, but Baekhyun cut him off, pursing his lips as he thought aloud. “But I don’t know whether or not if I should continue on without you. You’re just dragging me down.”

Chanyeol glared down to him, a sharp remark on the tip of his tongue before he held it back. “Fine. Do it without me.”

Baekhyun blinked, narrowing his eyes at to Chanyeol, whose face was too smug as though he was challenging him like ‘Good luck getting Kyungsoo to agree to anything you plan to do on your own.’

Baekhyun sighed. “I’ll plan the date. Just… get Kyungsoo there. I don’t care how.”

A smile took over Chanyeol’s hard demeanor. It felt good to be in power. “One request. Let’s stop hiding or pretending they’re coincidence. Let’s meet up and hang out like normal people, okay?”

Baekhyun grumbled his approval, and after exchanging their phones to input each other’s phone numbers (after both of them raided the other’s phones with remarks of “ew, your selcas make me lose faith in humanity – why are there so many with that stupid V sign?” and “Get out of my pictures – but yours make me want to bleach my eyes”), they left each other after a few bland remarks of “Just make sure your next date is good,” and “Oh trust me, Park. It will be,” and Chanyeol glanced to the new contact, grimacing and quickly replacing Baekhyun’s name with ‘midget idiot’ because ‘stupid little annoying midget idiot Byundumb’ was too long.

Chanyeol sighed, looking back in the direction that Baekhyun walked off in, internally cursing Kyungsoo for falling for someone who happened to be friends with the world’s most annoying bean sprout.

 

“So,” Chen asked, “is this like a double date or something?”

Chanyeol nearly choked, spitting his water onto the table and wiping away the thin stream trailing from his lips with the back of his hand. “No, oh god, no; it’s just a… a friendly thing,” he responded, and Baekhyun turned to him, shooting him a sharp glare that asserted that they were definitely anything but friends.

Chanyeol just returned a simple roll of his eyes that confirmed that he knew and didn’t intend to change that in any way either. But he figured it’d be easier to just pretend until their friends finally started dating and could finally move on from their awkward “I swear I don’t like him” period with Kyungsoo’s uncharacteristically long stares and soft, shy demeanor around the guy he liked that was beginning to freak Chanyeol out a little bit, if he was honest.

Of course, Chanyeol would probably never understand the reasoning behind why Baekhyun had dragged them all to an art museum of all things, especially when he had seemed so excited about the supposedly amazing date he had planned all on his own and Chanyeol was going to be super jealous that he didn’t think of the idea first. As if. They were high school boys with minds too small and preoccupied with things like girls (or boys) and sports and video games and their upcoming graduation to hold any extra interest in other irrelevant things like art.

So Chanyeol just leaned back smugly and mumbled, “Or maybe we’re here to be bored to death.”

“We’re here to have fun, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said with a sigh, taking another sip of his drink.

“Fun? You actually think we’ll have fun here?”

“Anyone with a brain larger than a peanut would enjoy art, but I guess you wouldn’t know, huh? ing–”

Baekhyun winced as Chanyeol kicked his shin under the table shooting a sharp glare to the innocently smiling taller man. Chen quickly cut them off with a nervous laugh. “Why don’t we just go back inside and… look at some stuff, okay?”

Everyone at the table stood in silent agreement as they packed their lunch to head inside. Sitting outside under the shade of the green trees and talking to Chen and Kyungsoo (and kicking Baekhyun) would probably the best part of this date; Chanyeol groaned, knowing that the rest would be spent inside of a stuffy art museum next to old women with white hair and tiny glasses explaining how “the texture and the style of the High Renaissance painting was so much nicer than the Impressionist still life next to it because of its use of perspective, and everyone should just return to the older art styles” as she argued with another person who claimed modern art actually had meaning. Ugh. Gag him.

Chanyeol sighed, lacing his hands behind his head, staring up to the ceiling with a bored frown as he walked through the halls, occasionally glancing at a painting or two with a hum of approval, before accidentally bumping into Baekhyun’s back.

“Watch where you’re going, Park. I’m trying to admire the art.”

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, a frown set on his face. “You’re actually enjoying this.” They had been inside for barely fifteen minutes and Chanyeol was sure they were just walking in circles because everything looked the same. White walls, old people asking for assistance with audio tours, art students with sketchpads, and people falling asleep and getting left behind. Sure. This was the life.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun responded, turning back to the painting with a nod. “That’s a… nice painting.”

Chanyeol shot him a glare. “Stop pretending to be so interested. It’s embarrassing.”

Baekhyun’s face scrunched in irritation as he mocked him with a nasally voice. “Stop being such a downer. It’s annoying.”

“I don’t sound like that,” Chanyeol called, his voice accidentally echoing throughout the small room.

“You’re right,” Baekhyun said, lowering his voice as much as he could, though it shook as he tried to speak. “You sound like a 76 year old ahjussi.”

Chanyeol lunged toward Baekhyun menacingly, although his attempt at violence was interrupted by Kyungsoo as he turned to them with threateningly large eyes. “Will you two stop acting like children before I break one of these paintings over your heads?”

Chanyeol recoiled from his position, both of them silently apologizing to Kyungsoo, who rolled his eyes as he turned back around, muttering, “I’ll send you to jail handcuffed together, I swear.”

The two of them winced, looking at each other disapprovingly and they joked about it often, but was Kyungsoo actually Satan because wow that sounded like hell. Baekhyun scoffed, pushing ahead of Chanyeol as Chen called his name.

“Baekhyun, look! Huge lady!”

Kyungsoo sighed as the two ran off toward the marble statue. “They’re both idiots.”

Chanyeol laughed, slipping an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “At least Chen’s cute, yeah?”

“W-What are you talking about,” Kyungsoo stammered.

“Don’t lie. You’ve secretly had a thing for the idiots,” Chanyeol laughed, ruffling his friend’s hair.

“I can’t stand any of you guys,” Kyungsoo responded with a groan. “But I guess that explains why we’re friends at least. You’re the king of idiots.”

Chanyeol gasped, giving him his saddest puppy face.

“Don’t pretend to be any better than them,” Kyungsoo chided, pushing Chanyeol’s arm away from him. “You’re just as bad as Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol’s face hardened. “Please don’t compare me to that annoying thing.”

Kyungsoo just rolled his eyes with a laugh as he walked off, and Chen turned away from the statue to follow loyally behind him.

Chanyeol sighed and tucked his hands into his pocket, his eyes unconsciously focused on Baekhyun’s back as he walked behind him, thinking about nothing in particular until Baekhyun’s voice drew him out of his bored stare.

“I know I’m entrancing, Park, but don’t stare at the art for too long,” Baekhyun said, looking over his shoulder as he put his hands on his hips with a smirk.

Chanyeol squeezed his eyes shut, groaning as he shoved past the brunette. “What art? I didn’t see anything but a pile of garbage.”

Baekhyun’s face dropped, wiping the sentiments of “my hips are a beauty but no flash photography please” and “don’t try to touch what you can’t afford” clean off his lips as he narrowed his eyes at Chanyeol, grumbling, “What are you, blind and dumb? Can’t appreciate art when you see it...” before he quickly ran past him and pushed him, causing him to stumble and crash into the wall, skewing the orientation of a painting. Baekhyun ran off ahead of him, laughing as Chanyeol quickly looked between him and the painting before following him.

“Hey, Byun!” Chanyeol shouted angrily, chasing after him as they ran through the halls, skidding between people and bumping into walls and statues while ignoring any shouts for them to stop or be careful, screaming too loudly to hear them anyways. Baekhyun leaped over desks and pedestals, pushing people out of the way without a care, laughing loudly as he burst through the glass doors leading outside of the museum and into the garden.

The brunette glanced behind him to see Chanyeol quickly closing the gap between them, and he gave a shriek, cursing Chanyeol’s long, giraffe legs as he squeezed his eyes closed and sped up, immediately bumping into Chen and Kyungsoo, and the four of them fell into the large koi pond together, accidentally splashing some nearby observers.

Baekhyun coughed as he resurfaced, screaming and splashing Chanyeol when he came up from the water, and the two were immediately at the other’s throats; Chanyeol gripped Baekhyun’s hair and pushed head back under the clear water until he caught sight of an angry Kyungsoo, and he let go of Baekhyun as Kyungsoo huffed and Chen held him back with a nervous laugh.

Baekhyun lifted his head from the pond and pushed Chanyeol away, though the taller male just weakly pushed him back with a sigh. “I think we’re just terrible at this matchmaker thing,” Chanyeol said, brushing his hair away from his eyes and shooing off a couple of fish. “Dates have never been your forte after all.”

“Shh,” Baekhyun cut him off with an elbow to the side as he pointed toward Chen and Kyungsoo, the former laughing as he stood and helped a blushing Kyungsoo up from the pond after finally calming him down a bit. Chen stood up proudly despite the water making his white shirt see-through as it clung to his body, and Kyungsoo turned away from him, shyly trying to push him away while Chen waddled toward him with his arms wide in an attempt to hug the shy, younger man, laughing as Kyungsoo splashed him before slipping and falling back into the pond on top of each other.

“You were saying?” Baekhyun asked with a smug smile set on his annoying little lips that Chanyeol splashed again with a roll of his eyes.

Baekhyun stood, pulling a few leaves from his clothes and nonchalantly dropped them onto Chanyeol’s head.

“You’re just jealous that I’m actually good at this.”

Baekhyun let out a startled squeak as Chanyeol grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down into the pond with a groan.

“Don't get cocky, Byun.”

Baekhyun stuck out his tongue childishly as Chanyeol turned away from him, watching as Chen draped a towel he had received from an employee around Kyungsoo’s shoulders and dried the shorter man’s dark hair with his own towel and a large smile on his face. Chanyeol smiled. How sweet – they were going to give him cavities. He should push them into ponds more.

The two of them were brought out of their admiration for the almost couple, cringing as a stout woman shouted at them for running in the museum and told them to promptly leave.

Baekhyun hissed, slapping Chanyeol’s arm. “You got us in trouble.”

“Getting in trouble was probably the most fun part of this boring ‘date.’ You should be thanking me,” Chanyeol responded smugly, but Baekhyun just rolled his eyes as he stood up, his sneer turning into a half smile as he gave a soft chuckle, swiped a towel from a nearby worker and tousled his hair with it before he tucked his hands in his back pockets and left Chanyeol behind.

 

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

 

‘Codename: Project Chensoo’

That’s what was written at the top of the crumbled piece of paper that Chanyeol was smacked in the face with in the midst of a yawn as he walked out of school.

“What's this?” Chanyeol asked, after taking the paper into his hands and threatening to hit the brunette back with it.

“Our battle plan.”

The nearly blank piece of paper turned out to be a list of things that Chen and Kyungsoo had to accomplish before project Chensoo could be marked as complete that ranged from holding hands, back hugs, stealing a quick kiss when no one was looking, and sharing a deeply romantic moment together. Baekhyun impatiently explained that they would fill in more ideas as they thought of them, as well as keeping track of their dates, whether they were successful or not.

As long as Chanyeol didn’t have to witness all of them, he’d be okay.

Chanyeol seemed to be increasingly turned off by the thought of their blooming romance, but the slow but steady progress between Chen and Kyungsoo only fueled Baekhyun’s drive to see them together as a couple because “they’d be so cute, we can’t stop now!”

Chanyeol wasn’t sure when he began to see his determination to get these two together as more humorous and entertaining than annoying as he had before, but seeing the brunette smile every once in a while wasn’t bad either. It was a relief to not be fighting every second of the day, and although it was awkward, it became more bearable as time passed until the awkwardness between them thinned and was forgotten. Baekhyun would begrudgingly bite his tongue to hold back insults and stopped scowling every time the taller man approached him, and Chanyeol slowly began to not dread meeting up with him more often over lunch or after school, in the mornings or during homeroom to plan a few other dates together that surprisingly didn’t fail as miserably as the first few had.

The quartet went to the theater and had fun on a date that went off without a hitch aside from Chanyeol and Baekhyun arguing over what movie to see, settling on one that Kyungsoo had suggested, as well as the popcorn fight Baekhyun and Chanyeol had dragged Chen and Kyungsoo into that ended up getting them kicked out of the theater, although they couldn’t help but laugh about it on the way home.

They often met up after school to play games together, and soon began spending lunches together at the same yellow picnic table under the large oak tree, and overtime, their awkward atmosphere began to dissipate as Baekhyun would set the mood, filling the air with laughter, whether it was with him or at him.

As time slowly ticked along, Chen and Kyungsoo’s relationship slowly progressed as well until they became comfortable enough to hang out on their own without Chanyeol and Baekhyun forcing them together or staying by their side to clear the awkwardness from the air.

Chanyeol caught them together fairly often and watched them from the window as they sat together on a bench in the garden behind the school scribbling notes down in notebooks. From his position, Chanyeol noticed everything from Chen stealing a glance at the younger man at any possible moment, and Kyungsoo’s hesitant leans toward Chen until he pulled away at the last moment, shifting uncomfortably as Chen laughed when he finally let his head rest against his shoulder, peeking over it to watch as Chen scribbled something down on his paper. Kyungsoo sat up quickly, his eyes lighting up as they said something in unison, ending with a cute hi-five that had them both laughing as they turned back to their papers.

They settled back into common conversation, Chanyeol assumed, until Chen slowly walked his fingers along the bench and set them on top of Kyungsoo’s hand. Kyungsoo pulled away and shuffled away from him as Chen laughed before reaching out to rub his ears softly, leaning in to whisper something that made Kyungsoo’s ears turn a bright red.

A smile spread across Chanyeol’s face. He had never seen anyone make him go from creamy pale to cherry tomato that fast. Kyungsoo stood up, and Chen laughed as he stood too, following behind the shorter male as he tried to push Chen away, but caught up to him and wrapped his arms around him, holding him in a back hug as he set his chin on top of his shoulder.

Chanyeol smiled, watching as they slowly swayed from side to side in that position as he recalled how awkward they had been too afraid to even breathe the same air two weeks ago. They had gone from hiding behind bookshelves in the library and awkward stares across the lunch room to blushing when their hands barely brushed and jokingly back hugging each other.

If that wasn’t progress to be proud of, Chanyeol didn’t know what was.

With a satisfied smile, Chanyeol leaned back in his chair, thinking about Baekhyun, immediately wondering if this would have happened on their own or if Baekhyun’s meddling had actually instigated it. Either way, Baekhyun’s plan was working in one way or another, and although he’d hate to admit it, he was doing something good with all this interference if it made the two of them so happy. He chuckled, thinking about how the over excited romantic would react to the news as he pulling out his phone to congratulate the idiot.

To midget idiot:

     ‘Good job, Byun. Looks like your plan is actually working out well for once :)’

Chanyeol paused. His finger hovered over the send button as he reread the message a couple of times.

Did he just admit Baekhyun did something good?

He shuddered and quickly erased the message.

To midget idiot:

     ‘Looks like project chensoo is nearing its final stages.’

From midget idiot:

     ‘And this means…?’

To midget idiot:

     ‘That you’re only an idiot most of the time, and I finally won’t have to put up with you anymore.’

Chanyeol tucked his phone in his pocket, giving one last admiring glance to the two as Kyungsoo pushed Chen away and returned to his spot on the bench before Chanyeol turned back to his work.

 

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

 

“What are you doing at my house?”

Baekhyun hummed softly, lying back on Chanyeol’s bed, staring at the ceiling as he counted off the ideas on his fingertips.

“They can go paintballing. Or laser tag?”

“I didn’t invite you here.”

“We can send them on a romantic boat ride even. Or not... Chen gets seasick easily and we don't need to deal with that.”

“Baekhyun–”

“What?” he asked, glancing up slightly with a small smile. “Your mom made me cookies. You can’t kick me out.”

“Technically, she made them for me, and you just took one,” he responded, eyes narrowed, but the brunette ignored him as he went back to naming date ideas.

“Hmm… Library study date.”

“You want them to have a date at school.”

Baekhyun sat up. “We’ll just set them up. It’ll be simple.”

Chanyeol leaned back his chair and frowned. “Too boring. Think of something better because all of your ideas so far have been lame.”

“Didn’t you just say a couple of days ago that I’m not an idiot anymore–”

“I implied that you’re still an idiot most of the time.” Chanyeol looked up to the ceiling, about to mention that perhaps they should just stop meddling and let them realize their chemistry on their own, because their presence seemed to be nothing more than the ultimate right about now.

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at the taller man before leaning over, taking the cookie from his fingers, and biting it with a contemptuous frown. “Well I don’t see you coming up with any ideas Mr. Genius.”

Chanyeol scowled as he snatched back the cookie. “Take them out to dinner or something. Send them to a fancy restaurant.”

Baekhyun his fingers and lay back down with a roll of his eyes. “They’d be so awkward together in a place like that.”

“We’ll go with them. Just to start it out, and then pretend something comes up, and we leave.”

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up. “Order lots of expensive food, eat, leave, and make them pick up the tab?”

“Before we order any food,” Chanyeol asserted with a frown.

“They can bond over how much they hate us for making them pay.”

“I’d rather not have their date end by letting Kyungsoo strangle us to death.”

Baekhyun shuddered. “Point taken.” He stared at the ground as if sorting out his thoughts before looking back up to Chanyeol with that mischievous smirk on his lips. “But what if he doesn’t catch us?”

That conversation ended with a hard flick to Baekhyun’s forehead and led to the two of them sitting across from Chen and Kyungsoo in a cold booth in a restaurant somewhere on the outskirts of town, with Chanyeol’s eyes straying up every so often from his hands folded neatly on his lap to Baekhyun fidgeting with his bowtie next to him.

Chanyeol couldn’t help but look as a small, smug smile appeared on his lips from the satisfaction that he had somehow managed to get Baekhyun to wear a bowtie though he knew he hated the stupid things, and although he knew the thought was wrong, he couldn’t help but notice that Baekhyun could clean up rather nicely when he tried, and perhaps Chanyeol should force him into suits more often.

He twiddled his thumbs nervously, feeling too intimidated from the overall air of the restaurant that had him too afraid to even touch anything, lest it break. Although the restaurant was indeed fancy, it wasn’t bank-breaking material, but the atmosphere had made him feel that everything, even the silverware in the red, folded napkins was more expensive than him, and even Baekhyun seemed so porcelain and perfect under the light of the fancy crystal chandeliers hanging above their table that he too could break if he stared too long at the way the light sparkled across his skin, yet Chanyeol just stared longer, trying to differentiate between the flawless, diamond Baekhyun that he momentarily saw him to be and the small idiot he currently was, kicking his legs like a child as he happily flipped through the dessert menu, pointing out all of the different cheesecakes.

“You know, this is great and all, but we don't have to do this,” Kyungsoo mumbled, adjusting his tie when the air felt too thick and tense.

“Yeah, going out or even staying inside to do something fun would have been fine as well,” Chen added.

“Chanyeol doesn’t know the meaning of fun,” Baekhyun said, gnawing on his fork with a bored roll of his eyes, his lips twitching up into a smirk as he glanced toward Chanyeol. “He’s as boring as a brick.”

“Yah, Byun Baek,” Chanyeol said, reaching out to grab Baekhyun’s neck and laughing as he tickled the brunette into submission. “I’m not the one that made us go to an art museum,” he finished, though his voice was lost behind Baekhyun’s loud laughter.

“Stop stop,” Baekhyun barely made out, squealing as he pushed the taller man away from him, the remnants of laughter still tinting their voices as their hands fought with each other for dominance. Chen and Kyungsoo watching them with wide eyes because were Chanyeol and Baekhyun actually laughing? Together? And not at each other? Someone please take a picture of this beautiful fleeting moment.

“Excuse me,” a soft voice interrupted, drawing them out of their laughter as they glanced up to a small, elderly woman standing at the edge of their table. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said as she smiled down to them, “but you two are the cutest couple I’ve ever seen.”

And it was strange, Chanyeol thought, specifically because it was a table set up for four guys, none of which were necessarily in a relationship yet, and although Kyungsoo and Chen did make quite a nice couple together, she wasn’t even looking in the direction of the two, and then it clicked.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol glanced to each other before Chanyeol let out a disbelieving “Us?”

“Oh we’re… we’re not a couple,” Baekhyun stuttered with an embarrassed laugh. “We’re just friends.”

Friends. Friends?

Chanyeol focused on Baekhyun, his face contorted into that confused, wide eyed stare as he wondered when he had been upgraded from worst enemy or even from “someone Baekhyun hates with an incredible burning passion” to friend. This was news. Last time he checked, they were definitely not friends.

The elderly woman smiled as she nodded in Chanyeol’s direction, holding back a soft laugh. “It doesn’t look like he thinks so.”

Chanyeol could feel the color draining from his face as everyone at the table turned to him. Was that really what it looked like? People think he actually likes Baekhyun? The Byun Baekhyun? He almost gagged. “P-please don’t misunderstand,” Chanyeol said, standing quickly and accidentally snagging the tablecloth, pulling it from the table and dragging all of the drinks on the table toward him, sending them crashing into both him and Baekhyun. In surprise, Baekhyun stood as Chanyeol reached out to grab him, hoping to save him from the disaster, but he slipped on the bunched up cloth and liquid beneath their shoes, and they fell to the ground together as Chanyeol pushed him down, pinning Baekhyun to the floor.

Chanyeol jerked backward, hitting his head on the bottom of the table with a loud curse as Baekhyun lay on the floor, dazedly staring up to Chanyeol with wide eyes.

“Oh well, excuse me,” the woman said, holding a white-gloved hand up to her lips, failing to hold back her laughter as she stepped around the two. “I’ll leave you two to your date then.”

Chanyeol watched as she walked off with her husband as he turned to her.

“How could you tell?” Chanyeol heard him ask as they left the scene.

“Did you see how they looked at each other? All the cute ones are gay, dear.”

“Park! Park Chanyeol, get off!” Baekhyun shouted to snap him back into attention, and Chanyeol drew his hand away from Baekhyun’s body as Kyungsoo’s hands curled under his armpits to help him stand, still in a daze as he mumbled “I don’t know what happened” and continuous apologies that jumbled together into a mess that sounded desperately of ‘please don’t think wrongly, I swear we’re still just best worst-enemies.’

Baekhyun angrily wiped the drinks from his clothes after he struggled to stand, muttering something that sounded distinctly like “incompetent little ” as he glared at Chanyeol.

“Perhaps we should just go,” Chen suggested, looking back and forth between people jeering from their tables and impatient waiters that were all staring in their direction. “We’ve already made enough of a mess here.”

Kyungsoo frowned, clapping Chanyeol on the back of his head, “This is your fault, Park.”

Chanyeol cringed when Chen pulled Kyungsoo away, laughing and asserting that it was funny anyway and at least no one got too hurt. Chanyeol glanced toward Baekhyun before he looked away with a sigh, rather overjoyed with the idea of leaving the restaurant, as he knew it’d be too awkward anyway, hiding his face and trying to keep from making eye contact with Baekhyun for the rest of the night.

The quartet promptly returned to Chen’s house to watch movies and play video games, eating chips and popcorn while Baekhyun and Chanyeol sat on opposite sides of the couch after changing out of their wet clothing and into some of Chen’s baggier clothes (that were still too small on Chanyeol), hugging their knees to their chest, trying to keep from sparing each other awkward, strained glances.

 

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

From the #1 idiot:

     ‘You ruined my only tux.’

From the #1 idiot:

     ‘Idiot.’

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

 

It took approximately a week for Baekhyun and Chanyeol to hold a proper conversation without stumbling over their words or bringing up the awkward dinner date incident.

Chanyeol groaned. What was wrong with him? Usually they'd be hooting in laughter at how ridiculous it was or making fun of each other at least for their simplistic responses to the situation, and Chanyeol would have made at least one joke about how he was the best fake boyfriend Byun Baekhyun could ever score.

Rather, Chanyeol was going to school late and returning home early, hoping to avoid running into him in the halls or seeing him during lunch or in the library. Awkwardly ending conversations ensued whenever they felt the need to “act natural”, whatever that meant, and Chen and Kyungsoo began to avoid each other to help keep the two from meeting and getting caught in the middle of another uncomfortable situation. This cycle continued for days until Baekhyun finally got the courage to text him, asking if he was ready to stop being a baby and meet up to plan more dates because they were driving Chen and Kyungsoo apart, and their conversation ended with concerns of are you sure you still want to do this – of course – even after that last disaster – just don’t mention that.

The first time they met again was for ice cream at their usual parlor, when Chanyeol accidentally bumped Baekhyun’s arm, and his cone dropped onto his pants. They stared at the ice cream as it dripped down his thigh, leaving a dark, wet trail in its wake, until the entire cone fell from his pants and crumbled against the ground.

Chanyeol laughed nervously, trying to alleviate the awkwardness. “Maybe life is telling us to stop. Whenever we try to help with Chensoo dates, we always end up wet and sticky.” He paused and glanced toward Baekhyun, who just gave him an unamused glare, before Chanyeol stuttered through an attempted explanation. “I mean... not like–”

“Let’s forget you said that.”

“But I didn’t mean–”

“Just shut up, Chanyeol.”

“Okay.”

Slowly, however, they began to warm up to one another again as their days warped from tense laughs and forced pats on the back and short, focused texts back to long, playful days and chats and hearty laughter at absolutely nothing. Back to showing up unannounced and falling asleep on Chanyeol’s bed, and fights of smearing peanut butter on each other’s face. Lounging around outside and scheming between classes. Numerous homework breaks and ice cream dates.

“Here.”

“I wanted–”

“–Strawberry. I know.”

It was common by now to meet up after school like this, eating ice cream and staring out the window of the parlor as they thought of new date ideas, teasing the others and secretly wondering when they’d find a love of their own.

Chanyeol had gotten used to these things. Used to waiting for Baekhyun to show up behind the bleachers or at the locker late with an irritated frown because Chen held him back while spying on Kyungsoo.

To nodding mindlessly at every new date idea that Baekhyun proposed and unconsciously handing him his snacks whenever he had any because he knew that Baekhyun would ask eventually.

To having stared at Baekhyun so often that he could probably draw his face from memory by now.

To sitting outside of his bedroom door to listen as Baekhyun mindlessly sang in the empty room because he knew he’d stop and laugh it off once he entered.

To watching from a classroom, scrunching his nose in disgust as Baekhyun would make funny faces at Chen and Kyungsoo, a soft smile touching his lips as the brunette clapped his small hands and spun around in a circle with a large smile before tripping over his feet and falling to the ground.

(Chanyeol just scoffed as he turned away from the scene, trying to subdue the smile spanning across his lips. Idiot.)

To Baekhyun doodling “chensoo” in his notes and small hearts around it, and nudging Chanyeol’s shoulder to show him. “I ship it. I ship it hard.” Chanyeol would just laugh and push him back.

To being too busy losing track of time and their grasp on reality to realize that they were caught somewhere in the sweet limbo between moments of ‘could be’s, possibilities, and fantasies and not necessarily wanting to find their way out.

 

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

 

“Ahh,” Chen sang, holding his mouth open toward Kyungsoo. The wide-eyed boy glanced to him and frowned, picking up some of his food and poking his chopsticks into Chen’s mouth. Chen chuckled as he smiled to Kyungsoo, giving him a delighted hum and a thumbs up.

Baekhyun tapped Chanyeol’s leg with a snicker, directing his gaze to them. Sharing Food. Check. “Look at you two being all lovey-dovey and cute. Is this a new romance story that I see blooming?”

“It’s not,” Kyungsoo said, wiping the sauce from the Chen’s bottom lip. “He wanted some so I just gave him a little.”

“Feeding him like a lover, no?” Baekhyun asked, hiding a chuckle behind his hand, much to Kyungsoo’s disapproval.

“He’s been making a lot of new recipes recently,” Chanyeol said, softly nudging Baekhyun’s arm. “Usually I have to beg him to try anything, and here he is, just feeding it to Chen like his wife.”

“Oh is that so? What is this, an indirect kiss?” Baekhyun said making a kissy face toward the two, and Chen shot back a scowl.

“Don’t.”

“Why? You two should kiss – pepero kiss!” Baekhyun said, jokingly, laughing as he teetered back and forth on the bench, shaking the box of pepero in front of Chen’s face.

“Like hell we will,” Chen croaked out with a loud, embarrassed laugh, snatching the box from his friend’s hand with a faint blush before Baekhyun stood up, lunging at him from across the table, and the two playfully slapped each other’s hands away with loud teases of “You’d be cute!” and“That’s not for you to decide!”

“Let’s make it a game,” Kyungsoo said, turning away from Baekhyun and Chen to look at Chanyeol. “See who can get it the shortest. Me and Chen versus you and Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol blinked, his eyes wide as he glanced back and forth between Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. “Me and… But… But I hate him.”

“No wait,” Chen interrupted, catching Baekhyun’s hands to focus his attention on Kyungsoo, “I think it sounds like a great idea. We won’t do it unless you two do.”

Chanyeol glanced back to Baekhyun, expecting him to lash out violently or at least start throwing food in their direction while screaming profanities, but the smaller man sat back down, staring at the two of them before picking up and opening another box of pepero on the table.

“Baek,” Chanyeol called, tugging on the brunette’s sleeve. “Don’t be bothered by them, come on.”

“Fine,” Baekhyun said, pulling out a stick and slipping the chocolate side into his mouth as he turned to Chanyeol. “We’ll do it.”

Chanyeol looked down to him as he burst into laughter, waiting for Baekhyun to do the same and shame them for how ridiculous this terrible idea was, but Baekhyun didn’t react, just staring at him when Chanyeol’s laughter slowly morphed into nervous chuckles as he pushed himself slightly away from Baekhyun. “Wow, you can’t be serious.”

Baekhyun only pushed himself forward silently, holding the stick between his teeth and giving Chanyeol an expectant, wide-eyed glare that screamed ‘it’s for chen and soo; shut up and stop complaining.’

Chanyeol stared down to him incredulously. They had barely added the pepero kiss to the list a few days ago, but it was hard to go against that look in Baekhyun’s eyes stressed that they needed to do this because if they didn’t do it now, they probably wouldn’t easily get the chance again. Chanyeol let out a loud sigh as he gave in simply because he’d never hear the end of it if he let this chance go, hesitantly tilting the brunette’s head upward to clamp down on the other side of the pepero stick, and Baekhyun shuffled forward, placing his arms too near to his thighs as he inched closer to Chanyeol to even out their height difference.

“Aww,” Chen cooed, “You two look so natural.”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun hissed around the pepero stick, before focusing his eyes on Chanyeol’s, and the taller man quickly looked away.

“You lose if you break it,” Chen added, hiding a snicker behind his hand, and it looked like Baekhyun was using all of the self-control he contained in his tiny being to not get up and smack the smug look off his face.

Baekhyun closed his eyes as Kyungsoo gave the signal to start.

 

The beginning was okay. Well, as okay as it could be when Chanyeol was too lost in his thoughts, inwardly groaning with disgust because he was actually doing something like this with Byun Baekhyun of all people.

But as he looked down to the brunette, he couldn’t help but notice that Baekhyun actually looked half decent and peaceful when his eyes were closed and his mouth was shut.

Perhaps he should enjoy these few seconds because Baekhyun would probably never be this quiet again.

Then everything quickly snowballed downhill. His heart began to beat faster as he inched closer to the small brunette, and Chanyeol paused, not entirely sure of why it got progressively harder to breathe as they advanced toward each other.

It’s a game, Chanyeol, it’s just a game.

He tried to even out his breathing, slightly tilting his head as their lips neared, and although he wanted to close his eyes and pretend perhaps he was doing this with a hot supermodel or at least anyone other than Byun Baekhyun, he couldn’t take his eyes off the smaller male’s pale face.

They were too close. Close enough to hear his soft breaths as he took the pepero stick further into his mouth. Close enough to smell his shampoo. Close enough to freeze Chanyeol in place as he stared at him, suddenly utterly lost.

And he couldn’t help but focus on the soft curve of Baekhyun’s long eyelashes.

And how soft his pink lips looked pursed around the thin stick in his mouth, and how they’d feel against his lips...

And maybe if they held out long enough he’d be able to find out...

And he kept nearing… slowly… ever so slowly…

And Chanyeol couldn’t hear himself thinking from the sound of his heartbeat thumping in his ears.

 

And…

The pepero stick broke.

 

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

“Chanyeol you broke it!”

“You’re too short for us to do this right anyway.”

“It’s not my fault; you’re just too tall.”

“Whatever just... shove off already.”

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

 

From Baekhyun:

     ‘Hey are we still meeting up today?’

From Baekhyun:

     ‘Come on we have to set Chensoo up on some more romantic stuff. We’ve been slacking recently.’

From Baekhyun:

     ‘Serious, Park, I’m not playing. Where are you?’

-2 missed calls-

From Baekhyun:

     ‘Idiot, pick up your phone’

-4 missed calls-

From Baekhyun:

     ‘Chanyeol?’

 

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