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Link to the lame playlist I made for this fic even though the music doesn't have all to much to do with the fic: x

Chanyeol was not the best of role models.

He was a pretty ty role model, in fact, if the current situation said anything.

“Name?” the officer asked him in a gruff voice as they took their respective seats in the interrogation room.

“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.” Chanyeol wiped his sweaty palms on the coarse fabric of his jeans, as though the action could wipe away his sin, his guilt.

“Age?”

“Seventeen,” he muttered.

The officer raised an eyebrow at him as he flipped through the police report, “Only seventeen? You were caught trying to set someone’s barn on fire. Arson is a pretty high level of offense, kid.”

“It was abandoned!” Chanyeol protested weakly.

The cop leaned back in his seat, giving Chanyeol a glimpse of his badge and nametag. Ahn Taehyun. “Didn’t your parents ever tell you it was dangerous to play with fire?”

Chanyeol fiddled with the ends of his hoodie’s drawstrings.

His parents told him plenty of things.

Words of scorn, of hatred, of disgust. Drunken screams and beatings that had seared a childhood of neglect into Chanyeol’s heart and burned him out by the time he finally understood his parents’ true message.

“You will never be the child we wanted to save.”

Chanyeol met Kim Jongdae when he was seventeen years old.

It was an odd but unavoidable twist of fate; the summer that completely changed Chanyeol’s life.

The sky had been a dreary shade of grey when Chanyeol arrived at the library, locking his bike up by a nearby bench with a heavy sigh.

“You barely made the age cut,” his defense lawyer said as he cleaned up the clutter of files up from the conference table. “One more year and you would be serving real time in the county jail.”

“Joy,” Chanyeol muttered apathetically, jamming his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. He hadn’t been planning on getting caught setting that old abandoned barn on fire, considering how careful he had been in his previous experiment. Now he had a lawyer and the looming threat of his parents’ punishment breathing down his neck.

The burning had started out as a stress reliever, an outlet for all of his pent up and hard to convey feelings. His anger. His frustration. No matter what he did he wasn't able to please his parents. They were never satisfied, monsters of greed that simply wanted more, more, more. It wasn’t his fault he would never be able to fill the gap his older sister had left after her death. Gifted, talented and kind, Park Yoora had been the apple of his parents’ eyes destined for a perfect life. As much as Chanyeol had tried, as much as he had loved his sister, he knew he would never come even close to competing with her. He had been and always would be the accident, the mistake. In more ways than one.

He had started out small, just lighting tissues or other small, easily flammable household items and reveling as they dissipated, dissolving in front of his very eyes until there was nothing left but a few remnants of ashes and a crisp burning scent that always lingered in his senses. It was almost like watching all his troubles and pain go up in flames, then down in ashes, and it only left him craving for more.

He went bigger and bigger, going from piles of old magazines to small abandoned shacks and tool sheds. He constantly longed for the feeling of running his fingers along the smooth cool metal of his lighter and the hiss of a match was like music to his ears, its tragic harmony ascending into a great crescendo.

The flaring heat ignited his soul, and warmed his heart in ways his parents never had. The flickering flames almost seemed to reach out for him, offering a comfort and solace that he had never had as a child.

It also took Yoora away from him.

“-and so your first session will be in two days.”

“Eh?” Chanyeol’s head snapped up, thoughts interrupted and expression mildly dazed.

His lawyer- Junmyeon? - crossed his arms with a sigh. “Therapy. You start tomorrow.”

“What?!” Chanyeol jumped out of his chair. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Just because-”

“Court’s orders.” Junmyeon emphasized with an eyebrow raised, “Non-negotiable. Unless you want anything more on disciplinary record.”

Chanyeol sat back down in defeat with a huff. His parents were not going to be happy to hear about this.

The counselling session several days ago hadn’t gone as bad as he had expected, although Doctor Byun did have a rather strange tendency to break out into song in the middle of their sessions.

“Are you sure I’m the one that should be in therapy?” Chanyeol asked after the therapist finished singing his rendition of “Farewell Review”.

“Was I the one almost sent to jail for setting some silly old barn on fire? I think not,” The doctor, or Baekhyun as he had asked Chanyeol to call him, put his hands on his hips and looked at Chanyeol with a healthy amount of fire in his eyes. “I haven’t been out-sassed by a patient in my entire career and I won’t be starting now.”

All Chanyeol could do was sigh.

His steps were heavy as he trudged into the public library, the automatic doors sliding open for him. A breeze of cool air conditioning blew past his face, prickling at his senses. How long had it been since he had come to a library?

“It says here that you’ll need to do 20 hours of community service,” Baekhyun read out loud, finding it completely appropriate as a therapist to gallivant over and sit on the teen lying across the stereotypical patient’s couch.

Chanyeol let out a low wheeze at the sudden weight on top of him, muttering a few curses under his breath before glaring up at the doctor through his bangs. “What.”

“Oh don’t give me that look,” Baekhyun readjusted his position, tailbone digging deeper into his patient’s spine. Said patient could do nothing but glare harder at his therapist. “Kids like you nowadays are all bark but no bite. Do you have any idea of what you’re gonna do for those 20 hours?”

After a few seconds of more useless struggling under Baekhyun, Chanyeol finally went slack with a sigh- something that had unfortunately become common in their sessions. “Uh, I don’t know. Probably pick up trash along the road or something. I could always just ask around.”

“Pick up trash?!” Baekhyun jumped off of Chanyeol with a screech, dropping Chanyeol’s files to the ground in sheer unadulterated horror, “Are you insane? Don’t even think about it, you hear me?”

The therapist scurried over to his desk, picking his cellphone up quickly and dialing a number with fervor. “Picking up tra- the nerve! Ah- hello? It’s Baekhyun. I’m sending someone over tomorrow. He needs 20 hours. Yeah, thanks.”

The call ended as fast as it began and Baekhyun turned back to his patient, looking quite satisfied with his work. “That was the Bulsae Library. You start tomorrow at 10 AM. Show up late and I’ll show you pain like you’ve never seen before.”

Chanyeol gulped. Oddly enough, he had never known true fear until he met Byun Baekhyun.

Despite its rather dreary outer appearance, the library’s interior was not as dusty and ancient as Chanyeol had been expecting. Instead, it gave off a very comfortable and calm vibe, allowing the tension to bleed from Chanyeol’s shoulders as he made his way up to the counter, where a librarian was helping a young girl check out her books. Once the girl had left, Chanyeol cleared his throat and spoke. “So, uh, you’re a librarian?”

Said librarian looked him up and down, his eyes lighting up in realization. “Ah! You’re the kid Baekhyun called me about. Changmin, right?”

“Chanyeol,” the teen corrected, “Park Chanyeol.”

“I was close,” the man laughed and held out a hand, “I’m Minseok, one of the head librarians here. Welcome to Bulsae.”

Chanyeol reached over the counter to shake the other’s hand. “Thanks.”

“You’ll be working the shelves with my brother while you’re here,” Minseok handed Chanyeol a volunteer lanyard to wear around his neck. “He’s probably sneaking around the place somewhere. Jongdae-yah!”

“What do you want?!” came the loud reply, piercing through the library’s tranquil atmosphere. None of the visitors so much as flinched, leading Chanyeol to suspect that this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. “I’m busy, hyung!”

“Get your over here! The new volunteer is here.” Minseok threw Chanyeol an apologetic smile. “Don’t mind us, we’ve been working here since we could walk. This place is practically our second home. You’ll be in good hands.”

“Damn right you’ll be in good hands,” came a voice behind them.

“Jongdae, language,” Minseok chided as Chanyeol spun around and was met with a tussled head of hair and a sharp jawline.

The guy couldn’t have been that much older than Chanyeol himself, though he was definitely shorter (everyone was, peasants). He didn’t seem like much, with his thin stature and twiggy legs. But as the boy held his hand out with a bright smile, lips curling in just the right way, Chanyeol knew that this summer would be one he would never forget.

“Kim Jongdae, just a librarian.” Jongdae’s hands were warm in Chanyeol’s grasp.

“Park Chanyeol, just a pyromaniac.”

A warm pair of arms made its way around Chanyeol’s waist as he was organizing the nonfiction section, head burrowing into the crevice just below Chanyeol’s left shoulder blade.

“Um,” he tucked a recently returned book back onto its shelf, “I’m sorry, but I’m kind of already spoken for…”

One of the arms around him went slack to reach up and smack his bicep. “You ing egg, it’s me.”

“Oh, Yixing hyung?” Chanyeol teased, turning around and dropping a kiss in his boyfriend’s hair.

Jongdae looked up at him, kitten lips drawing into a pout. “Yah, is there something you aren’t telling me Park Chanyeol?”

“I wouldn’t touch your boyfriend and his cooties with a ten foot pole,” came the call several shelves over in the autobiography section from their snarky coworker.

Jongdae held back a snicker as Chanyeol pouted this time, wrapping his own arms around his boyfriend and pulling him close for comfort. “Yixing hyung, you’re too cruel.”

“What are all you imbeciles doing back here?!” Minseok scolded in a hushed tone, marching over and tugging Jongdae away by the ear. “Save your gross flirting for break time, do you know how many new shipments came in today? We need as many hands as we can unpacking!”

“Ow ow ow- okay, okay!” Jongdae’s arms flailed around in the air as he blew a quick farewell kiss to Chanyeol mid-struggle. Chanyeol could only shake his head and chuckle.

He had never expected to get to where he was today, especially not six years ago when he had started volunteering at Bulsae. Since then, the employees here had welcomed him with open arms, a gesture that he hadn’t received in the longest time. A few of the other volunteers back then had also been Baekhyun’s patients, and told Chanyeol about how accepting the other employees were and how the experience at the library had really helped them out. It took some getting used to, especially since he had little to no experience with the work they made him do, but all of his worries seemed to melt when he saw Jongdae smile.

He hadn’t been expecting Jongdae.

Jongdae was always there lending Chanyeol a hand, cracking bad jokes and quietly humming between the book shelfs as he returned previous check outs. Jongdae was always looping his arm through Chanyeol’s, pulling him off to the breakroom to simply talk and eat a snack, take a breather. Jongdae was always resting his head in Chanyeol’s lap on the couch in the breakroom, always asking Chanyeol about his life, his interests. Never his past. Jondgae never tried to pry and Chanyeol soon began to take comfort in those conversations. Ones where he could pretend that he hadn’t made mistakes he couldn’t fix, mistakes he couldn’t change. Jongdae… Jongdae always made him happy. His hand was always soft as it brushed past Chanyeol’s to grab another book, a gesture that Chanyeol had never been able to determine if it had been done on purpose or simply by accident.

He got his answer about a year into his time at Bulsae.

Chanyeol had decided to continue volunteering there even after his services hours were done. He had been bumped up to an employee a few months back but it wasn’t the money that had convinced him to stay.

“Do you like it here?” Jongdae had asked one day, popping a grape into his mouth as he tucked himself in Chanyeol’s side on the couch. They had just closed the library and it was about time to go. Minseok had already gone home and it was just the two of them left. “And do you need a ride back again?”

“No,” Chanyeol looked up from his phone, “Wait, I meant no to your second question. ‘Cause obviously I like it here, I mean I’ve been putting up with you for over a year by now. I think I deserve an award for that in itself.”

“Hey!” Jongdae whapped Chanyeol on the arm. “I’ll have you know that I am wonderful company. And if there was an award for that I’m pretty sure Minseok hyung would’ve won it.”

“Yeah, I feel really sorry for hi- ow!” Chanyeol rubbed his arm in pain. “You pinched me!”

“Hmph serves you right,” Jongdae crossed his arms indignantly, only to let out a shriek as Chanyeol pounced, attacking Jongdae’s sides and tickling the librarian ruthlessly. “Okay okay! You win! You wi-AHH!”

“Too easy, too easy,” Chanyeol grinned as he finally let go of a squirming Jongdae, leaving the couch momentarily to grab his belongings.

Jongdae followed him, clothes rumpled and a pout on his face. “You know I hate getting tickled. But seriously, what made you decide to stay?”

Chanyeol froze. “W-Well I mean, I just, you know, decided to stay ‘cause…. uhhh yeah.”

“Wow, good answer,” Jongdae deadpanned. “Is it because of Yixing? I’m pretty sure that’s Sehun’s only reason for staying. Kid can’t do because he’s too busy staring at Yixing all day.”

Chaneyol laughed. “He’s completely smitten. I don’t know what he sees in that ball of snark but I don’t think Yixing has even noticed yet.”

“Yixing doesn’t notice anything,” Jongdae jumped on Chanyeol’s back. The taller let out an ‘oof!’ of surprise. “C’mon, tell me! Is it Minseok? Or Jongin? Jongin is pretty hot. But I hear he has a girlfriend already. Some chick named Meitao.”

Before Chanyeol could open his mouth to speak, Jongdae started again.

“Or could it be…” Jongdae propped his chin up on Chanyeol’s shoulder, “Me?”

“In your dreams,” Chanyeol grunted as he threw Jongdae back onto the couch. You have no idea.

“Aw come on, give me something!” Jongdae sent Chanyeol the puppy eyes. Chanyeol couldn’t resist the puppy eyes.

“You all… make me happy.” You make me happy.

“What a sappy answer,” Jongdae made a face of disgust.

“You asked for it!”

“Yeah, well your reason ! Think of a better one!”

“Or else what?”

“Or- or else-” Jongdae suddenly hopped off the couch and marched over to Chanyeol, who was halfway done putting on his jacket. A second was all it took for Jongdae to pull Chanyeol down by the face and kiss the living hell out of him. Chanyeol couldn’t breathe, let alone think. When he finally came back to, Jongdae tasted like the Pad Thai he ate for lunch, which in all honesty wasn’t that nice, but kissing Jongdae was even nicer.

Jongdae’s cheeks were flushed pink by the time they pulled away. “Or else I’ll become your reason to stay, you oblivious .”

“And you said my answers were sappy- OW!”

“What do you want to eat tonight?” Chanyeol asked as he turned out of the library parking lot, temporarily leaning forward to breathe hot air onto his cold hands on the steering wheel. Winter was a .

“I think we have some leftovers still left in the fridge,” Jongdae hummed absentmindedly from the passenger seat, tapping his foot to the song playing over the radio. “We can just finish that up and- oh!”

Jongdae suddenly sat up in his seat, before reaching down into his satchel and pulling something out. “I got this for you today! Saw it while I was sorting out the book donations box and thought you’d like it.”

Chanyeol almost swerved the car. “You took a book from the donations pile?! Jongdae-”

“Oh come on, I’ll pay for it or something don’t be such a goody goody.” Chanyeol saw Jongdae examine the hardcover book from the corner of his eye. “I know you don’t usually read much but I think you’ll like it, it’s an interesting book.”

Chanyeol sighed. “Couldn’t you have just checked the book out from the library for me instead? Jongin actually takes inventory unlike Sehun and he’ll notice it’s gone eventually.”

“Which is why you’ll have to read it quickly,” Jongdae patted Chanyeol on the leg. “Happy reading!”

Chanyeol groaned. What Jongdae wanted, Jongdae often got.

He was so ing whipped.

“Fahrenheit 451,” Chanyeol read off the title out loud as he examined the book.

Jongdae reached over from his side of the bed to smack him with a pillow. “Excuse, I did not ask for a bedtime story. Keep your book reading to yourself thank you.”

“Someone’s been spending too much time with Yixing,” Chanyeol muttered, before getting comfortable and flipping the book open to the first chapter. “It was a pleasure to burn…”

It was an odd dream, probably the strangest he had ever had.

The first thing Chanyeol noticed was the smell. It was a familiar smell, one that had his head spinning and mind dizzy.

It was the smell of burning.

“Chanyeol! What are you doing? Hurry up and finish the job!”

Chanyeol’s eyes flew open, startled as he took in the sight before him. An entire house, or rather, what remained of the house, was on fire, flames across the entire building.

“Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol spun around, eyes widening in shock as a tall man with dirty blonde hair literally descended from the dark, smoke infested skies, an unpleasant expression directed at him. “W-Who are you?!”

The man’s face went from angry to confused. “What the hell are you talking about, Chanyeol? I know you took a few blows in the head from the flying debris but this is not the time to be joking around.”

“I don’t- this-” Chanyeol looked around him in a panic, trying to process the situation. “Were you flying?!”

“, you better not be acting or I swear to god you can kiss your raise goodbye,” The man pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Kyungsoo, Luhan, get your asses over here. I think the debris might’ve hit Chanyeol a little harder in the head than we thought. Seems like memory loss.”

“It’s not like there was much in that head of his in the first place!” came the scratchy reply through the radio. Had Chanyeol known what was going, he might have properly defended himself from the insult. “Just tell him to finish the job fast, the has started screaming and she still won’t leave the house.”

“Wait, there’s someone in there?!” Chanyeol exclaimed, looking towards the burning house in unconcealed horror. “We have to go save her!”

“What the , is that actually Chanyeol you got there?” the same voice said through the walkie talkie. Flying Man simply looked at Chanyeol like he had grown a second head, though at this point, Chanyeol wouldn’t be in the least surprised if he did. “Listen buddy, I don’t know what happened to you or what you’ve been smoking but the woman in there is a criminal. She’s the one hoarding a collection of books and she’s the one that refuses to come out despite our warnings that we would burn her ing house down. If anything, you’d do her a favor by speeding this whole fire thing up and putting her out of her pathetic misery, so try and get to work, shall we? Yifan, tell him.”

With a dawning realization, Chanyeol slowly turned to the man- Yifan?- in front of him. “I-If you can fly, a-and whoever that person is can do whatever the hell they’re doing, are you saying tha- that I’m-”

“Controlling the fire, yes.” Yifan nodded.

Chanyeol felt sick to the stomach, bile rising into his throat at the thought of what was going on. Whoever these lunatics were were burning a woman alive in her own home.

And then he heard the screams.

“Please! Please!” the sobs were barely audible under the sounding of the house caving in, yet they sent a chill down Chanyeol’s spine altogether. “Please stop! This isn’t a crime. I haven’t done anything wrong! Please!”

Chanyeol grabbed Yifan by the collar. “Can’t you save her?! She’s dying in there! It won’t be long before that house collapses and she needs