a/n: chenyeol, nonau, humour & fluff (+ a lil bit drama), ~3000 words. based on a prompt i found a while ago, but unfortunately i don't remember from where. it's set back when exo-m were more than three members and actually had schedules in china. good times, good times *laughs unhappily*

enjoy (i had a lot of fun writing this)!

Chanyeol is sitting on his bed, in his room, in his dorm, in Seoul, South Korea, Asia, Earth. It’s late in the afternoon and he looks at the clock on the wall every now and then. Sometimes he picks up his phone, checking the time on the small device instead, as if it was any different. He mostly ends up scrolling idly on his instagram or various internet sites though, but not really paying attention to them. He’s somewhat anxious, actually. And restless. He puts down his phone on the bed and sighs, looking up at the clock again.

After a while, Chanyeol grabs his phone another time, feeling determined. He’s going to make a phone call.

The M part of their group left for China a day and a half ago, to film a CF. Just as they were leaving, Chanyeol gathered enough courage to give Jongdae that mixtape he’s been making, for Jongdae to listen to while abroad. In case he misses Chanyeol. Although mostly it’s because Chanyeol thought it’d be too embarrassing for Jongdae to listen to it if he was with him. So he waited until Jongdae was about to leave.

Chanyeol has made mixtapes before, so it’s nothing new to him. This particular one is special, though. It contains songs - some of Chanyeol’s own absolute favourites - that perfectly sum up his feelings towards Jongdae. It’s been a while since they became a thing, but he still hasn’t expressed those feelings properly. So this is his chance. He gets to do it through music, too, which is the single best way of conveying feelings, in Chanyeol’s opinion. Music speaks louder than simple words sometimes, and when you can’t properly describe things, it works as a sort of interpreter.

Additionally, the last track on the mixtape is a bonus where Chanyeol himself sings and plays guitar to one of Jongdae’s favourite songs, which he only recorded with the intention of letting Jongdae hear it and no one else. It’ll be like confessing all over again, but this time it’ll hopefully be more meaningful.

Chanyeol actually told Jongdae this (not about the bonus track, though, he wants it to be a surprise) when he gave him the mixtape, and Jongdae’s eyes noticeably lit up.

“I’ll look forward to listening to it then”, he said, almost whisper-like, and squeezed Chanyeol’s hand, not being able to kiss him goodbye in front of the others.

Chanyeol feels his body heat up at the memory, and looks at the clock again. Yes, he’s going to make that call, they have to be done with their photoshoot by now.

After making sure that the rest of the members of his subgroup are too busy watching some television show to be able to disturb him, Chanyeol dials Jongdae’s number on his phone. His heart beats loudly as he hears the beeping of the phone, waiting for Jongdae to answer.

“Chanyeol?” Jongdae finally picks up, and it takes Chanyeol about four seconds to reply, that’s how nervous he is.

“Yeah?”

“Ah, hi! How are you”, Jongdae asks politely after hearing Chanyeol speak.

“Yes”, Chanyeol answers dumbly, then realises his mistake when he hears giggling on the other line, “-I mean, yes, I’m fine, how about you?”

“Oh, I’m very fine. A bit tired, the shoot’s finished, but only the first part. We’ll do the filming tomorrow.”

“I miss you”, Chanyeol blurts out.

“I know”, Jongdae says, and Chanyeol can practically hear him smiling, “I miss you too. That’s what we get for liking someone from the other half of the group.”

“I guess so”, Chanyeol agrees, the thought of 'why did Jongdae have to be a part of M?’ as apparent in his head as ever. Of course, he knows Jongdae is interested in Chinese culture and adores his fellow M members, but still. It’s beautiful when he sings in Chinese, sure, but Chanyeol finds that he’s more touched when Jongdae sings in a language that he actually understands. Plus, they wouldn’t be apart much if they were in the same subgroup. Well, it’s not like he can do anything about it anyway, and he knows that in spite of the language barrier Jongdae thoroughly enjoys being a part of M.

Suddenly, Chanyeol realises that he still hasn’t asked Jongdae what he called him to ask. So, he collects as much courage as he can, before uttering:

“Anyway, did… did you listen to my mixtape?”

There’s an unsettling silence for a second or two (which really feels like an hour) before Jongdae makes a noise. That noise is laughter.

Jongdae is literally laughing on the other end of the line, and all Chanyeol can do is to express his confusion through a simple sound:

“Huh?”

Jongdae laughs a bit more, then finally answers.

“Yes, yes I did, was that why you called?”

“Well, yeah…?” Chanyeol replies, still not knowing what to say. Jongdae snickers for a couple of seconds before starting to talk again.

“Well, what do you want me to say?”

“Uh, what you think, maybe?”

“What I think? That’s a hard question, but um, well…” Chanyeol can hear Jongdae trying to keep himself from laughing, his tone is still kind of shaky. “It’s… unique, I guess. Not really what I expected.”

“What did you expect then?” Chanyeol asks, feeling both confused and a bit irritated at this point. Did Jongdae not appreciate the songs on the mixtape, or what?

“I don’t know, something more romantic, maybe…?”

“It is romantic. At least I think so. Why don’t you?” Chanyeol doesn’t even try to cover up his irritation now, if Jongdae is trying to prank him or is joking, it’s not very funny. This whole thing was so important to Chanyeol, to get to express his feelings and everything, it’s really not something to joke about.

Surprisingly, what Jongdae says next is just what Chanyeol is thinking.

“Are you joking?”

“No, not at all, why would I be?”

Jongdae releases a very heavy sigh at the other line.

“You know what, I thought you’d be taking this whole thing a little bit more seriously. Guess I was wrong”, he sputters and the next thing Chanyeol hears is the sound of someone hanging up, and the beeping of the phone. Oh.

Why was Jongdae so upset? And, more importantly, why didn’t he appreciate Chanyeol’s mixtape, and why did he seem to think it was a joke? Chanyeol seriously feels so offended. He has every right to be mad, not Jongdae. There are no good excuses for Jongdae to severely hurt Chanyeol’s feelings.

However, Chanyeol has always been a person of peace, he’s never been keen on fighting. It makes him feel horrible afterwards, and he can’t stay mad for long. That’s possibly a flaw, but Chanyeol sees it as a rather good trait. So after calming down a little he dials Jongdae’s number again, wanting to clear things up.

Chanyeol tries calling Jongdae twice, but the vocalist doesn’t answer. That’s also kind of strange, since Jongdae isn’t really the sort of person who stays angry for a long while, either. Actually, he almost never gets mad. Annoyed or irritated sometimes, sure, they all do, but not angry.

Feeling unsettled, Chanyeol decides to try to focus on something else to stop worrying, so he joins the others at the TV.

The sofa is completely occupied, so he sits down in front of it next to Sehun. Just as he’s about to ask him what they’re watching, Sehun instantly rises to his feet and mumbles something about having to send an email or whatever, and leaves.

“What did you say to him?” Junmyun asks Chanyeol, looking as puzzled as Chanyeol feels over Sehun just leaving like that.

“Nothing, he said he was going to write an email, I think…?” Chanyeol replies, and Junmyun wrinkles his forehead in thought.

“Since when does he do that? Who is he even emailing?”

“No idea”, Chanyeol says and shrugs, he has more important things to worry about. Such as his boyfriend being mad at him for some reason.

Throughout the entirety of the show, Chanyeol is deep in thought. What he figures out, at the end of the program, is a theory, at least. It’s the best reason he can come up with, anyway.

He thinks that Jongdae is acting, pretending to be mad just to trick Chanyeol. And that he’s waiting to come back home before properly thanking Chanyeol (aka showering him with kisses. Hopefully). That had to be it, it’s just one of his pranks. Chanyeol feels kinda silly for falling for it.

Chanyeol heads for the kitchen, thinking about making himself a nice cup of hot chocolate (he’s earned it). That’s where he encounters Sehun again, leaning against the counter scrolling his phone. He doesn’t seem to notice Chanyeol entering, so when Chanyeol greets him he visibly flinches.

“Yo, Sehun! Did you send that email or whatever it was already?”

“A-ah, hyung! What are- Oh. Yeah, yes I did.”

Sehun’s gaze wanders around the room and when Chanyeol comes closer to grab some stuff from the cabinets he escapes, again. Okay, maybe he had things to do and whatnot, but still. He’s disappeared just as Chanyeol entered the room twice now. It’s a bit suspicious.

Chanyeol decides to make Sehun a cup of hot chocolate as well. He knows Sehun’s been kind of down the past few days; his grandmother became very ill and was taken to the hospital not long ago. It made Sehun worried, and Chanyeol couldn’t have his friend and bandmate walk around feeling down and avoiding people all the time. He’d actually made Sehun a mixtape as well. A humorous one, to cheer him up. It only contained three songs, but Chanyeol was sure they would make him at least a little bit happier, as they were songs he knew Sehun would find funny.

...Maybe he hasn’t listened to it yet, since he still seems so upset.

When Chanyeol enters Sehun’s room to deliver the hot chocolate he made, he’s met with the sight of Sehun lying on his back on the bed, seemingly pondering over something. He’s yet again startled when Chanyeol appears, and quickly scrambles up to sit, leaning his back to the wall. Without a word, Chanyeol hands Sehun the cup of chocolate, an identical one to the cup Chanyeol made for himself, then sits down on the bed on the opposite side of the room.

“…Thanks, hyung”, Sehun finally mutters, and Chanyeol smiles.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine”, Sehun answers shortly, and Chanyeol can’t tell if it’s a lie or not.

“Did you listen to the mixtape I gave you yesterday?” Chanyeol asks just as Sehun takes a sip from his hot drink, resulting in him spitting it out in a comedic manner, getting hot chocolate all over his t-shirt. Chanyeol smiles wider, that obviously meant he had listened to it. Not a bad reaction.

Sehun coughs and wipes his chin.

“W-well, yeah.”

“And… what did you think? Which one was your favourite?” Chanyeol leans forward a bit, looking at Sehun expectantly. Sehun, on the other hand, looks away.

“I… I didn’t expect it. To be like that. Um. It was alright though. I liked most of the songs”, he stutters out. Yet again, Chanyeol feels a bit puzzled. This is not the kind of reaction he expected, but okay.

“Which was your fave?” he insists.

“Ah, I… I kind of …liked a lot of the songs, they were kinda cheesy but alright, still. I did, uh, like the last song, too. The one where you sang. It was cool. B-but, I have to ask, you didn’t mean anything-”

Chanyeol doesn’t really listen to what Sehun says afterwards, because that’s when the realisation hits him. Hard.

Well, that explains Sehun’s strange behaviour.

“Holy , Sehun. !” he curses loudly, and Sehun jumps in surprise, the third time that evening.

“What?”

“I… Where do you have that mixtape I gave you?” he asks panickingly, holy , this can’t be-

“Uh, it’s here, wait”, Sehun reaches into one of the drawers in his nightstand and takes out a plain CD in a case, unmarked and everything. Of course. Chanyeol isn’t an arts and craftsy kind of guy, he didn’t bother to make the covers of Sehun’s and Jongdae’s mixtapes any different. Making them very hard to tell apart.

“Holy .”

“What?” Sehun sounds a bit irritated by now.

“I accidentally gave you the wrong mixtape, this wasn’t for you, it was private, oh my god. And I must’ve given Jongdae yours. No wonder he was mad!” he exclaims, mostly to himself. Yeah, no wonder Jongdae was mad when he thought Chanyeol’s feelings about him were summed up in a playlist containing a heavy metal remix of the song Daddy Cool, their own Wolf played on the kazoo and of course the Rick Astley classic Never Gonna Give You Up, looped three times for good measure. Well, yeah, he probably thought it was funny at first, since he laughed when Chanyeol mentioned it. He seemed to be more angry over the fact that Chanyeol insisted that the mixtape was serious and romantic. .

“Oh, well, that’s a relief- Wait, you meant to give that to Jongdae hyung?? The cheesy romantic one? Why?” Sehun asks suspiciously, but Chanyeol’s too fast and is already leaving the room. He has to call Jongdae and explain things.

Of course, Jongdae’s still not answering. Therefore Chanyeol decides to call Yixing instead.

“Ah, is it Chanyeol? Hello”, Yixing answers, and Chanyeol sighs in relief.

“Yeah, it’s me, hi hyung”, he says, and Yixing interrupts him before he can continue on speaking.

“How are you? How nice of you to call-”

“I’m fine, I’m very sorry hyung, but I have to speak to Jongdae, it is important”, Chanyeol utters, feeling bad for not talking more to Yixing but he has a misunderstanding to clear up after all.

“Oh, so it’s you that he has been ignoring then”, Yixing says, “Since you’re calling me instead of him. You called him before, right? He’s received three or something phone calls that he just ignored. What did you do to make him not want to talk to you?”

“Uh… It’s a long story and I have to solve things out with him, is that okay?”

Chanyeol hears Yixing humming as a response and in a second he also hears Yixing telling Jongdae to come. There is a pause, presumably where Jongdae asks who it is that wants to talk to him, and Yixing lies that it’s Jongin. Which is apparent when Jongdae finally speaks through the phone.

“Jonginnie?”

“Uh, no, sorry. It’s me?”

“Oh. What do you want”, Jongdae asks, tone changing completely. “I should’ve known it was you, Jongin would’ve called my phone instead of Xing hyung’s.”

“I, er… Did you actually get mad over the mixtape?” Chanyeol asks. First things first, he supposes.

“I’m more disappointed to be honest”, Jongdae confesses, “I thought it would be something else, I guess. When you actually said that it was a way for you to express your feelings.”

Jongdae pauses to heave a sigh.

“It was not a nice prank, okay? You’re playing with a poor guy’s feelings, y'know”, he laughs dryly.

“I was speaking the truth, though”, Chanyeol says, but Jongdae cuts him off before he can elaborate.

“See, now you’re doing it again! Yeah okay, the playlist was funny but-”

“No, hear me out, I did make a mixtape containing songs that represent my feelings. I also made a mixtape containing funny songs, for Sehun. I mixed those two up. I know, I really ed up there”, Chanyeol blurts out, thankful over getting the chance to explain, at least.

“You mixed mine up with Sehun’s? So there is a mixtape like the one you described? You weren’t joking?”

“Yes, yes, and no I wasn’t joking”, Chanyeol replies, and Jongdae starts to laugh. Again. A wave of relief hits him at the familiar sound.

“You- you mixed them up, hah, that’s hilarious! Oh my god, how did you even manage-?”

“They look exactly the same, okay?”

“So that means Sehun received the mixtape that was meant for me? Has he listened to it?”

“…Yeah”, Chanyeol answers reluctantly. The fact that someone else listened to the mixtape Chanyeol made for Jongdae and Jongdae only is kind of humiliating. Chanyeol feels a heavy feeling in his stomach at the thought.

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry”, Chanyeol says.

“Nah, it’s alright. I mean, his reaction must’ve been priceless. I wish I’d seen it”, Jongdae jokes, making Chanyeol laugh a little to himself.

“It actually was. He must’ve thought I was confessing to him or something, 'cause he avoided me all afternoon! I was so confused at first.”

“Poor Sehunnie. I’m kinda jealous of him though, I really want to hear that mixtape”, Jongdae states. Chanyeol looks down at the CD still in his hands and smiles.

“I’ll give you it when you come back.”

“That’s two more days of waiting! Ah, how will I cope?!” Jongdae whines cutely.

“Aw, I know you miss me, Jongdae-yah, but good things come to those who wait”, Chanyeol teases.

“It’s not like that, stop being so greasy. I’m hanging up”, Jongdae says with laughter in his voice.

“No, wait! I… You’re not mad anymore, then?”

“I was never mad, stupid. Just a bit disappointed.”

“You ignored three of my phone calls”, Chanyeol states flatly.

“Yeah, well, that was… Uh. Anyway, you’ve explained everything so I’m okay, really. I’m just looking forward to hearing the actual mixtape! Although that kazoo cover of Wolf was hilarious”, Jongdae snickers, and Chanyeol feels relieved. Jongdae isn’t angry at him, everything’s alright.

“Okay. Well, um, bye. See you soon.”

“Bye!”

“I love you”, Chanyeol voices his thoughts out loud, and Jongdae makes a sound on the other line. Of course, they both know this already (they’re a couple after all), but they don’t really say it. Not in that way. Maybe they haven’t reached that stage yet.

“I love you too”, Jongdae finally replies, almost whispering, and Chanyeol feels his whole body go warm, as if he’s in a sauna or something. He actually just sits there, phone glued to his ear even though the call has ended. Replaying their conversation in his head with a dumb smile on his face.

He finally rises to his feet when he realises that he left his cup of hot chocolate in Sehun’s room. It’s probably gone cold by now, but whatever.

As Chanyeol steps out of his room, he’s met with five pairs of eyes looking at him. Sehun has this guilty but smug look on his face, oh no, how could he forget-

“Um, Chanyeol? Do you have something you want to tell us?” Junmyun asks, and Chanyeol feels his face heat up. “Something that, uh, involves an M member?”

Well, he can’t escape this.

Chanyeol takes two steps forward and clears his throat.

“Uh, well…”

end note: ah, sweet otp. basically: The Fic Where Chanyeol Accidentally Rickrolls His Boyfriend. hope you liked it!