57: Wooing rich-boy Junmyeon was going to take everything Chanyeol had to give. Pairing!ChanHo, Canon

"Get your brokeass pout out of my face. I'm not lending you any money."

Sehun was adamant. But Chanyeol was even more so.

"As maknaes go," he said, coming around the couch to stand in front of the dorm tv and thereby capture Sehun's full attention, "you're probably the worst."

Sehun raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started messing with the screen.

Chanyeol sighed, clearly dejected.

"Sehun-ah," he tried again. "I need to take our leader out to dinner for his birthday."

"Junmyeon-hyung's birthday was a month-and-a-half-a-go," Jongdae called, quite unhelpfully, from the kitchen.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes; of course he knew when Leader's birthday was.

Sehun still didn't care. "Go sell a kidney or something."

"Or your precious hats," Jongdae chortled, still being entirely useless in the kitchen.

Chanyeol needed his kidneys—probably?—but he didn't need his hats. Or not all of them, at least, though there were a few that he'd be sad to see missing if he had to let them go.

It was like Sehun read his mind because he murmured, "Your love life or your snapbacks—that is the question," and did so without ever looking up from his phone. It was pretty creepy, as far as Chanyeol was concerned, and he felt totally justified in saying so since he'd resolved to sell his prized possessions and was no longer desperately begging for (date) money at Sehun's feet.

Sehun retaliated with a mean-spirited nickname that stuck close to Chanyeol's heels for the rest of the week. Even oblivious Junmyeon noticed. He cornered Chanyeol when it was the latter's night to do the dinner dishes.

"Why has our maknae taken to calling you 'Hat Lady'?"

Chanyeol gulped and nearly dropped the mug he was rinsing. This was normal practice for him, fortunately, and Junmyeon barely even flinched.

"He's going to be old and alone with only his stupid caps to keep him company." This from Kyungsoo who'd strolled into the room at some point and was pouring himself a glass of water from the bottle in the fridge.

"Seriously?!" Chanyeol didn't like that everyone in the dorm apparently knew his business.

"You shouldn't love something that can't love you back, Chanyeol-ah," Junmyeon whispered from somewhere close behind him, sounding very concerned indeed.

"I'm selling them," Chanyeol blurted then, unable to withstand the sudden proximity between his body and that of the hyung he'd liked since their trainee days. "All of them. As soon as I can."

Junmyeon gasped, audibly, and took enough of a step back that Chanyeol could no longer feel his breath against his nape.

"No need to be so rash, dongsaeng. I was only thinking of your wellbeing in the future."

Bless Junmyeon's heart, he thought Chanyeol's decision was his doing. Which it sort of was, in a roundabout way, but Chanyeol was feeling rather forgiving toward Leader as of late and didn't hold that against Junmyeon in the slightest.

"He doesn't want to be forever alone."

Chanyeol was about to curse Kyungsoo out but stopped short when he turned around, plate raised high in a clenched fist, and found instead a tiny Baekhyun staring at him, mouth agape.

Baekhyun tsked. "So violent."

Junmyeon didn't entirely understand what Chanyeol's hat collection had to do with Chanyeol's romantic future, but he didn't get a chance to ask until eight more days went by and it was the taller's day to wash dishes again.

"Is this going to become a thing? Should I warn the others?" Kyungsoo took a sip from his water, leading at Chanyeol and Junmyeon from over the edge of his glass.

"Why are you everywhere?" Chanyeol wanted to know, completely seriously.

Kyungsoo held up his glass defensively. "Thirsty."

"Me too," Chanyeol hugged under his breath—though Junmyeon couldn't be sure.

Kyungsoo finally left, but not without obnoxiously gulping down the remainder of his water with unnecessary volume.

"Why do I put up with—"

"Go to dinner with—"

"Him." "Me."

The two spoke at the same time and finished that way too, Junmyeon especially surprised into silence by Chanyeol's invitation.

"Like a date," Jongdae clarified from the living room, being strangely helpful for once.

"A date?" Junmyeon repeated, voice slightly subdued.

"A date," Chanyeol confirmed. He coughed awkwardly to friends his voice to normal instead of the much lower octave it had become in his embarrassment.

Miraculously, he didn't yet drop or break any of the soul bowls.

When Junmyeon agreed, and he did agree, his answer came slowly and cautiously like he was afraid the whole deal was a joke. It wasn't, and Chanyeol told him so when he confessed over dinner at a very upscale steakhouse that he'd sold his precious hats in order to take Junmyeon out.

Junmyeon, who'd just confessed to liking Chanyeol back—and possibly for just as long as Chanyeol had liked him—nearly fainted in shock.

"But your hat collection is so important to you! Your pride and joy!"

Chanyeol grinned. "You're more important."

Junmyeon lifted his hands up to show Chanyeol his fingers were curling, but he was smiling.

(Later that year, sometime in November after they'd been together for quite some time, Junmyeon surprised his boyfriend with a big cardboard box.

"You're welcome," was all he said when he kissed the words into the side of Chanyeol's throat and left the taller to the unwashed dinner dishes.

When Chanyeol finally finished the chore he opened the box with shaking hands—Junmyeon wasn't known as the prankster of the group, but Chanyeol couldn't be too careful. Inside, looking just as pristine and well-loved as he'd left them, was his entire collection of hats.)