"Hi Viktor." The foreign, old man squinted at him through his challenged eyes before recognising and smiling at him. "Hey Kyle, where's Alejandro?" He asked Viktor's opponent. The fifteen-year-old just shrugged without taking his eyes off the chess board. "He doesn't come around here anymore," he said quietly. Baekhyun nodded and looked around for a free chess table. He was happy to sit there and wait because Al wasn't there, he was happy that the sky was bleak and threatened to rain and he was happy that it was starting to become colder. The warmth and sunshine demanded optimism and pastel clothing, both of which he didn't own. He watched Kyle lean over the board and observe Viktor's pocedure. He suppressed a laugh. He couldn't believe that he was watching an old Ukrainian man covered in liver spots and wearing a patchy, threadbare woollen overcoat teach a young black boy wearing Tommy Hilfiger from head to toe ancient chess moves. He looked away to the right to stop himself from laughing and all the happiness he had felt before vanished away.

Him.

What the hell was he doing here?

God, he was good looking. He wore the same oversized sweater as last time but this time his jeans were a dark blue and his feet wore sliders. Go away, Baekhyun ordered him inwardly. Go back to where you belong.

He didn't go away. In fact, he came very close, too close and Baekhyun felt his mouth go completely dry. Why did he suddenly care that he had just picked this shirt off the floor of his bedroom? Why did he care about the fact that he hadn't paid much attention to his hair that morning. He looked homeless.

Oh , he was looking at the chess board Baekhyun was sitting at. He glanced at the empty chair across from him.

He was stopping!

He was sitting down!

He was staring him in the eye!

Then Baekhyun was angry. What, was he on a field trip from normal-people-land? It didn't help that he was the boy who'd appeared uninvited to his fantasy from the coffee shop a few days ago. He was the boy who'd interupted his kiss with sandy haired guy in the fantasy! For God's sake! "Do you want to play?" he asked just like that. So simple. As if he didn't make Baekhyun's entire body freeze.

He wanted to play him! What?! Didn't he know that it was illegal for someone who looked as good as him to know how to play chess, let alone come close to a board? He simply defied the gods of social stratification. Fine. If he insisted on turning the entire world upside-down, who was he to stop him? He'd play him. He'd use his strategy of 'not having a clue what he was doing' before absolutely demolishing him. He'd hustle enough money out of him to pay for a hundred bags of roasted nuts. He could probably get in two or three quick games before it started to rain.

"Hello?" He bent down to regain eye contact with Baekhyun.

"What?" he blurted without thinking.

"Do you want to play?"

He was so flustered he didn't know what he was going to do to start the game. "Fine."

"Don't feel like you have to," he said. Oh wasn't he just so honourable?

"No, it's fine. I've only just started playing myself." God, he sounded like puppet being controlled by someone else.

"Okay, you start, right?" the stranger asked.

"No, I mean, I think. Well, we usually-" Dammit. He picked a black pawn and a white pawn and mixed them up behind his back then held them out in closed fists. "You pick." He pointed to the left hand and a white pawn revealed itself. "You go first," Baekhyun ordered.

He looked hesitant. "Isn't it custom to play for money here?"

"Usually."

"How much?"

"Twenty?"

"Alright."

"Good."

What was it about him that bothered Baekhyun so much? Was it that he was the type of guy who would never look twice at a boy like him? Well that was definitely part of it. He couldn't find fault in his wardrobe. He didn't hate him just because he looked...the way he did. Even he wasn't that shallow and judgemental. What was it then? He was so...confident. That was the big problem. Here, in Baekhyun's place, where he had no right to be, he was so goddamned sure of himself. He couldn't wait to kick his .

~

Park Chanyeol wasn't sure what to make of this boy. He'd sat down at his board because he was new and that always represented an opportunity. Well, that wasn't the only reason. He was pretty, despite his disastrous personal hygiene. A pretty boy at a chessboard wasn't your average sight. He hadn't even realised just how pretty he was until he had gotten closer and was only a couple of feet away.

Guys at his old high school used to rate a girl's attractiveness by what was known as the fire hose test. If the girl's looks were all about makeup and hair and clothes, she'd look like crap if you shot a fire hose directly in her face point-blank range. A genuinely pretty girl would still look great. Now, this boy here looked as though a hose actually had blasted him, so there was no leap of imagination necessary to know that he passed the test. Passed it with an A, he decided as he bit his lip and tapped impatiently on the queen's pawn.

"Okay, here goes," he murmured, moving a pawn to E4. He predictably moved a pawn to E5. Pretty as he was, he was annoying. He clearly thought he knew what he was doing even though Chanyeol could tell he had no idea. He had probably won a high school tournament or something. Whoop-dee-do! He had no business taking over a chess table here. And why was he glaring at him like that? What had he done to piss him off? He'd give him hope for a few minutes and then shut his  down quickly. He couldn't really afford to lose twenty bucks.

He flinched when he heard the clap of thunder above them. The anticipation for rain made the air feel heavy around him. He'd give this other boy very few minutes.

~

Baekhyun was surprised, not alarmed or anything just surprised. He hadn't expected him to respond so well to his opening moves. They'd progressed so quickly to midgame and he now had no advantage. The sky was filling with soot-coloured clouds and thunder sounded above.

The stranger wasn't the idiot he'd imagined, he'd admit that. He didn't think it was possible to have perfect teeth and a great haircut and also have a talent for chess, but then again he was seventeen. He had a lot to learn.

He wasn't acting anymore. When he'd noticed that the guy wasn't as idiotic as he had thought, it was such a distraction that his facade faded away and now he entirely focused on the board. The guy's playing strategy had changed too. He was concentrating on the game so much that he sometimes let out small grunts that were almost inaudible without even noticing. He had a habit of tapping his bottom lip before every move like he was thinking. Baekhyun knocked his knee against the other boy's under the table by accident and his eyes flitted up to Baekhyun.

"Sorry," he muttered. He felt his cheeks heat up and prayed his blush wasn't that noticable.

The boy's hair was dangling in front of his forehead and Baekhyun couldn't see his eyes that well to read his expression. He willed his eyes to look at the board again. A big, cold raindrop landed on his scalp. Damn. Why couldn't he just finish this?

~

Chanyeol could feel sweat mixing with the rain that was now falling steadily but not too heavily. He knew this wouldn't last though, soon it would be heavier.The drops that fell dribbled down his neck and his clothes were starting to get that funky damp smell. He didn't care, he was concentating too hard on the game.

The pretty boy moved his king's bishop.

Ugh. He sighed, disgusted with himself. How had he not seen that coming?! What was wrong with him? He was forced to use a knight for defence and had lost the sense of rhythm he'd had going.

The thing about this boy was that he was shocking. He wasn't good, he was very,very, very good. Where had he come from? He knew he wasn't from here since he didn't recognise him from any tournaments. He must be internationally good. Either that or Chanyeol just stunk all of a sudden. He'd tried every combination he knew by heart and he'd dismantled all of them. Yet, that made it the most exciting game he'd ever played.

He looked up at the boy while he thought about his turn. The rain had flattened his hair against his head and his brown eyes were darker. He hadn't detected an accent so far to try and place him somewhere on this earth. He guessed he was about sixteen or seventeen years old. The harshness of his face had fallen away since he wasn't focused on looking a certain way and so had all his self-conciousness. His eyes were stunning. They were surrounded by very dark (and wet) eyelashes. His cheekbones were prominent but in a pretty way. His face was more open now, more sweet. His arms were covered in raindrops and his tshirt was...

He banged his rook onto the board which snapped Chanyeol back to concentration. That's when he decided to stop looking at him, he was too distracting. Lucky for him, not a lot of good-looking boys played chess around here so he didn't normally have to deal with this type of stuff. His heart was speeding up with nervousness and excitement. He could feel the warmth radiating from the boy's legs and his hands felt clamy.

Think about chess, he ordered himself. Idiot.

~

Alarming. It was alarming now. He was up a knight and his leftovers seemed stronger than Baekhyun's. How had he misjudged him so badly? He was the best person he'd ever played except for his father and maybe Viktor, who was insane. He studied his face. He was older than him, but not a lot. Maybe twenty. He had to be an international player at least to be that good. He himself wasn't in the chess ciruit but he knew a good player from an extraordinary one.

As he played he became more real to Baekhyun. The skin around his fingers were ragged from being picked a