The last thing Kyungsoo needed was distraction.

He was on a stepladder that Saturday afternoon, arranging the top most shelf of his well-organized pantry, when a life-sized, 185-cm, moving and breathing action figure entered his apartment.

“Hi, Chan...” Kyungsoo’s voice trailed off as his giant of a roommate proceeded to the common bathroom, paying him no heed. The taller one probably didn’t even notice him in the kitchen, taking off airpods from his elf ears that adorably stuck out.

That wasn’t the only thing Chanyeol removed, however.

Chanyeol’s drenched, tight gym shirt unceremoniously fell to the floor and Kyungsoo managed to get an ample glimpse of that wide, smooth, muscled back just before Chanyeol absentmindedly closed the door with his foot.

Just the sight of that much skin alone was enough to cause Kyungsoo palpitations.

Brilliant. Kyungsoo had been awfully stressed lately due to his final evaluations at culinary school in a week’s time and there was Chanyeol looking hot and scrumptious like a thick, lush bush of red Carolina reaper...

Out of all the potential roommates he could have chosen for his upscale Itaewon apartment last year, it was Chanyeol who ultimately ended up getting the spot. Park Chanyeol had been a shy, chubby and nerdy Accountancy junior attending the prestigious business school literally two blocks away that Kyungsoo found him unintimidating and particularly easy enough to get along with.

Not that they were friends or anything. Kyungsoo just felt lucky he found someone low maintenance who paid the rent on time, so he could at least have spending cash, especially for groceries. The ingredients and cooking gear for culinary school did not come cheap either. He would sometimes invite Chanyeol to eat some of his cooking experiments, and the taller one always seemed to like them, wolfing down the entire bowl of whatever stew, deserts or meal in front of him.

A couple of months into being roommates, Kyungsoo passed by the local gym and saw Chanyeol trying to operate a treadmill awkwardly, even nearly slipping when it suddenly moved. From then on, Kyungsoo hardly came upon his roommate at home—except for the occasions Kyungsoo would knock on Chanyeol’s bedroom door with “Hey, have you eaten? I’ve cooked some vengole with clams...”—because Chanyeol was either at school or at the gym.

Several weeks passed when Chanyeol decided to buy new clothes because his body appeared to be swimming in his old ones desp