The library was quiet and hushed as always when he stepped inside, making sure to close the door behind him quietly. The receptionist glanced up to look at him and a smile broke out over her face, making butterflies riot inside his stomach.

He couldn't help but smile back, holding a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture as the old librarian eyed him disapprovingly – as if he was making noise just by being here. Wasn’t like he could help it though, he just had a naturally loud presence.

'No noise in the library.' T-Rex intoned warningly but he ignored it, too busy smiling at Nara, who was looking positively pleased at seeing him.

Quietly, he made his way to the comics' aisle which provided him the ideal view of her seat and she seemed very happy about that as well. Giving her a nod, Chanyeol busied himself with browsing through the mangas.

Or well, he pretended to. Kind of hard to focus on books when he was literally thrumming with excitement at the prospect of spending this entire period – and next, if he could manage – with her.

Nara, to his complete surprise, had asked him out. Or rather, asked him to be a willing participant in her ongoing research on different social roles. He'd gaped at her, open-mouthed, before Tae explained, 'She's asking you to be her boyfriend.'

He'd nodded so hard, his brain had rattled inside his head but really, never in his wildest dreams had he imagined things would go so smoothly for him. Her smile, when he'd agreed, had been absolutely worth it and he'd had a sappy smile on his face all the way back which had earned him so much ribbing from his best friends.

He didn't care though. He doubted even Suho had been so lucky – even if Angel had been totally crazy about him, still he'd had to ask her to be his girlfriend. He couldn't help but puff up a bit with pride, although he'd deflated pretty quickly when Chen had – mercilessly – pointed out that he couldn’t hope to accomplish anything if he needed Tae to translate everything she said.

So, he'd begged Baekhyun to ask Tae teach him Nara-speak – he couldn't believe they'd actually named a language after her – and after enduring an excruciating grilling from her very nosy friend, Ken had finally deemed him worthy enough to be allowed access to her language.

Nara was a genius. An honest to god, off-the-charts IQ possessing genius. And that explained why she still looked like she should be in high school while she was in the post-grad program – she'd skipped so many grades, they couldn't even count.

As a downside to her huge intellect and veritable storehouse of a memory, though, her social skills were 'underdeveloped'.

'They were more like nonexistent when she came here,' Tae had told him over coffee, Ken nodding along sagely, 'but we took her under our wing and taught her everything she knows about people.'

'And just so we're clear, bucko,' Ken had leaned forward, chin jutting threateningly, 'if you dare to try and manipulate her innocence…'

He'd protested vehemently. Sure he wanted to kiss her – he'd blushed, admitting that – but there was no way he was going to force it on her. Or misuse her in anyway. Swear.

'Make sure that you don't.'

With the threat still ringing clearly – that Ken dude didn't look like he was joking and the way he'd waved that knife had been positively threatening – Chanyeol was determined to be extra-careful.

But that did not mean he was going to stop his daily visits to the library – seeing her work was nice, okay? And if it gave him a chance to actually talk to her, that was even better.

What he didn't expect, however, was to have her slide beside him.

'Hi.' She muttered, smiling up at him brightly and it literally made her eyes sparkle. Like those cute shoujo characters. He wondered if Baekhyun was around, playing tricks on him but honestly, she positively glowed when she smiled.

'H-hello.' He had to clear his throat to make sure his voice would work. It was kind of hard to speak so low without losing his voice, given how grave it was, but thankfully, it worked.

And it had the most fascinating effect on her. She went stock-still, body tensing and eyes closing as she seemed to savor the sound before her eyes opened again.

'Say that again.' She said, her lips like she was thirsty and it made his throat go dry.

'Hello?' He sounded unsure to his own ears but she seemed to like it, almost swaying before her eyes snapped open and pink stained her cheeks. She glanced around before spotting the comic in his hands.

'Do you like comics?'

He nodded silently, brain unable to function completely because it was still stuck on the hungry expression on her face.

She seemed to struggle with something, brow furrowing cutely, before her face brightened. 'Are they fun?'

Fun. That was another thing she was apparently really curious about. 'She doesn’t really get a lot of things but she'd do almost anything if you tell her it's fun. She believes in learning through experience because some abstract concepts become clearer when they're done practically.' Tae had told him despite Ken's warning glares.

'If you try to misuse that…' The knife this time had definitely been a threat.

He hadn't bothered to deny that the idea had dragged him in, hook line and sinker. Hands on learning of everything fun? He could imagine exactly how he'd like that to happen but apparently his fantasies were written on his face because it had earned him a punch to his jaw.

'Mind out of the gutter.' The knife's edge had dug into the wooden table top right beside his finger. He'd wondered idly if Ken was a gangster too – his methods seemed a bit too practiced for a novice.

His mind went a bit blank now when she asked him that because reasons. But he gave himself a mental shake and nodded, holding out the book for her.

She took it, flipping through the pages curiously as he spoke. 'They're really interesting. Some have great plots, action and…'

'Romance?' She quizzed, stopping on a picture of a kissing couple.

If he didn't know she wasn't aware of what she was doing, he would've wondered if she was being deliberately provocative. First the lips, now this. He cleared his throat.

'That too.'

She stared at the picture intensely, seeming to memorize it before glancing up at him, curiosity bright in her eyes. 'How would you operationalize it?'

He blinked, not sure if he'd heard her clearly. 'Come again?'

She flapped a hand impatiently, gesturing at the page. 'In an experiment about various social roles, how would you operationalize romance? Does it form the part of ual relationship cluster? Or is it platonic? Or something different entirely?'

'Uh…' for once, he was glad he'd paid attention in research classes. The silly experiments he'd planned with Chen and Baekhyun helped too. 'I guess it can form a part of the ual cluster – in terms of relationships, strictly speaking. But it's also more of a… qualitative variable, you know? I'm not sure how we can quantify it.'

She seemed absolutely delighted by his answer. 'But it is an important aspect of ual relationships, isn't it? I can't believe I didn't factor it in my rationale!'

He couldn't believe he was actually having this conversation. But hey!

'You can add it now.' He suggested in a low voice, feeling very smarmy all of a sudden – he wondered if there was grease dripping off his face.

'Really?' She asked, excitement clear on her face, 'Would you do it?'

He nodded, trying not be too eager. 'Sure… I am your willing subject after all.' He wanted to smack his forehead because even Baekhyun couldn't get that greasy. Thank goodness she didn't seem to care.

'Yes. Though we use the term participant… I'm not forcing you into anything.' She eyed him, suddenly worried, 'Am I?'

He shook his head vehemently, reassuring her that no, she was not forcing him into participating in her research at all. He was a perfectly willing... participant.

'So… um, I have a few ideas about how you can quantify it,' he began, ideas flashing rapidly inside his head because why not?

She looked at him eagerly. 'Yes?'

'Well… you know, there are certain… social convention… stuff that's… part of the dating thing?' He mentally cursed himself – damn, how did he explain 'courting' scientifically? 'Like… giving flowers and kissing and stuff?'

She nodded. 'I think I understand.' Her eyes flashed brightly. 'I'll design a romance assessment scale! We can use it to rate our relationship!'

'Great!' He flashed her a megawatt grin, unable to keep his mouth closed after this. 'I'll… think about what dimensions we can add to it!'

'You're the best participant I've ever had!' she told him sincerely and he felt like puffing out his chest and preening. 'Nobody's so enthusiastic about it, usually.'

'Well… I really like you…' her eyes met his, big and bright, and he lost confidence, '..r research. I really like your research, it's very interesting.'

'Thank you.' He had a feeling that this was the best compliment he could've given her. Mentally patting himself on the back, he bent a little so he could whisper. 'So… want to hang out later? We can grab some ice cream and get to know each other since we're working together and everything.'

She looked at him questioningly.

'It'll be fun.'

Just like Tae had said, she agreed without hesitation. Then, seeming to think about something, she gestured at him to get closer. He leaned in curiously, then felt like melting on the spot when her lips feathered over his cheek.

'It was nice to see you, Chanyeol.' She told him politely, although she was blushing.

'Yeah…' he muttered, voice husky before he swallowed. 'Same.' He watched her leave in a daze.

……………………………….

'Oh my god, they're going to be the death of me!!!' Tae whisper-exclaimed, shaking Baekhyun vehemently, all but jumping on the spot. 'They're too cute!!!'

'I know!!!' Baekhyun was thrumming with excitement too, clutching her arm and dancing along. 'That was just… super cute!'

'Really, if anyone sees you like this right now Baek…' Chen muttered, amusement clear in his voice.

'Shut it, Chen,' Baekhyun waved his hand flippantly, 'and appreciate the fluff.'

'Yesh!' Tae cooed, rising on tip-toes to peek over the books so she could see Chanyeol – who was standing dumbly with one hand on his cheek and the stupidest smile on his face. 'So. Much. Fluff! I wanna squish something!'

'Squish D.O…' Baekhyun muttered, pushing her towards the silent Legend who'd accompanied them for reasons unknown.

D.O glowered at Tae, making her falter. 'You wanna die?' He asked quietly, minding the library rules.

Baekhyun flashed him a pout, 'You're no fun!'

'He's moving!' Chen hissed, pushing them inside the aisle and throwing random books in their arms. 'Look busy!'

Chanyeol was whistling when he ambled past their aisle, too lost to even bother looking around. 'He's hooked!' Tae sounded delighted.

'Totally,' Baekhyun agreed, craning his neck to see him leave the library.

'Are you done being creeps?' D.O asked, voice bored. 'I want to borrow this book.'

'Sure, go ahead.'

They couldn't resist strolling up to Nara, who didn't seem suspicious at finding all of them there but only politely issued D.O's book while Tae not so subtly quizzed her best friend.

'Did you guys plan to meet afterwards?' she outright demanded. Nara looked surprised.

'Yes, as a matter of fact. He said we could get to know each other because we're working together.' She eyed Tae nervously. 'I said yes?'

'You did great.' Tae reassured her, patting her shoulder.

'D.O, didn't you have, like, a session with the counsellor?' Baekhyun asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

To his and Chen's utter surprise, D.O blushed, bright pink staining his cheeks as he muttered something unintelligible before snatching the book and dashing off.

'What was that all about?' Baekhyun asked, staring after him.

'Damned if I know.' Chen replied, equally stunned.

……………………………

A/N

And so, Chanyeol's love story begins :) I find him and Nara very cute. As for the experiments he conducted with Chen and Baekhyun... I dunno if any of you have read it it refers to some scenes from 'EXO Journal: A Voyage through the Galaxy''. One of my own stories or more  like bonus scenes in the same au as YWCFTS, MLFAP and YAMD and set in the same period as the first story of this series. I really enjoyed writing down those scenes and even though I haven't updated it in a while, I plan on continuing them because damn, I have a lot of scenarios I want to write about... Just let me end my thesis, then you'll see :D If any of you want to check it out, you can find it here: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/908323/exo-journal-a-voyage-through-the-galaxy-exo 

I hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Do comment and let me know what you guys think and I'd really like it if you guys gave my EXO Journal a view as well :) I think the scenes were cute and funny. Anyway, see you guys later :) 

P.S. Yes, D.O is avoiding Kyra - can't say I blame him :P