park chanyeol had never wanted anyone to fall for him harder than he wanted byun baekhyun to. he wanted to be perfect in front of him; he wanted to be his type of guy. so, he set out to use his power to make the greatest image of himself yet.

.

it was their lunch break and chanyeol decided to make a move. baekhyun was in the library reading a book on who knows what. the taller male decided to grab a book at random from the book shelf and sat at the same table as his crush; it was a foolproof plan.

"hey."

baekhyun nodded and continued reading. he stopped for a second and chanyeol thought he might say hi back, but instead he highlighted a quote in his book.

"so, i heard you like language arts?"

"im actually doing my assignment for it now."

baekhyun was now looking right at him, chanyeol not knowing whether it was out of annoyance or interest. "how about you? are you a book lover?"

taking this as his only chance, chanyeol almost bounced on the question. he nodded and pointed at the cover of the book he had and smiled. " i am actually. i love the depth of the authors and imaginative writing in general."

the smaller male giggled at that and took the book from chanyeol's grasp and pointed at the title. "well i suggest that you read actual literature and not 'statistics for dummies'."

chanyeol flushed at that and his voice went a full dynamic level lower. great, he probable looks like a fake- someone just trying to get a date.

"oh.. um yeah. i should huh?"

with that, he stood up from the chair, but not quite. chanyeol was moving back in time, watching the past replay until he reached the desired time point.

It was their lunch break and chanyeol decided to make a move. baekhyun was in the library reading a book on who knows what. the taller male decided to grab a book from the literature section of the library and sat at the same table as his crush; it was a foolproof plan.

"hey."

baekhyun nodded and continued reading. he stopped for a second and chanyeol thought he might say hi back, but instead he highlighted a quote in his book.

"so, i heard you like language arts?"

"im actually doing my assignment for it now."

baekhyun was now looking right at him, chanyeol not knowing whether it was out of annoyance or interest. "how about you? are you a book lover?"

chanyeol nodded and showed off the book in his hand titled, 'Hamlet'. "i love shakesphere and charles dickens. theyre great writers."

the taller felt his heart burn with love at the sight of light in baekhyun's eyes as he said those names.

"me too! theyre amazing! whats your favorite dickens book?"

"oh uhm... you see its hard to choose."

"i see, i see. either way, its so hard to find people that like them too."

"well, now you have me." he smiled and almost thought he was hallucinating when he saw a faint blush cross baekhyuns cheeks. sadly, the bell rang and baekhyun bid him farewell. they did however end up exchanging numbers and chanyeol was thanking god for the gift he was given.

.

afteschool, chanyeol spotted baekhyun walking home alone after he waved his friends goodbye. the giant, once again seeing this as an opportunity, walked over to the male. between them were half a flight of stairs that connected led down to the sidewalk.

"hey baek! wait up-"

the head of brown hair turned around just as chanyeol missed the last two steps in an attempt to reach the smaller faster. chanyeol just about held eye contact with a confused baekhyun for about .02 seconds before the cement made contact with his hands and knees.

"jeSUS ARE YOU OKAY?"

the sound of a worried baek was enough to clear chanyeol of the pain on his now scraped up palms. "yeah- just give me a sec.."

"gUYS CALL AN AMBULANCE. YEOL STAY WITH ME-"

"im okay, really-"

"DONT YOU 'IM OKAY' ME."

chanyeol smiled a bit before sighing.

"im sorry- that you had to see me like this-"

"YOURE APOLOGIZING TO ME? JESUS- YOU PROBABLY HAVE A CONCUSSION-"

chanyeol had squeezed his eyes tight in an attempt to reverse time. slowly, but surely, he saw the past replay from a third person perspective. he saw baekhyun running in reverse and the crowd dissipate from around him. then, he was back in the present, halfway down the steps and about to call out baekhyuns name.

"hey baek! wait up okay?"

fortunately, the smaller heard and waited patiently at the bottom of the steps as chanyeol tried to hide the pain in his ankle and the scrapes on his palms.

he would do everything he could- reverse time, study literature, become a bookworm- to have byun baekhyun fall for him. but what park chanyeol doesnt know, is that sometimes, letting life run its course is the best path to love there is.

if he hadnt been so hasty with rewinding the clock at the library, baekhyun wouldve reached into his bag and pulled out a copy of his favorite literature works with his number writted next to his favorite quote.

if he hadnt been too busy thinking that baekhyun thought he was stupid for falling down the stairs, baekhyun wouldve ridden in the ambulance next to him and even spend the night in the hospital by his side; he would be listening snippets of 'Romeo and Juliet' that baekhyun would recite from heart.

because honestly? byun baekhyun would rather fall in love with a clumsy and imperfect chanyeol than one who was pristine and perfect for him in every aspect there was.