“So, you weren’t lying when you said you ed up your plans?” Jongin asked, giving the man in front of him a look of amusement and genuine amazement.

“How many times do I have to tell you that,” Kyungsoo answers for his best friend.

“I didn’t really expect the most organized student I’ve ever met to forget making plans…”

“This is why I shouldn’t make things up on the spot!” Chanyeol said.

On the start of a new week, the couple cuddled up on the corner couch of the senior lounge, both looking up to the main character of their plans: Park Chanyeol. Said man stood in front of them, walking back and forth as he remembers his biggest up yet. For Jongin and Chanyeol, it was their free period right before break, while Kyungsoo was only here since he somehow convinced the PE teacher that he can’t do anything strenuous today (who knows how many times he’s convinced the teacher). 

Now perhaps you’re wondering, what’d he do now?

Well, lucky for you, there’s another person that wants to ask, though he wants to know from the absolute start.

“Would it be okay to ask now how this thing even began?” And that person is Kim Jongin.

“I’ll tell you after-”

“No no, I think I can tell it now,” Chanyeol says. “Maybe if I say it aloud I’ll get my thoughts together.”

The tallest then decided to take a seat not too far from the couple, but far enough so he can pretend he doesn’t notice how wholesomely cute the two were.

“Okay, so here's the thing…”

Chanyeol and spontaneity don't mix.

In fact, when Chanyeol was younger, his confidence was so low he couldn’t even dream of being spontaneous. He's glad that he has become confident in performing music with Kyungsoo, and forever thankful that his friend helped him go through his fear. However, again, here's the thing. It wasn't an easy solution.

So, for the rest of his second-take worries, he continues to use an old-fashioned solution his mother gave when she picked up a crying Chanyeol from his first day in middle school.

To a puffy-eyed kid trying to breathe in his snot, Mrs. Park gently held on his shoulders and lowered herself so she could meet him eye-to-eye. And, while attempting to remind Chanyeol to wipe his snot with the tissue he held in his tiny hands, she told him.

“You don’t have to force yourself okay? Let’s think about it this way - you want to be confident in what you choose right?” The little boy nodded. “Then it’s good you take your time, how about let’s make some rules for yourself? So you can help yourself decide?” Another little nod.

“Think of it like lightbulbs. When you think of something, and you want to do it, a lightbulb lights up in your little thinking box.” She lightly tapped his temple. “And when you have three lightbulbs light up, that means you have a good idea on what you want.”

“And when you do, and you’re still really worried, you can ask me or your papa. But usually, if you have three reasons you want something, that shows you really want it, so why not go for it?” She smiled at her child as she noticed less snot drip out his nose, and his eyes simply stayed glossy.

“Will that really work?” He asked.

“It will. Try it one time, and tell me how you feel after, how ‘bout that?”

And indeed that’s what Chanyeol did.

Being the puberty-stricken teenager he is, he doesn’t share his lightbulb findings with his parents as often anymore (instead, Kyungsoo learns about this system and he must admit, it does fit his best friend well). He continued to use it as although the idea definitely helped him make his decisions as he grew up as well, it didn’t shake off his fear of spontaneity completely.

So when his eyes first landed on the confident Byun Baekhyun, he didn’t immediately fall. But when he saw Baekhyun in the decorating committee for their junior prom, smiling all around and keeping the group motivated, it was like one lightbulb lit up.

It was cute, and Chanyeol admired the boy for that. Then, when he tells Kyungsoo about his little finding, his best-friend goes on to talk about how Baekhyun was like a role model to those in the Biology club (of course, no one really knew what their 'role model' does in the lab during breaks), giving Chanyeol more things to admire about Byun Baekhyun. Not long after, another little lightbulb lit up.

Honestly, at this point, Chanyeol was willing to bend the de facto rules - he even went on and told Kyungsoo that he had a crush on the boy. But of course, that didn’t stop the chance of another lightbulb lighting up.

And it did when Baekhyun approached Chanyeol to return his notebook. He assumed his crush didn’t notice what was inside the notebook, and thank goodness he didn’t. After that, he learned about Baekhyun’s taste in music but faced a small dilemma - he had no idea what the other was talking about. There were so many artists he had no idea of, and he didn’t want to embarrass himself that he’d keep quiet because he wanted to search before talking. But everytime he comes in with confidence about one artist, Baekhyun throws in a whole new name. 

To say Chanyeol was frustrated in attempts to catch up with the Exos, the Supremes (he thinks? It was some odd spelling), the Cubexs, and the Sechans would be an understatement. If anything, he thought the effort needed might actually dim a lightbulb.

(Kyungsoo told him to just tell Baekhyun that he didn’t know the artists, but to Chanyeol, that meant risking a possible connection. Kyungsoo simply sighs.)

But when he opened his composition notebook one day, the light was not dimmed - if anything, there was enough energy to fill another two.

In the notebook were two post-its: one with the cutest doodles of him and Kyungsoo performing, and another saying that he asked a friend to play the first piece he had, and that Baekhyun thought it was amazing. These two were enough reasons to trump the possible fear he could’ve gotten knowing Baekhyun saw the works he had - especially knowing that his crush liked them.

Little did Chanyeol know that his thinking box wouldn’t only be composed of 4 reasons, because the more he learned about Baekhyun, the more lightbulbs lit up. The more he learned, the more he loved.

He couldn’t simply let the lightbulbs pile up, he knew he couldn’t let it stay this way.

And so Chanyeol makes a decision. 

Chanyeol will ask Baekhyun out.

“I just wanna say I’m really proud of you,” Kyungsoo says with a big smile. This was the first response Chanyeol got when he decided to ask help concerning his decision. “So, what’re your ideas?”

“I had nothing, so I decided to look online.” Chanyeol didn’t notice the sour face his best friend had at the last word.

“You should’ve just asked me if you were gonna do that,” Kyungsoo said.

“But you’d just tell me to ask him out!”

“Yeah, and?”

“I can’t just ask him out!” Chanyeol gave a look as if the other’s suggestion was so scandalous.

Sighing, Kyungsoo nearly slaps the boy, but opts for patting his cheek with a tiny bit of force.

“Why did I even bother,” he mumbled. Although he didn’t understand what Kyungsoo mumbled, he gave a toothy grin for good measure. Kyungsoo just prays this turns out well.

And so we begin with the adventures of cautious Chanyeol ‘courting’ Byun Baekhyun.

-----

See, Chanyeol loves to think - not necessarily thinking about his studies, but he loves to think. With that in mind, he does get pouty very easily whenever he sees others being close to his crush. No worries, with Kyungsoo by his side and his lack of impulsiveness in his heart, you won't see him suddenly walk up and whisk Baekhyun away to confront him. Also, Chanyeol does know that is unnecessarily rude.

“Who’s he?” Chanyeol asks while pointing at a boy walking right next to Baekhyun. 

“Put that down!” Kyungsoo whispered. He quickly pulled down his friend’s hand before the two noticed him pointing so obviously at them. “You have got to be less obvious than this.”

“But who is he?” He pouts. 

“He’s Kim Jongin.” Kyungsoo answered. “He was one of the kids I tutored last sem - I’m pretty sure you met him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah? When we had group tutor sessions?”

“Oops.”

“Anyway, he and Baekhyun sunbae have been really close lately - I remember they’d usually go home together after bio club meetings.” As Kyungsoo continued to elaborate on whatever he knew, he failed to notice a pouty Chanyeol only becoming poutier.

“How did they get so close so fast?” Chanyeol managed to ask in his pout. Kyungsoo looked at the older with a straight face as he threw a question.

“Why? Will you add that into your quora-based plans of winning him over?”

-----

“Chanyeol, meet Kim Jongin. Jongin, meet Park Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol wonders if he’ll ever be called hyung by his best friend, but it’s not really the elephant in the room right now.

Rather, it’s the odd formation of an awkward atmosphere as the two stare at each other, wondering who plans to move first. Kyungsoo did find this amusing, and was simply at the side waiting to see who’d bother first.

But then 5 seconds passed by and the amused became undoubtedly bored. He decided to make the move himself, pulling the two by their wrists and forcing them to shake hands.

“I have decided - you need to stop relying on quora.”

“I told you I did!” Chanyeol pouted.

“When I said stop relying on quora, I didn’t mean to go look at a fictional white boy’s advice.”

“But others said it worked for them! They have long-lasting relationships Kyungie!”

“And where did you hear that from?” The taller didn’t even need to look at his best-friend to know that he had an eyebrow raised, already expecting his answer.

“... Quora”

-----

Today, in Kyungsoo’s eyes, Chanyeol was about to take his first baby step towards Byun Baekhyun. As he sees the two familiar giants walk towards him, he smiles at the one who was obviously flustered from his first achievement.

Well, Kyungsoo wouldn’t normally call someone greeting their crush and leaving as an achievement, but, you know, baby steps.

“Now was that so hard?” Kyungsoo asked.

“He didn’t even greet me back - a failure! I’m a failure Kyungie!”

“Was he a failure Jongin?”

“Nah, just dumb.”

“Hey!”

“Look on the bright side hyung,” Jongin patted the older’s back. “I just finished asking hyung how he’d like to be asked out, so now you don’t have to rely on quora or your Cody sunbaenim!”

“You are an angel Kim Jongin,” Kyungsoo complimented. Perhaps he noticed the little proud smile that creeped up the younger (he could’ve noticed Jongin’s reddened cheeks, but how the do you notice that in real life?).

“What did he say?” Chanyeol interrupted their odd interaction.

“He prefers personal confessions over cliche ones with roses and crowds. In fact, he loves the personal connection so much he disagreed with everything else I said.” Jongin said with a small pout towards the end.

“Personal? So I have to be close with him?” 

“I mean yeah, we can make that work out.” Jongin assured him, “you two will be friends in no time.”

“I heard of this from somewhere,” Chanyeol looks up, “ah! Cody sunbaenim’s 6-month plan! Part of it was to establish a slow and steady relationship before taking it to the next step!”

“There is no way in hell am I allowing you to go slow and steady for 6 months,” said Kyungsoo.

“No, but the slow and steady was only part-”

“Well don’t tell me you plan to do it for two months?”

Chanyeol decided that it was in his best interest to stay silent.

Though he does make a note to himself that he does need to revisit a certain Disney show.

-----

“So, what if I told you I asked Jongin out?”

“Wait hold the up... you asked? And you like Jongin - what?” 

It was clear Chanyeol was in a state of confusion.

“Why’d you never tell me?”

“And give you a reason to distract yourself from asking Baekhyun hyung out? No way.” Kyungsoo sits right to Chanyeol on the couch, immediately resting on the back pillows.

Chanyeol was confused indeed, so he decided to hug his best friend for good measure.

“Get off of me you tall prick.”

“Aw, your big ball words won’t save you this time.” Chanyeol mockingly cooes at the boy. “Tell me everything please,” he asks. “No - wait! First, what did Jongin say?”

Kyungsoo’s creepy smile was more than enough to answer Chanyeol.

-----

“And here we are now, after my asked you guys out when I didn’t even realize my mama has been telling me to clear that weekend for the annual donation drive.”

Although he quickly tries to change the topic into his most recent mistake to distract his best friend, the real reason Chanyeol was lucky he wasn’t hit was because Jongin was right next to Kyungsoo. 

“You’re so cute!” Jongin said while puckering his lips, trying to plant a kiss on his boyfriend. Kyungsoo, however, is distracting himself with an interesting throw pillow to somehow calm himself.

“Okay, back to me please,” Chanyeol interjects. “What do I do now?”

“How about you talk to hyung today and maybe make your unfortunate forgetfulness a conversation starter?” Kyungsoo suggests.

Admittedly, he only expected for the taller to tell him twenty reasons why that was such a horrible idea. But he didn’t know that the amount of lightbulbs Chanyeol has collected so far are enough for him to spell out ‘Baekhyun go out with me’ while still having leftover bulbs to form multiple hearts around it.

In other words, Chanyeol just wants to go.

Never has he felt irritated at the plans he’s made to do something. It’s not like he now despises planning, it’s still important, but he also knows that other people won’t act like him. Who’s to say there isn’t anyone else that might ask Baekhyun out? It’s not like he has a right to stop them after all.

So now, Chanyeol stands up, ready to walk back to his class so that he’d catch Baekhyun before he leaves the room.

Little did he know a certain confident boy was one step ahead, leaving class early to look for a certain someone that made him sulk after suddenly cancelling their hangout.

“Chanyeol?” 

Enter the bold, the confident, the crush: Byun Baekhyun.