pairing: ChenLay
length: 1469 words
A/N: This was originally supposed to be BaekChenLay. But then Byun Baekhyun decided to ruin everything, including my life, at The EXO'rDIUM. So that idea was scrapped and I wrote this ChenLay story instead.

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Chen slipped off his shirt and tossed it into the laundry bin in the closet he was standing in. Looking down at his stomach, he poked the fair skin and felt nothing but squishiness underneath. His expression fell, knowing that he still had a long way to go before he would achieve the chocolate abs dream that every male K-Pop idol had. Well, maybe except D.O. The well-known squishy member of EXO really didn’t seem to care all that much about improving his physique.

But Chen, on the other hand, cared very much. Or at least he did now.

He regretted not taking up Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s offer to work out with them when they had been preparing for the Lucky One and Monster comebacks. He'd had no doubt that Chanyeol could bulk up without difficulty, but Baekhyun was too much of a stick like Chen was to easily build up muscle. So Chen had declined, thinking that the two would be goofing off more than actually working out. It didn’t help that Baekhyun would go on and on about how proud he was of his Nutella abs. And the other vocalist always stressed how EXO was made up of singers, not strippers, so it was more important for him to focus on improving his voice rather than his body.

But Byun freaking Baekhyun was a complete liar.

As evidenced during the fourth night of The EXO’rDIUM concert series in Seoul.

Of course Chen knew about it beforehand. What kind of member would he be if he weren’t aware of the EXO strip schedule during the concert series? And that tease, Xiumin, even tried adding a surprise item to the third night of The EXO’rDIUM. Luckily, Chen prided himself on his lightning reflexes and had immediately pulled down his black mesh shirt before the eldest member could do any more damage. It was already embarrassing enough to wear a mesh shirt when he knew his abs still needed work. Not everyone was as blessed as Xiumin was in the perfect body department.

But now, Chen was one of the only members who still hadn’t properly shown off his abs. Yes, his shirt had flown up during several performances in the past. He had been seen shirtless a couple of times before. But he had made sure that he was somewhat covered each time. The curtain incident during The Exo’luXion concert in Macau had been the worst. He had been caught completely off-guard. The moment he had finished singing his part in Lucky, Chen had run for his life to get dressed before reappearing on stage again, fully clothed.

He wasn’t ready just yet to let the world see the abs of Kim Jongdae.

Because they were kind of nonexistent. Well, not completely nonexistent like in D.O’s case. But on a scale of one to Xiumin, Chen would rate his abs as five baozi sections. Six on good days.

Feeling dejected that his abs still weren’t up to par, Chen threw on his pajamas and walked out of the closet into the bedroom he shared with Lay. The older male had just gotten out of the shower and was currently toweling his sculpted, half- body as he stood in the middle of the room. Chen flopped onto his bed and wrapped himself up in his thick blankets, leaving just his head free from the cocoon.

As Lay slid the fluffy white towel over his dripping body, Chen stared because the older male’s chiseled abs were popping. It wasn’t his first time seeing Lay’s well-defined six-pack, since the Chinese member just loved to strip on stage for his dance solos. He had probably danced half of The EXO’rDIUM concerts with his shirt off. And the EXO members would see each other whenever they were getting dressed for music shows and photo shoots. Not to mention, Chen saw plenty of articles in which Lay graced the front cover of magazines in his bare skin. So the younger male was no stranger to this phenomenal set of abdominal muscles.

Chen wasn’t going to lie, but Lay’s abs were to die for. Heck, his body in general was to die for. Lay was just the right amount of lean and muscular, not looking overly bulky like one of those professional muscle builders but still ripped enough to send the fangirls swooning. And maybe Chen as well.

Lay looked over, seeing the bundled up Korean male staring at him, and asked in confusion, “Is there something on my face?” The towel was now around his neck as the Chinese male reached up and touched his face in worry.

“N-no,” Chen stuttered, internally berating himself for sounding so embarrassed. There was nothing wrong with looking at a half- man. Especially since it was just his roommate. Who happened to have one of the hottest bodies in the group.

“Oh, okay.” Lay continued drying himself as Chen flailed around in his blanket cocoon, screaming inside at his girly behavior.

This was not good for the vocalist’s sanity. He wanted those abs. On himself and for himself. If he had Lay’s body, he would be stripping at every moment to show off his six-pack as well. No shame.

But he didn’t have that godly body. So Chen resigned himself to a life of perpetual shirt-wearing, because it seemed that was what the muscle deities had deemed for him. Maybe in the next life, he would be blessed with a hot body, incredible dance skills, and more height in addition to his beautiful vocals and killer visuals.

Chen supposed that he couldn’t have everything. He would just be too powerful of a human being if the heavens graced him with all of those features. If he had to choose just three, he’d keep his singing voice and his looks while adding in the abs. Who cared about dancing well? He did well enough with the extra practice sessions with Lay and Xiumin. And who needed to be tall when a third of the EXO members were also the same height as him?

The younger male was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t realize another body had joined him on his bed.

A half- body. Still slightly glistening from the earlier shower. Pressed up against the cocoon of blankets.

And then a second later, the blankets were no longer a barrier. Chen didn’t register this until he actually felt the outline of Lay’s abs through the thin material of his pajamas. He choked on his spit in surprise, feeling the temperature in the bedroom suddenly skyrocket. “W-what are you doing, Lay?”

“You looked like you needed a hug,” the older male answered simply as he wrapped his strong arms around the smaller boy, showcasing his signature dimple while smiling at Chen. “Is there something wrong? You know you can tell me anything.”

Chen debated whether or not he should disclose his insecurities about his body. Because it wasn't like he had the worst body in the world. He had some lines on his stomach. There was slight definition. He wasn’t a completely lost case. But he figured that it wouldn’t hurt to get some work-out advice from Lay. After all, those abs didn’t just magically appear out of nowhere.

“Uh, Lay, are you free sometime this weekend? Or do you have any extra schedules that the rest of us don’t know about?”

The older male quickly went through his upcoming schedules in his head before answering, “I think I only have our group schedules.”

“Really?” That was a surprise, considering the Chinese male had been spending so much time in his homeland lately.

“Since our repackaged album is coming out soon, I won’t be traveling back and forth so much,” Lay explained as he Chen’s thin, straight hair. “The company decided that it’d be better for my health if I just stayed in Korea for the time being and focus on promotions here. Why’d you ask?”

Chen took a deep breath before quickly saying without a single pause for breath, “I was thinking of working out and I was wondering if you wanted to work out with me, because you have a really good body and I’m kind of low-key jealous of your abs since I don’t really have a six-pack.”

“Oh, is that it? Sure, why not?” The Chinese male laughed. Was this what Chen had been worrying about all night? What a silly kid. But Lay didn’t mind. He loved spending free time with his roommate. Especially since that free time was so rare nowadays.

Chen’s defenses started going up when he heard the older male chuckle. His request wasn’t that weird, was it? “You’re being serious, right?”

Lay beamed brightly as he answered cheerily, “Ab-solutely!”

“…Did you just make an ab pun?”

“…Maybe.”

♈♈♈