In space, there is you. 

[chansoo / friendship / space au / 2937 words]

Kyungsoo’s eyes flutter open slowly.

The sound of his steady breathing echoes by his ears and he blinks at the vast blackness before him. Millions and billions of specks of light are twinkling in between the wrinkles of the universe and freely, they live, they die, and eventually they vanish into the infinity. Stars. That is what the humans have always called these lights in the sky. Kyungsoo reaches out a hand and he tries to grasp these beauties that are only meant to be admired and never to be touched. They always seem so close yet they are so very far away.

He looks around and his bulky space suit moves clumsily with him. It is ironic how he can only observe something so endless and open through such a limited window. He looks to the right, then to the left, and his body just tumbles about in the same place. Disoriented, he frowns at his foreign surroundings and tugs on the cord on his back. This white cord is the only thing that still connects him to something earthly, a spaceship in the distance he cannot even see anymore. Without it, he is just a man lost in space.

Then he sees something magically wonderful come his way from afar and gradually, his eyes widen. Stunned and breathless, Kyungsoo watches as a whale swim towards him from amidst the stars. The animal’s large fins glide through the darkness majestically and its fan-shaped tail whips up and down in leisure. Its’ entire body is covered in a soft glow as the whale comes to a stop in front of the astronaut, it blinks in slow motion. Shimmery glitters fly off of his long lashes before they get lost in the dark forever. Kyungsoo thinks the animal smiles at him as it speaks up in a low, soothing voice.

"Hello."

"Hello." 

"What are you?" the whale asks curiously.

"I-I'm an astronaut. I am a human," Kyungsoo stutters a little.

"Ah, I know about humans," the whale says cheerfully and the astronaut catches a familiar sparkle in the animal’s large eyes, "Why are you out here in space, small human?" 

"I am exploring."

"But so far away from home?"

"Yes," Kyungsoo nods and he gestures at the whale, "you're so far away from home as well."

"Yes," the whale answers, "because I am also exploring and searching."

"For what?"

"A special place."

"A special place?"

"Yes, somewhere where my heart can rest and be at ease," the whale blinks again and he sends more shimmers flying off of his lashes, "the ocean is nice, but I don’t think it’s for me anymore. I thought space would be better, but so far I haven’t found anything. It is just so wide… so empty… "

Kyungsoo's heart aches from the whale’s words. He looks into the gentle creature’s large eyes and right away, he sees the glitters and gold, and the excitement and mirthful sparkles of life. But when the astronaut looks deeper, much deeper, he sees loneliness in the whale’s eyes and his heart softens. It's lonely floating in space, he knows, because he too is lonely having floated out here for so long. Sympathetically, he reaches for the gentle animal and wills his body forward. He wants to give the whale a hug and to show him that he cares. But no matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to do more than jerk around in his fixed spot. Helplessly, he glances at the whale with knitted brows and the animal simply regards him with tender eyes.

"It's okay, small human, don't feel sad for me," the glowing giant says, "Because now we have each other, now I have you."

"Me?" Kyungsoo questions in surprise and he blinks at the whale nodding slowly at him. As he holds the gentle animal in regard, something warm blooms inside of him and it melts away the frigid coldness that has frozen his heart. Gradually, the tension in between his brows mellows out and Kyungsoo smiles fondly.

"Yes, now you have me and I will always be here for you.”

Rejoicing, the whale sings a happy song and its ethereal voice weaves through the endless stretch of stars. Elegantly moving its body, the large creature swims around the astronaut and comes so close that Kyungsoo can even see the tiniest bumps on the lustrous skin. In its soothing, low voice, the gentle giant asks for his name.

"I am Kyungsoo," he answers in a daze, mesmerized by the enchanting glow all around the whale's enormous body, and he reaches out again. "What's your name?"

"You already know," the animal answers and leans in to meet his touch.

As Kyungsoo's gloved hand makes contact with the whale's body, a golden light expands from the spot beneath his fingers and it consumes everything: the stars, the darkness, the spaceship, him and the whale wandering about in space. From the core of the light, he hears the giant creature whispering to him: "My name is..."

"...Chanyeol."

Kyungsoo whispers and his eyes snap open.

Lying in the dark, he listens to the sound of his own panting breath and he stares wide-eyed at the familiar ceiling. His heart is thumping rapidly in his chest, and when he closes his eyes again, he can still see the remnant of that golden light. Letting out a long exhale, he reorients himself to reality. That was a really strange dream.

Careful not to disturb his only roommate of the night, Kyungsoo sits up and blindly grabs for his phone that is charging somewhere on his bedside table. When he finally finds it, something else falls to the floor with a thump and he freezes with a cringe on his face. Jongin mumbles something, but remains asleep and Kyungsoo sighs in relief. Pulling the phone close to his face, he silently curses and cringes again as the bright screen flashes on.  

4:03 A.M.

Contemplating for a moment, Kyungsoo climbs out of bed and slips out of the room. Quietly walking across the living room and grabbing someone's winter coat that is half hanging off the back of the couch, most likely Junmyeon's, he makes his way to the balcony. When he steps outside, the cold winter air assaults his entire body mercilessly and he shudders. He is still somewhat dazed from the odd yet vivid dream he just had and he cannot rid of this persistent urge to call Chanyeol.

He usually isn't one for phone calls, he can count the number of times he had spoken to Chanyeol over the phone this year, but his mind insists that he speaks to his best friend right now. As he waits for the call to connect through Kakao, the glowing whale from his dream resurfaces in his mind. It was all so surreal, Chanyeol being the whale floating in space and him being an astronaut.

Kyungsoo massages the bridge of his nose gently. He didn't think he'd be affected this much by the concept of their Christmas album.

"...Hello?" a sleepy mumble finally replaces the dull dial tone, "...who is this?"

"Chanyeol," he says softly, "It's me, Kyungsoo."

"... Soo...?"

Shuffling noises sound over the phone as the taller man groans incoherently about something. There was a quiet click, most likely the hotel lamp being , more jumbled mumbles and a few coughs. Patiently, Kyungsoo listens and waits for the other man to gather himself.

"Kyungsoo, it's 4 o'clock in the morning," Chanyeol croaks, fatigue laced in his raspy voice.

"I know, I'm sorry for calling so late," the shorter man replies sheepishly, suddenly feeling really guilty for making the impulse call, "I just...um, how's China?"

"... You’re calling me at 4 in the morning just to ask me how's China?" Chanyeol says flatly and when he receives no answer, he sighs deeply. "China is... alright, I guess. It's surprisingly cold here."

Kyungsoo nods, even though the other man can’t see, and he hums absentmindedly in reply. Really, he wanted to say 'I just need to hear your voice right now', but he couldn't bring himself to say so. The words were on the tip of his tongue, yet when he opened his mouth, something completely different came out.

"Is everything alright?" Chanyeol asks and stifles a yawn. He leans lazily against his propped pillow and hugs the comforter closer to his chest. He can tell that Kyungsoo's mind is preoccupied and that he is worried about something. Chanyeol knows that whenever his friend is worried, he becomes even more hesitant to talk. "Soo, are you doing alright?" he asks again, concern saturated in his voice, "what happened?”

Kyungsoo nibbles on his bottom lip as he tries to organize his thoughts. There really isn’t anything wrong per say and it’s not like he has had a horrible nightmare. Rather, the dream was actually quite pleasant, albeit extremely strange. But even if he did have a nightmare, he wouldn’t so easily call up Chanyeol at such peculiar hour. They are not boys anymore.

The truth is Kyungsoo doesn’t know why he called Chanyeol. He just had a really strong and unexplainable urge to do so, and he followed it. 

"Well, it's just that I've had a dream," the shorter man finally manages to say, "You see, you were a whale in my dream."

"I'm a what?"

"Just listen, will you?"

"Sorry, sorry. Go on."

"As I was saying, you were a whale. Well, you were a whale floating in space and I was, uh, I was an astronaut." Kyungsoo frowns and with every syllable he uttered, he loses a bit more confidence to talk about his dream. He can hear his best friend stifling his giggles over the phone and he doesn't blame the taller man for laughing. He feels just as ridiculous as he probably sounds to the other man right now.

"So you were like Sehun in our music video and I was that whale," Chanyeol says with as much composure as he can muster and tries not to burst out laughing, "Did you drink before going to bed today, Soo? Because it sounds like you’ve had a lot to drink."

"No, I didn’t drink," the shorter man snaps right away, "Urg, this is ridiculous. I'm already regretting calling you to talk about it. Just forget it."

"No, no, wait!" Chanyeol's deep voice booms over the speaker just as Kyungsoo is about to hang up and glaring at his screen as his friend begs him not to hang up, he puts the phone to his ear again.

"I'm sorry for laughing at you," Chanyeol apologizes sincerely and shifts slightly in his bed, "I won't anymore. I promise. There is obviously a reason why you called me so early in the morning, so let's talk."

Kyungsoo sighs and agrees. For a while, he doesn't say a word and neither does Chanyeol. They just listen to each other's steady breathing until Kyungsoo is finally ready to talk.  

"We haven't really spoke to each other like this for a while, have we?"

"We've been busy," Chanyeol mumbles and the shorter man catches the disappointment in his friend’s voice, "it's hard with us being in two countries and all."

"But even before that happened," Kyungsoo pushes, "You said in a radio show a while back that you don’t think we are as close as before. Do you… do you still feel that way?"

The taller man sighs: "Well, it’s kind of hard not to feel that way, Kyungsoo. We are not as close as before. Distance and time change people, and you are just getting further and further away as you get busier. I barely see you nowadays, let alone have a proper conversation with you one on one. I know you’re doing that on purpose and that many things are out of your control, but it really feels like we are drifting apart. And now that I am spending half of my time here in China and you, of course still busy with filming, it just makes matters worse. It actually feels like a miracle that we are even talking right now. It's a miracle in December! Wow!"

Kyungsoo frowns sadly at the bitterness in Chanyeol’s words and he cannot even refute because everything his friend said is true. He has been so busy with his acting career and trying to bond with his new actor friends, he may have neglected his best friend. Clearing his throat, Kyungsoo tries to make an appeal and express his feelings the best he can. He is not very good at that, but he knows he has to try right now.

"I’m really sorry you feel that way, Chanyeol. I know I haven't been around much, but please trust me when I say that you are still one of the closest people to me and you always will be," he confesses, a little awkwardly, "I don’t want us to drift apart and I still want us to be close... I guess, I called you because I want to hear you voice. I want to know that you're okay, that we are okay. You always look so cheerful as if everything is fine and I forget that you just don't want people to worry. I think I know now why I dreamt of you as that whale floating in space. It’s because I am worried about you. I am worried that you’d think you’ve lost me or that I'm not here for you anymore."

Kyungsoo pauses and he hears a muffled sniffle from the other end of the call. He can already see the stubborn look on Chanyeol’s face, his red-rimmed eyes and how tightly his lips are pressed together as he tries to hold back his tears. Kyungsoo's heart aches at the thought of his best friend crying because of him and he grips the phone a little tighter in his hand.

"The whale in my dream, he was lonely, but then he found me. You have me too, Yeol. You always have me and I will always be here for you."

"I know..." the taller man mumbles and sniffles again, "... is the astronaut in your dream happy to find the whale as well?"

At his friend's question, Kyungsoo breaks into a fond smile. As he leans against the balcony railing and gazes up at the starry sky, he answers sincerely.

"Very happy and very glad, because the astronaut was also feeling lonely."

"What a bunch of loners," Chanyeol comments randomly with a stuffy nose and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Leave it up to the goofy giant to ruin a perfectly heartwarming moment. But the smile on his face lingers because Kyungsoo is relieved that he was able to properly convey his feelings and thoughts to Chanyeol.

"Thanks, Kyungsoo, I needed to hear that from you,” the taller man whispers after a while and he sniffles again, “I miss you."

"…I miss you too," the shorter man replies quietly and his cheeks tint pink. 

"And I love you. You love me too, right?"

"Y-yah, I-I love you too," Kyungsoo stutters, taken aback by Chanyeol's blunt confession. His cheeks heat up more as his heartbeats pick up speed all of a sudden. The coat begins to feel a little too warm on his body and he fidgets restlessly with the zipper. The taller man always has a way to make him feel extra flustered and it only seems to get worse with each passing year. Taking in deep and slow breaths, Kyungsoo tries to calm his racing heart. 

Chanyeol breaks out into hearty giggles as he listens to his friend's quickened breath. He can just imagine the flustered look on Kyungsoo's face right now. It's too bad he isn't there to see it. He always enjoys the view of the shorter man looking up at him with shaken wide eyes, his cheeks blushing, and his fists balled up from embarrassment on either side of his body. Chanyeol hopes that one day his best friend will come to realize truly just how much he means those three words. But for now, he is happy with what they have.

"Alright, it's almost 5. I should sleep," Chanyeol sighs, turning off his lamp light and snuggling deeper into his comforter. "I have to film at 8 in the morning."

"Right, of course," Kyungsoo replies softly, "Well then, good night, Chanyeol."

"Good night, Kyungsoo. Oh, and when I dream of the space whale, I’ll be sure to give you a call at 4 in the morning as well."

"Just shut up and go to sleep. Good luck with filming tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Soo. Bye.”

“Bye.”

When the call ends, Chanyeol regards Kyungsoo’s Kakao icon with affectionate and he presses a kiss to his screen. Then putting his phone away, he closes his eyes and soon falls back to sleep with a broad grin on his face.

In his dream, Chanyeol sees millions and billions of stars stretching endlessly into the vast universe. Waving his fins and flipping his tail at leisure, he glides freely through the darkness and his luminous body lights up the way for him and his astronaut friend. The small human dressed in his bulky space suit holds tightly on to him and his spaceship can no longer be found. Then as the astronaut turns to face him, Chanyeol sees Kyungsoo's smiling face inside the helmet and he smiles too. Together, they float away as he sings a happy whale song and neither of them are lonely anymore because now they will always have each other.

FIN. 

LONG A/N: 

I recently saw a tumblr post where someone was trying to explain to an anon about chansoo’s friendship, how even though Kyungsoo doesn't always look like he cares for Chanyeol or spends a lot of time with him (that we see or know!), their friendship is still real. I think Kyungsoo cares a lot more for Chanyeol than he lets it show. From what I observed, he is a very private person and even with people whom he is very close with, he may not feel comfortable displaying the more intimate side of their relationship to the general public, least to delusional fan girls who would ship two people just because they are standing in the same frame (so guilty). So even though chansoo’s friendship is not always overtly shown or appears as the typical friendship (who tf defines what that is anyways), I think once you spend some time observing their interactions, you’d see that there is a very special and strong bond between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

At first glance, they may come across as completely opposite people, but once you get to know them a bit better, you can see that they actually share a lot in common. As the old sayings go, “opposites attract” and “birds of a feather flock together”. Both of these apply to chansoo. It is because they are so different yet so similar that their friendship is extra special and that there is always so much interesting dynamics between them. Of course, I think their friendship has gone through a lot of trailing times due to their hectic schedules and personal activities, but it survives. It’s still going strong and despite Chanyeol being a whiny little pain-in-the- once in a while, complaining about how Kyungsoo doesn’t pay him as much attention as he wants him to, this ship just does not break. If Kyungsoo really is as horrible to Chanyeol as some of the fans (haters) believe, then I’d like to think that Chanyeol would have distanced himself away from the other man because he, is, not, dumb. Yet no matter where he goes or what he does, Kyungsoo is always on his mind and he always makes sure that his little friend has a chance to talk or show up in front of the camera. So that to me is proof enough that Kyungsoo is also being an awesome friend to Chanyeol, even though we never see that on camera. Because what we see of them is merely a tenth of what is actually going on in their lives.

So, that concludes my rant on chansoo friendship. Please leave a comment if you've read until here. It's always great to hear from the readers and get feedbacks on my story. Thank you!

I recently saw a tumblr post where someone was trying to explain to an anon about chansoo’s friendship, how even though Kyungsoo doesn't always look like he cares for Chanyeol or spends a lot of time with him (that we see or know!), their friendship is still real. I think Kyungsoo cares a lot more for Chanyeol than he lets it show. From what I observed, he is a very private person and even with people whom he is very close with, he may not feel comfortable displaying the more intimate side of their relationship to the general public, least to delusional fan girls who would ship two people just because they are standing in the same frame (so guilty). So even though chansoo’s friendship is not always overtly shown or appears as the typical friendship (who tf defines what that is anyways), I think once you spend some time observing their interactions, you’d see that there is a very special and strong bond between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo.

At first glance, they may come across as completely opposite people, but once you get to know them a bit better, you can see that they actually share a lot of similarities. As the old sayings go, “opposites attract” and “birds of a feather flock together”. Both of these apply to chansoo. It is because they are so different yet the same that their friendship is so special and that there is so much interesting dynamics between them. Of course, I think their friendship has gone through a lot of trailing times due to their hectic schedules and personal activities, but it survives. It’s still going strong and despite Chanyeol being a whiny little pain-in-the- once in a while, complaining about how Kyungsoo doesn’t pay him as much attention as he wants him to, this ship just does not break. If Kyungsoo really is as horrible to Chanyeol as some of the fans (haters) believe, then I’d like to think that Chanyeol would have distanced himself away from the other man because he, is, not, dumb. Yet no matter where he goes or what he does, Kyungsoo is always on his mind and he always make sure that his shorter friend has a chance to talk or show up in front of the camera. So that to me is proof enough that Kyungsoo is also being an awesome friend to Chanyeol, even though we never see that on camera. Because what we see of them is merely a tenth of what is actually going on in their lives.

So, that concludes my rant on chansoo friendship. Please leave a comment if you've read until here. It's always great to hear from the readers and get feedbacks on my story. Thank you!

Oh and I do have a Christmas present for all of you, which I will upload next week. So be good kekeke >:D