Chanyeol was not happy.

He was currently sitting in a car driving to who-knows-where after being dragged out of bed at 5 in the morning. He loved road trips, but he would have been much better company if he didn’t have an empty stomach at the moment, and was running on 3 hours of sleep.

“Hey man, it looks like you’re plotting death. Tone down the glaring, that’s Kyungsoo’s job,” Baekhyun said from beside him. From the corner of his eye, Chanyeol saw Kyungsoo shoot him a side-ways glance, with just the hint of a smirk that gave him goosebumps.

“Where are we going?” Chanyeol couldn’t help but ask.

Baekhyun shrugged. “I don’t know, I was told strictly to follow Junmyeon’s car. But he’s driving way under the speed limit. It pains me to drive this slow.”

Chanyeol looked at the car that was in front of them at the traffic light and snorted. “I’m surprised that he hasn’t gotten a ticket for under speeding yet.”

“He has a stack of them at home. I think that the police just gave up on him.”

There was a short silence before the light turned green and the car started moving again. Chanyeol was just drifting off when he heard a bloodcurdling shriek. He jumped awake.

“WHOA WHAT HAPPENED?” he yelled.

He heard a chuckle from beside him, and saw a mischievous smile on Baekhyun’s face. “If I can’t go to sleep, neither can you.” But he quickly backtracked after seeing the look Chanyeol shot him. “If you fall asleep and Kyungsoo doesn’t talk to me, I’m going to fall asleep too. That’s a safety hazard, you know.”

Chanyeol decided to stay awake since he valued his life more than sleep.

“If I get even a scratch on me, I’ll get Kyungsoo to come after you,” Chanyeol warned. From what he’d gathered, Kyungsoo was probably dangerous.

The threat didn’t work because  Baekhyun just laughed. “Why do you want to go sleep so badly, huh? To see Jongin in your dreams-” he teased.

Chanyeol groaned. After his unexpected confession last night, the tense silence was broken by Sehun’s hyena laugh. Soon after, he and Baekhyun were rolling on the floor, laughing like idiots, while Chanyeol tried to save whatever dignity he had left. “No, I don’t love you, although I’m sure that you’re a nice person, and I would probably love you if I was a girl. Wait no! What I mean by that is that I can empathize with girls about why they love you so much. But I, in a heteroual way, think that you’re a cool person, and your dancing is amazing. It looks beautiful, the way you dance so elegantly and passionately, and the way your body moves is so fluid, with all those perfect lines and curves…” he trailed off when he realized that he wasn’t helping himself at all. At the end of it, Kai had left the room looking red-faced and very uncomfortable. It didn’t end well to say the least

“-in a heteroual way of course,” Baekhyun tacked on at the end, with a cackle. “What’s even more funny is that Jongin’s been avoiding you like the plague. His face gets beet red whenever he’s near you,” the shorter continued, ignoring the stink eye that Chanyeol was giving him.

After a moment though, Chanyeol sighed. “Yeah, who would have known that Kai is so… socially awkward. He’s always seemed like such a casanova to me. I was actually hoping to get some tips.” Some highly needed tips, considering his last experience didn’t end well.

Baekhyun scoffed. “Jongin’s got the face, but less than mediocre skills and experience. Chanyeol, what you need is a man’s advice.” he paused dramatically. “My advice. I’ve got the whole package, and a formula that works every time.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Please enlighten me with your knowledge, senpai.”

“You don’t want to hear it.” Kyungsoo’s voice came from the backseat. “Please. Save us all from hearing this.”

“Shhh child.” Baekhyun held up a finger, to which Kyungsoo groaned and sank deeper into his seat.

“I don’t know which one’s worse. Junmyeon’s mind-numbing motivational tapes, or this,” he muttered.  

But Baekhyun had already turned his attention to Chanyeol. “I’m assuming you’re single right now, which is why you asked. But don’t worry. Think of this as the time to warm up and get a test run of the playing field before the game begins. Because if you don’t stretch, you can’t reach your full potential in the game.”

Chanyeol sat up straighter, giving Baekhyun his full attention now.

“First,” Baekhyun continued, “you need to get a feel of the playing field. Find out who your opponents are, what they’re doing, and then do it better. Luckily for you, I’m one of the best, and I can teach you a few gameplays that you’ll definitely score with,” he winked.

“He’s not that great,” Kyungsoo said, interrupting Baekhyun’s monologue. “You should see him at the bar. The only thing he picks up is the bill.”

“BURN.” Chanyeol couldn’t resist.

“It’s all about the first impression. I go for the sangnamja style.” Baekhyun said, unfazed. “Anyways, once you’ve judged the playing field, it’s time for your first move. I go for the classic: pick-up lines. Something like, ‘Hey, can I follow you home?’”

Chanyeol snorted. “What?!”

“Oh, sorry, it’s just that my parents always told me to follow my dreams,” Baekhyun finished, with a charming smile.

The taller visibly cringed. “If you weren’t driving, I’d throw something at you.”

“No man. This works. As long as you're not sleazy about it, it makes them laugh, which gives you the chance to start a conversation.”

Chanyeol turned to look at Kyungsoo, hoping to hear something that made sense, but the latter just shrugged. “It probably does. Baek’s been on the most dates out of all of us.”

Baekhyun smirked at Chanyeol’s shocked expression. “I actually have a double date this weekend. Want to come?”

“Unbelievable,” Chanyeol muttered. All his life, he’d been under the impression that pick-up lines would have him slapped. But this was completely the opposite. Maybe he should actually give this a shot.

“Oh look. Junmyeon’s turning. Finally, I’m saved from this conversation.” Kyungsoo said, relief audible in every word. And sure enough, when Chanyeol looked ahead, the car in front of them was turning into a rest stop.

It was a small building that looked more like a cottage, but the large sign and cars parked in front of it gave it away. The second the cars were parked, the driver side door of the other car burst open, and out stepped a drenched Junmyeon covered in what looked like red and brown slushies. He looked like a miserable, drenched cat, and Chanyeol was torn between whether to laugh or to help the poor guy out.

“Okay, I’m so done with you two,” he stormed, looking at his car’s passengers. “Get. Out.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” Kai’s voice was heard, before he stepped out of the car. He had a large, red scratch running down his arm, and his hair was all messed up.

Sehun came out after him, looking just as bad. “Yeah man. Why am I being punished for what he started?”

“SHUT IT!” Junmyeon screamed, and the other 2 boys instantly straightened up. It was rare to see him so angry. “You two have been fighting like pre-schoolers since we left the apartment, and I am done with this. I had something else planned for this trip, but we need to sort this out right now. Sehun, you stay with me for the rest of the ride, and Jongin, you switch with Kyungsoo.”

With that, he took a bag out of the trunk and turned towards the rest stop. “I need to get this stuff off of me,” he muttered.

Once he was gone, Baekhyun inched closer to Chanyeol. “Do you think it’s a bad idea to ask how he got those slushies on him?” he whispered, holding back laughter.

“Wow,” Kyungsoo said. “I think my respect for him just rose. Who would have known that Junmyeon could be so dominant.”

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked, ignoring the other two.

Sehun and Kai glanced towards each other, and immediately turned away. “Jongin’s making a big deal out of nothing.” Sehun said, to which Kai scoffed.

“I see how much I mean to you. Just because I’m not Chinese and pretty, I’m nothing now? You used to be so different.”

Sehun rolled his eyes. “No. Just because I’m spending more time with Luhan doesn’t mean that I’m ignoring you. He’s in my comp sci class, and we’re just working on a project together. Besides, you’re my roommate. Technically, I can’t ignore you.”

“Oh so you only talk to me because I’m the only option? We used to dance together every day, but now you never have the time.” With a stomp, Kai walked to Baekhyun’s car and slammed the door shut, cutting off Sehun’s protests.

After a minute of staring at the car door, Sehun left to go inside the rest stop,  muttering to himself about overdramatic roommates, and leaving Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo staring after him wondering what they’d just witnessed.