The wind somehow manages to whip under Baekhyun’s jacket and the small male shivers, burrowing further under his knitted scarf. Winter was never enjoyable for Baekhyun - it isn't that he falls ill with a fever or anything, in fact he rarely got sick, but the cold always made his body feel numb to the point where he couldn’t even hold a cup properly. He only found that out five minutes ago when his poor Starbucks latte plummeted to its death after slipping out from his hands. The warm and what would have been delicious content, splattering on the pavement outside the cafe as if it were the blood of innocent children.

    Okay, maybe Baekhyun is exaggerating but Starbucks, come on.

    You will be forever remembered dear latte, he thinks to himself. Sighing, he waits under the bus shelter located a few blocks from the cafe and hops from one leg to the other, the cold chilling his feet and numbing his nose. He can barely even feel his face. The wind picks up again and Baekhyun stuffs his hands into his pockets, regretting not wearing any mittens, his raven hair blowing slightly - he’ll have to trim it soon. A tiny white flake falls in front of him and he looks up to see the sky littering the first few drops of snow, spotting the pavement. 

    Great, now all the washing I hung up is going to get wet. I hope grandma puts them away; where is the bus anyway, it’s like, 5 minutes la-

    A tall figure stepping up beside him pulls Baekhyun out of his thoughts and he looks beside him to see a giant. Well, not literally a giant, but this man - boy, Baekhyun thinks, what with the baby face the male beside him displays - is surely tall enough to be one. He’s at least a head taller than Baekhyun with brown hair falling just above his eyes. He’s pretty good looking - wide, almond shaped eyes, tall nose and wide smile displaying lots of white teeth that is both endearing and creepy. Baekhyun doesn’t even notice that the taller is smiling right at him; he’s too busy staring at the taller male’s ears. His hearing must be amazing, jesus, those have got to be the biggest ears I’ve seen on a p-

    “Hello!”

    Baekhyun whips his head around behind him, looking for the source of the baritone voice before he realises that it’s coming from the baby faced gia-

    “Pretty cold today, huh?” the taller male asks, although the answer is obvious. Baekhyun is still trying to pull together the fact that that voice goes along with that face.

    “Uh,” he hates how pitchy his voice sounds. He clears his throat. “Yeah, it is. It’s snowing too - I mean obviously, that’s why it’s cold - and I mean, you can see that it’s snowing, but just in case you didnt - “ Baekhyun is sure that his face is a dark shade of red by now, contrasting against the white background of snow and he mentally slaps himself for rambling. 

    Get a hold of yourself Byun, you’re 23 for crying out loud.

    He hears the taller male laugh and Baekhyun looks up to see his face contort in a weird expression that’s supposed to be laughter. The eye twitch really shouldn’t be attractive at all, I mean whose face even does that, but Baekhyun finds himself smiling along too. The taller extends a hand and Baekhyun almost forgets that his hands are still stuffed inside his pockets. They shake hands and Baekhyun forces down a relieved sigh that threatens to fall from his mouth at how warm the other’s hand is.

    “I’m Park Chanyeol.” the gian- Chanyeol, says and Baekhyun nods. 

    “Byun Baekhyun,” he replies. “Do you catch the bus often? I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” he asks before realising that their hands are still clasping each other’s. He withdraws his hand and turns to face ahead before Chanyeol can see how he’s blushing. The taller just smiles widely.

    “No actually, I live a few blocks over so I rarely come down here. I was visiting a friend but turns out they came down with a cold and didn’t tell me until I got here.” Chanyeol chuckles and shakes his head, a fond expression overcoming his features. It’s a nice look, Baekhyun thinks. Suddenly a cheeky smile is displayed on Chanyeol’s face and he leans in sideways to knock Baekhyun’s shoulder. “I’m not too confident with taking public transport though, so rather than me getting lost, how about you take me to your place instead?” Chanyeol finds this funny and cackles to his own line, or Baekhyun’s taken aback expression, he’s not sure.

    “T-that would be - I barely even know you -“ Baekhyun splutters and Chanyeol only laughs more.

    “Relax, I was kidding,” he says after calming down. Baekhyun breathes out shakily, a nervous chuckle escaping him.

    “Or was I?” Chanyeol teases, and Baekhyun’s breath once again catches in his throat.

    They talk like this, jokes being tossed around - mainly cheesy pickup lines and jokes coming from Chanyeol - small talk going back and forth between the two. Baekhyun finds out that Chanyeol is turning 23 a few months down the track and that his childhood friend whom he was visiting - Sehun, is 21. A few more minutes of conversation go by before Baekhyun’s bus finally arrives at the stop. Baekhyun makes an awkward side step towards the bus, a sheepish smile on his face and faint pink dusting at his cheeks. 

    “I guess I better get going now,” he says, gesturing towards the bus. “This is me.”

    “Oh, right - yeah,” Chanyeol says with a small wave of his hands, dismissing the shorter male. “See you around I guess.” he says, a small grin appearing on his face. Baekhyun smiles back as he heads to the door of the bus and turns around once more, foot on the first step of the bus, when Chanyeol calls out.

    “Stay warm!” he calls, and Baekhyun feels his heart thump a little more forcefully than it normally would.

    Byun, I swear to all things holy, if you do not stop acting like a prepubescent teen interacting with their crush I will-

    You’re just my conscience, you can’t do anything.

    Shut up. I am you, I can slap you.

    Hoe, don’t do it, he’s right there!

    Baekhyun fights back the urge to slap himself and forces out a smile.

    “I will,” he replies. “You stay warm too, okay?” He finally steps onto the bus, much to the driver’s appreciation, and the door closes behind him. He sits by the window and sees Chanyeol’s final wave as the bus pulls out onto the road. Baekhyun smiles to himself.

    If winter gave him an excuse to find warmth in Chanyeol’s hands again, he’d step out in the cold willingly.

    There you go again, what are you, a twelve year old girl? You spoke to the guy for like, what, 20 minutes and suddenly you’re acting like you’re in love?

    Baekhyun pouts.

    Shut up conscience.

-

The second time they see each other again is a couple days after their first meeting. Baekhyun had just come from picking up some groceries at the supermarket when a tall figure once again stands by him. He looks up from his spot on the waiting bench and is enlightened to see Chanyeol smiling down at him.

    “Well, hello there,” the taller begins. “Didn’t expect to see you so soon.” Baekhyun nods his head in agreement and smiles up at the taller. 

    “Same,” he replies. “My grandmother came down with a cold so I had to pick up the groceries for her.” Baekhyun lifts up the plastic bags from beside him to show the younger his reasons for being out in the cold today. Chanyeol looks thoughtfully at the bags and purses his lips. Baekhyun tries to convince himself that it’s not cute.

    It’s cute.

    I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE FOR GOOD.

    I’m your conscience, , I’m staying with you until the day you get run over by a bus.

    Rude! Just because y-

    “By any chance, would to happen to have any limes in one of those bags?” Chanyeol asks, breaking Baekhyun away from his mental argument with…himself. He gives the bags a look and remembers that, yes, he did buy limes for his grandmother - she was probably making her lime tarts again.

    “Yeah, I do,” he says. “Why?” Chanyeol beams down at him.

    “Could I borrow them for a second?” he asks. Baekhyun feels a little confused at the request but hands the bag with all the limes in them to Chanyeol anyway. The taller thanks him then proceeds to drop the entire bag, a dozen limes spilling all over the pavement. Chanyeol mutters quiet apologies while attempting to pick up five limes in one hand and shoving them into the bag, however, the way he was holding the limes causes them to slip from his grasp, falling to the ground once again. He gets onto his knees and keeps on trying to gather up the limes, dropping them more often than actually successfully picking them up.

    Baekhyun, all this time only watching in bemusement, decides to finally take pity on Chanyeol and helps him gather up some limes. The whole situation just seems ridiculous, honestly.

    “Sorry,” Chanyeol says, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m kinda bad at pickup limes.” 

    Baekhyun literally feels his body freeze and it isn’t because of the winter chill.

    Chanyeol cackles, slapping his thigh from where he’s kneeling on the ground and Baekhyun promptly throws a lime at him. He covers up his small laughter with a cough.

-

A full week passes before Baekhyun sees Chanyeol again - not that he’s been counting or anything - and this time Chanyeol is followed by an equally tall male.

    “Hey - Baek!” Chanyeol waves from across the street and Baekhyun watches amusedly from his spot under the bus shelter as his friend elbows him in the ribs, causing Chanyeol to winces and glare at the other. It’s only as Chanyeol makes his way across the street with his friend does the nickname settle in with Baekhyun.

    Don’t blush, don’t blush, dON’T BLUS-

    “So,” Chanyeol’s friend starts. “You’re the Byun Baekhyun that I’ve been hearing non-stop about. I’m Oh Sehun, childhood friend of this dork.” Baekhyun widens his eyes at the fact that Chanyeol talks to his friends about him and sees the other looking everywhere except at Baekhyun, a similar shade of red dusting his face. Sehun only grins cheekily.

    “Y-yeah,” Baekhyun says, voice soft. “It’s nice to meet you, Sehun.” he adds, and Chanyeol not so subtilely kicks Sehun in the shin for running his mouth. The younger doesn’t so much as wince.

    “I hope Chanyeol-hyung hasn’t bothered you too much with his jokes, everyone knows that those get out of hand when he tries too hard.” Sehun says and Chanyeol is silently glaring holes into the side of his face. Baekhyun, feeling flustered, shakes his head hastily.

    “No!” he says, a little too loudly. “I mean - it’s not a bother at all..” his voice trails off a little at the end and he unconsciously fluffs up his scarf further up his face to hide the red. The whole situation is getting a little more than awkward - a good awkward, Baekhyun thinks - and Chanyeol groans.

    “It was a mistake going out with you,” he says to Sehun who merely laughs in his face. “I’m going to take this twelvie to eat some barbeque, run off and leave him to pay for the bill and probably hire a truck driver to run him over, so goodbye, farewell, it was nice seeing you again Baek - I can - I can call you that right?” Chanyeol asks, slight hope displayed on his face and Baekhyun gives a genuine smile up to the taller.

    “Sure, why not.” he answers and Chanyeol breaks out into a grin. 

    Baekhyun watches as both Sehun and Chanyeol bicker with each other while they make their way away from him and Baekhyun gives a small chuckle at the two. 

    Maybe winter isn’t so bad after all.

-

Everytime Baekhyun sees Chanyeol, the taller will always, always, deliver some pickup line that will make Baekhyun both cringe and fall a little deeper for the cheesy male.

    “Hey Baek, I seem to have lost my phone number, can I have yours?”

    “Do you carry around a hidden broomstick with you or something, because you always sweep me off my feet.”

    “Can I take your picture to prove to my other friends that angels do exist?”

    “Now that I think about it, you look so familiar…did we go to uni together? I could have sworn we had chemistry.”

    “I need to report an error to the people who made the dictionary, it doesn’t seem to show your picture under the definition for ‘perfection’.”

    On some days when Chanyeol feels a little bolder, he’ll start saying things like, “Your body is 75% water and I’m hella thirsty.”

    Sehun has only ever accompanied Chanyeol to see Baekhyun at the bus stop again once after their first meeting and he hadn’t changed since the last time; teasing Chanyeol about his obsession with pickup lines and a certain petit raven haired male. It’s become a bit of a routine now, seeing Chanyeol and hearing some cheesy line come from the taller - a routine that Baekhyun will never get bored of.

    The next day, Chanyeol officially asks Baekhyun out to dinner.

    Baekhyun doesn’t even hesitate.

-

Their meeting spot is the usual bus stop of course, and Baekhyun is there by 6:30pm even though the agreed meeting time was 6:40pm. He figured that he would need the extra ten minutes to calm himself down before Chanyeol arrived and to make sure that he wouldn’t be late.

    Better too early than too late, he thinks to himself.

    Hah, you’re a little TOO early though, seriously, what are you gonna do for ten minutes? Chill? Heh, get it? Chill? ‘Cos it’s cold…

    Shut up conscience.

    Don’t tell yourself to shut up, that’s weird. And what are you wearing, aren’t you cold?

    You would know if I were feeling cold, you ARE me you . 

    You just insulted yourself you know. You’re also having a mental conversation with yourself Byun, are you sure you should be going out to dinner with this guy? What if you accidentally stab him with your fork while you’re eating. Then you’ll be locked up in prison for murder. Or in a mental centre, I mean, you are talking to yourself.

    Jesus, just, shut up! I will not accidentally stab him, nor will i get locked awa-

    Whoop, lover boy at twelve o’clock.

    Baekhyun turns around to see Chanyeol crossing the street, dressed up in dark jeans and a black button down shirt under a trench coat. He looks gorgeous is all Baekhyun can think.

    “I - Baek, wow - hi,” Chanyeol stutters as he stops in front of Baekhyun, shamelessly checking him out. Baekhyun can’t really call him out for it since he’s doing the same thing, but no one needs to know that. He's glad that he decided to go semi formal tonight - a dress shirt with jeans and his trusty black coat.  Chanyeol is unusually silent as he looks up at Baekhyun’s face and his breath seems to get stuck in his throat. Baekhyun fidgets a little.

    “What?” he asks, voice cracking in the middle. A slow but sure blush makes its way up his neck, an occurrence that happens all too often around the taller male. Chanyeol is still gaping.

    “You - I just -“ Chanyeol can’t speak right, the words won’t come out the way he wants them too and he steels himself before speaking. 

    “You’re so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line.” he finally says and Baekhyun swears the Earth stopped spinning. He doesn’t know what to say before Chanyeol breaks out into a sheepish yet charming smile and he laughs. Chanyeol joins in with his own light chuckles and Baekhyun beams up at him.

    “Well, good thing you’ve rubbed off on me then,” Baekhyun says and he steps in closer to Chanyeol. The taller of the two looks down in slight confusion and Baekhyun grins. “You seemed to have dropped something back there.” he says and Chanyeol looks over his shoulder behind him before looking back down at the older male.

    “What?” he asks, still slightly confused.

    “This conversation,” Baekhyun says. “How about we pick it back up again over dinner?” and he musters up all his courage to step up on his tippy-toes to give Chanyeol a shy peck to the cheek. The taller seems to have frozen, his mouth open in surprise. Baekhyun thinks he may have gone a little overboard with the kiss, but then Chanyeol is blinking and grinning back down at him, leaning down as well to plant a small peck to Baekhyun’s lips instead. 

    “Smooth Byun Baek, real smooth.”

-

A/N: I really tried to make this cute/ fluffy/ funny or whatever and I hope i succeeded even a tiny bit but BaekYeol feels where too damn strong and i was like, eh, why not. ^^;

Hope you enjoyed and again, please leave some feedback and opinion down below~! =)