Part One.
   

Tick

Tick

Tick

The sky was clear - devoid of any distraction from the voice at the front of the room. A voice drowned out precisely twenty minutes prior to the tapping of a pencil.
Chanyeol wasn't by any means an impatient person.

No, if anything, he had quite an abundance of patience.

He waited for his fellow classmates to fully comprehend the subjects he had reviewed the week before.

He tutored steps to math problems at a snail pace.

He's waited seventeen years for excitement to strike him in his life.

Everything was always a routine.

Get up. Make the bed. Cook breakfast for his family and himself. Read and finish his newest book. Shower. Change. Walk to school. Go to classes. Eat lunch alone. More classes. Go to whichever club needs him most. Tutor after school. Do next week's homework. Make dinner. Eat. Go to bed. Repeat.

The only changes in his schedule were the people who called to his attention.

"Chanyeol, can you take the attendance to the office?"
"I really need to ace my next exam! Could you help me study, Chanyeol?"
"Are you free for lunch, Chanyeol? I could really use some help grading tests."
"Chanyeol! We need you if we're going to that Science Olympiad! Swing by after school when you got the time!"

Chanyeol never minded helping. He liked it in fact. He liked being around people, hearing the way they talk and seeing how everyone interacts. It's always been the small light in his days that keeps him going.

...but after entering his first year of university, he was tired of it all.

Tired of the errands.
Tired of the opportunity offers.
Tired of requests.

He wished just once that someone wanted him - actually wanted him for himself. To spend time with him because they liked him not because they wanted to use him.

Everyone knew him. He wasn't a nobody, not by a long shot. He was a whizkid in every subject on top of being a musical genius. He was sweet and kind-hearted. He wasn't the class clown, but he had a few puns and jokes at hand. He wasn't an all-star athlete nor was his build model status. He was tall and lanky with soft eyes, ready to burden the world if it meant everyone would smile and never suffer in the world.

If he could help, he would in less than a heartbeat.

Chanyeol only wanted someone stable in his life. Someone that wasn't leaving for work for weeks on end like his workaholic family. Someone who didn't want him for one night because they were lonely and desperate enough to ask him of all people.

Someone to love and care for.

Someone who would finally see him for who he is and who he strives to be.

He wanted... different.

Chanyeol sighed as he stared out the window, tapping his pencil against another completed worksheet. He listened to the class scribble answers, some erasing said answers five times over. He hears the professor's new black dress shoes clacking against the cherry wood floors that he figured he put on to impress their young female math teacher next period whom everyone drooled over.

Chanyeol could have cared less.

She was kind, caring about all of her students and faculty. He couldn't deny that she was attractive, but it just wasn't Chanyeol's preference per say.

Chanyeol...didn't really have a preference.

His heart had never skipped a beat, save for the one time he thought he forgot his project at home only to remember a second later that he turned it in two weeks before its due date.

Although he was a pubescent teenage boy, his hormones were never raging as much as the other guys in his class year who ogled at dirty magazines that they snuck in between their textbooks.

Chanyeol...lived in black and white, waiting for someone to paint out of the lines, to make him step over boundaries, question his morals and values, something.
Anything.

__________

Chanyeol shut his locker and shouldered his backpack. Another sigh was about to escape him when something made him pause - he shivered.

Feeling eyes on him, Chanyeol kept his head low wanting to be alone for a moment before reaching the lab rooms for another meeting with the science club.

He gulped as a hand brushed against his.

His face scrunched in confusion when he felt a tug in his chest. Curiosity getting the better of him, he glanced over his shoulder at the passerby. He met his gaze. The person continued to stare at him as he walked on.

The boy winked at Chanyeol.

Quickly, Chanyeol turned around again and pushed his thick, black glasses up higher onto his nose bridge.

He watched his feet pick up its pace to its destination.

Maybe I'm studying too much again... I should rest when I get home. Y-Yes, that's all it is. That's what it must be. No one would look at me like that. N-No, that wasn't for me.

Chanyeol...couldn't help remembering how the boy's face looked playful and how his lips had a slight glimmer in the dead fluorescent lighting.

After the members of the science club had bid him goodbye, Chanyeol found himself speaking to the club president to repeat the key points of the meeting.

He couldn't remember a single word.

__________

Chanyeol smiled as he served his family breakfast. They ate together as usual. His father made small talk, asking about anything that pertained to Chanyeol's academics. He answered politely and straightforward as always. His mother was about to clear the table until Chanyeol intercepted her. She fussed at Chanyeol and praised him for being her "precious, so kind unlike his father." His parents bickered until they ended it with another round of "that's why I love you." His sister was kissing his forehead as he washed the dishes with a wave and another "I'll be home late, don't wait up!"

Chanyeol attended three classes. He ate lunch alone while reading a book. He attended another two classes. He went to the library to tutor. He came home and made dinner. Chanyeol went to bed.

Nothing changed. Nothing happened.

Everything went as usual from morning to night for the next three days.

Chanyeol felt himself become drained again. Blank. Going through the regular day to day motions as if he had never caught a glimpse of someone looking at him.

He had been convinced that very day it wasn't for him. He didn't look for it again. He didn't give himself false hope.

He hasn't seen the same person since then.

The days continued on.

__________

With luck on his side, math club was cancelled and Chanyeol was out early having no one to tutor either. It was a Friday afternoon and he figured the students were busy with plans of going to the bar or club or other.

He wasn't the type to do either, neither was he ever invited out. Not that he wanted to go anyways, losing your sense of self with a bunch of strangers and throwing up the next morning just didn't sound appealing to him. Especially waking up to someone you didn't remember, let alone not know the place you woke up in. The very idea of it stumped him as to why anyone would think of it as fun.

Lost in his thoughts of what materials he had to buy for next month's science contest, Chanyeol was knocked off balance by a body stumbling back in his direction.

A bubbly giggle made his pointy ears twitch slightly. He looked down to meet black, beady eyes, round, full cheeks, and smooth, glistening lips. A face...that seemed to emit the sun's rays.

Another second passed that he stared into those eyes before he quickly bowed and apologized. Chanyeol descended the stairs of the front of the school down to the parking lot and to his car in the very back in record time.

As he adjusted the rear-view mirror, Chanyeol found his cheeks pink. He didn't notice the larger breaths he was taking to calm down as he drove home nor how many times he pictured that face staring up at him with an expression he wasn't used to recognizing. A genuine look that said he was happy seeing Chanyeol before those amused eyes winked again.

Chanyeol mumbled to himself in the garage of his home, wondering when he had gotten there already while cleaning his glasses that curiously fogged.

He took a shower, colder than usual before making dinner.

He went to bed straight after with an arm across his forehead, staring at the ceiling.

Then it dawned on him.

"...I didn't go to the sale today. I didn't buy my supplies for my project..."

He couldn't help the small smile growing.

His homework for next week stayed untouched on his desk that night.

Chanyeol felt light.

__________

Chanyeol has his hands in his pockets with a slight bounce in his step up the stairs to the university as eyes greeted him the moment he stepped out of his car Monday morning.

The boy winked at him beneath a tree as he sat on a bench with a group of his friends. He laughed once he joined back in the conversation.

Warmth spread on Chanyeol's cheeks when he walked past the group. He smiled hearing the now familiar chuckle.

__________

Day 2.

The boy brushed his hand in the hall coming from the cafeteria.

Chanyeol watched a butterfly outside the window.

He didn't take notes as usual.

__________

Day 3.

The bell rang.

Chanyeol reached down to pull out his journal and textbook for the next class. Coming back up and sitting straight, he found a little-folded note on his desk before placing his books down.

[ Pay attention today. ]

He did and found the same boy at the front of his class.

It was his day to read out of their English book.

Chanyeol decided he definitely sang.

He had to.

Words had never flowed from someone so pretty.

Chanyeol wished he could hear him one day.

He hummed to his car after tutoring and hummed to the radio on the way home.

Chanyeol picked up his acoustic guitar, dusting off the accumulated debris.

It had been a year since the last time he played.

__________

Day 4.

A wink waited for him in the hall. The boy was leaned against his own locker, vaguely listening to his friend as his eyes keptin pace with Chanyeol walking towards the library.

Chanyeol pushed his glasses up and hid his face in his book, covering his peripheral that caught a smile that may or may not have been for him.

He had forgotten what he was reading.

__________

Day 5.

Chanyeol walked into the wrong classroom.

He heard a familiar giggle pass behind him.

Chanyeol's cheeks reddened.

Later in the office, his English teacher whom he was helping grade papers enlightened him on the correct term as he pointed it out. He suggested Chanyeol stay out of the sun.

Chanyeol was blushing from a wink at the door - a different kind of sun rays.

One he didn't want to stop seeing.

__________

Day 6.

The usual, excluding the boy.

It was Saturday and he didn't have class, what did he expect.

Chanyeol busied himself with his science project and caught up on his assignments to stay ahead of the class.

He had stopped working on homework that week.

__________
 

Monday. Again.

Chanyeol took a deep breath in his car as he looked at himself in the mirror for the tenth time that morning. More than he's probably ever looked at himself in his lifetime. He had pushed his bangs out of his face that he usually hid under almost as a shield to protect him from the world.

He didn't understand why thinner, black glasses were in trend, nor why he changed to them after getting a new prescription but here he was adjusting them on his face again.

He felt slightly vulnerable but also slightly more confident.

Chanyeol promised himself to borrow books from the library after class to understand everything better.

He knew he wanted to be noticed more by the boy, it was a natural human instinct for his age. But for what?

Did he want to provoke him? Did he want him to talk to him and make the first move?

Would he make the first move instead? Did he want to have a first move on him? Did he even like Chanyeol? Did he even like genders like Chanyeol?
Male. ...Right. That's the word, he reminded himself when it escaped him from his worrying.

He fell against the steering wheel, groaning. What are you doing, Chanyeol? You're so lame...

Convinced that none of it mattered and realizing he fell victim of social standards, Chanyeol ruffled his hair to somewhat normal - somewhat meaning half of his bangs poofed to the front while the other half remained pushed back.

Chanyeol groaned more before closing his eyes.
Until he accidentally banged his head against the horn of his car.

Chanyeol sat up straight, shocked, blushing, only to bow apologetically to all the students walking towards the school.

One person stood still, staring at him.

They met gazes.

Chanyeol gulped and didn't blink.

He didn't dare miss it.

The boy quickly walked away while Chanyeol slid down his car seat to hide himself and his overbearing grin.

The boy blushed.

Chanyeol decided there was a possibility that was for him and that perhaps there was a chance he was into males.

Males like Chanyeol.

His eyebrows furrowed as he thought.

...Was he himself into guys?

__________

Chanyeol was practically sweating at the board in the front of the room, solving a calculus problem for the class. As it was his day to solve one, the professor liked to go out of her way to find ones on Chanyeol's level to challenge him. Most students had to solve ones off of their assignment. Most teachers never bothered with Chanyeol's gifted mind and talents and let him be strung along with the rest of the class, too lazy to find or create assignments on his level.

Caring for her students meant Chanyeol was included.

...Even on his off days, particularly today.

Today, after seeing the boy sitting directly behind him, smiling with encouragement, interest, and curiosity.

Encouraging Chanyeol he could solve this problem like the other weeks. Interested in why Chanyeol looks different today. Curious if he could actually solve the problem.

At least that's what Chanyeol assumed. Any of the possibilities could easily have been switched around, but for Chanyeol's comfort and to ease his mind, that's the order he settled on.

He rather not delve into the possibility that he may have been curious why Chanyeol decided to look different, interested in Chanyeol, and or encouraging him to make the first move.

Chanyeol cleared his throat and picked up the chalk off the floor that had just slipped from his clammy hand while some of the class laughed or whispered, wondering what was up with him.

"Is something the matter, Chanyeol? Are you stuck?" The professor inquired sweetly with more concern in her tone than she let on.

He shook his head to answer her question and to refocus his mind before he jotted down the rest of the solving process and the answer in simplified form.

As the professor nodded in approval, the class, as usual, clapped and he bowed in gratitude before pushing up his glasses and returning to his seat in the back.

The brush on his hand as he past the front row hadn't gone unnoticed.

He unfolded the note from his grasp when the bell rang.

[ You look really great. Daebak (>wo)b!! ]

Chanyeol looked up just in time to see him smiling back at him.

Chanyeol grinned and gave a thumbs-up back.

Lame, lame, lame, he scolded while still smiling like a huge dork.

...He stared out the window for the next classes, avoiding the several looks he was getting from more than one student.

He really didn't understand people...

__________

Surrounded by books in silence, Chanyeol calmed down once he was tucked away behind bookshelves and away from the onlookers and gossip.
Chanyeol promised himself he wouldn't take the extra time making an attempt to fix his hair ever again if it meant all the unwanted attention he was receiving would cease.

He never wanted to have to avoid, reject, and hide from screaming girls ever again.

The moment Chanyeol pulled out a book and began reading, all his worries died down.

Immersed in a romance novel he picked up meaning to only learn from it, he was so taken by the story Chanyeol hasn't heard the small, nervous voice calling out to him.

...The boy left the library in a rush.

__________

Friday came faster than expected as time passed quickly without the sight of the boy. Chanyeol fell back into his normal step and usual routine without a hitch. People had finally stopped looking at him to see if he had fixed himself up again. When they began to realize it was a onetime thing, everyone settled down and whispered among each other as they shared the photos they collected of that day.

Chanyeol stared at the front of the classroom, not to listen to the lecture, but to watch longingly at the boy who looked smaller somehow. He seemed to sink further in his seat as he doodled circles absently.

It really began to concern Chanyeol when he found the boy not laughing as boisterous as the other days with his friends nor smiling as widely. They never even reached his eyes.

Chanyeol hugged the books to his chest tighter as he walked by them in the cafeteria.

He couldn't find it in himself to interrupt their discussion to check on someone he didn't even know.

__________

After school finally arrived and Chanyeol was staring at the books in his locker as if they would solve all of his worries and give him the boost he would possibly need.

He sighed as it was no use trying to gather his thoughts with inanimate objects. Chanyeol shut his locker solemnly and walked through the halls towards the exit. He pulled out his book as he approached a familiar group of people with the company of a boy who winks far too much for Chanyeol to comprehend.

Neither of them made a move. Neither of them looked at one another.

Chanyeol spent the weekend drained of emotions as he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling picturing those eyes again.

__________

Chanyeol woke up late and grabbed a quick breakfast before rushing out the door after giving his family a kiss and hug bye.

He didn’t stop to hear his sister tell him she would be home late.

He didn’t feel like hearing it.

Not today.

Nothing would stop him.

Not today.

________