pairing: chanlay (very slight!suchen).
word count: 6500.
rating: PG.
genre: disgusting fluff, attempted humor.
summary: chanyeol walks out his front door one morning to find the world sprinkled with pretty.
 

It starts with stars. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them scattered all over school grounds, stuck to walls and trees and lamp posts and benches and pretty much every single possible surface, as if a hurricane swept through over night and left a scattered galaxy in its wake.

Like so many others, Chanyeol has paused in his tracks to take in the changed surroundings – all these stars definitely weren't there when he got home last night, that's for sure – and for some reason, the sight puts a smile on his face and makes him feel all nice and warm. It's a welcome distraction from the stressful thoughts of the upcoming finals he's been dreading.

“Woah.” Chanyeol turns to Kyungsoo, who has exited the dorm building with Jongdae by his side. “What the hell happened here?”

“It's The Star Fairy,” Jongdae gasps with an almost reverent look on his face. “He did it again.”

“I'm pretty sure the only fairy here is you, Kim Jongdae,” Kyungsoo jeers with a stony expression, but for once Jongdae, uncharacteristically, doesn't rise to the bait.

“No no, hear me out.” Jongdae slings an arm around each of their shoulders (he has to actually jump in order to reach Chanyeol) so he can pull them closer to speak in confidentiality. “It's kind of an urban legend,” he whispers. “It happened last year too. In the end of Spring, in the middle of the night, some mysterious... creature or whatever comes to cover everything in, like, stars and glitter and . No one knows why it happens or who does it. They call him...” He pauses for effect and adds a dramatic hand gesture as he says: “...The Star Fairy.”

“A one year tradition,” Kyungsoo says dryly. “Wow. Much urban. Such legend.”

“It's true, though! Joonmyun-hyung went here last year, and he totally told me about it. And also, you shouldn't say the Star Fairy's name out loud three times or he'll show up to, like, exorcise the living and demand to marry your goth daughter or something.”

“I'm approximately 98% sure you're thinking about Beetlejuice right now.”

“...Maybe I am, maybe I ain't.”

“Why am I even friends with you?”

Chanyeol chooses to tune out their inane bickering after that. Instead his attention is drawn to a guy, who's flitting about excitedly, taking artsy hipster pictures of all the star stickers with a leopard-printed phone while his friend looks on with an indulgent, dimpled smile. The kid's obvious joy is contagious, and Chanyeol is quick to decide that he likes this whole thing.

Miraculously, Chanyeol aces his economics finals. He'd been prepared to just barely scrape by with an average grade, maybe slightly above average if he was really lucky and managed to bull his way through, but what he ends up with is far better than expected. Even his teacher seems surprised by his unexpected success, yet at the same time pleased.

(In his mind, Chanyeol thanks The Star Fairy for providing the extra boost of studying energy he got from walking out his front door that one morning to find the world sprinkled with pretty.)

“This calls for celebration!” Jongdae demands, and for once Chanyeol finds himself agreeing because what are the chances of him doing this well on a test ever again? This time, unlike usual, his friends don't even have to persuade him to drink all the soju bombs they send in his direction, he downs them all easily. He knows he's most likely going to regret it when he wakes up with a Hangover From Hell in the morning, but as a very wise, very talented man once said: YOLO.

Chanyeol doesn't know what time it is when he finally decides to head home. All he knows is that it's really late – or really early, depending on how you look at things. The sun is already rising and the birds are chirping as he staggers through the streets, and he's possibly (probably) far too drunk to be making his way home all by himself, but Kyungsoo went home early to work on his lit report like a Responsible Adult, and the last time Chanyeol saw Jongdae he had his tongue in some girl's mouth so Chanyeol thinks it's safe to assume that he's out of the picture as well.

That is why Chanyeol is alone now. Except, as it turns out, he's not completely alone. Chanyeol slows down to a stop and stands there, staring. A few feet in front of him is a person dressed in all black with a hood pulled over his head to cloak his face in shadows. He looks... kind of terrifying. Chanyeol swallows thickly. Maybe he's not actually a person. Maybe he's a demon, who has come to take Chanyeol's soul away. Maybe...

Chanyeol's self-destructive train of thought is derailed as he watches the person stick another star to the wall he's currently decorating and, oh. “The Star Fairy,” Chanyeol says a little too loudly.

The guy startles and drops a couple of sticker sheets as he spins around in surprise to stare at Chanyeol. “Oh,” he breathes. “Hello there.”

Chanyeol is gaping. He knows he probably doesn't look very attractive at the moment, but he just can't help himself. “Are you really The Star Fairy?” Slowly, the guy looks from the sticker sheets on the ground to the stars stuck to the wall, and Chanyeol feels a little stupid because it's kind of obvious, isn't it? “Sorry. I thought you'd be more...” He looks the guy over to the best of his ability, a daunting task when it's so hard to focus with his swimming vision. What he does see is black sneakers, black jeans and a black hoodie and a pale blotch of skin with blurred features, which he assumes is the guy's face. “...fairy-like,” he finishes.

“Fairy-like?” the guy repeats. He sounds amused, that much Chanyeol can tell.

“I don't know,” Chanyeol says. “Like... more colorful and wings and, I don't know... female, maybe?”

He flushes when the guy lets out a short laugh. “Do I look female to you?”

“No,” Chanyeol mutters sheepishly. He definitely looks like a guy. A very hot guy, at that (but that could very well be the beer goggles talking).

“What's your name?” The guy bends down to pick up the stickers he dropped.

“Park Chanyeol.”

“Cha Nyeol.” It's mispronounced, but Chanyeol can't bring himself to be upset about it when the guy's smile is so, so lovely. Chanyeol watches in slack-jawed fascination as the guy peels off another sticker, this time pressing it to Chanyeol's cheek. His hands are cold where they brush Chanyeol's face. “Go home and go to sleep, Park Cha Nyeol,” he says as he sprinkles a handful of glitter into Chanyeol's hair. “Don't tell anyone about this meeting, okay?”

“Okay,” Chanyeol says meekly. And that's the last thing he remembers.

Waking up by way of rolling off the couch is not a very magnificent way to start one's day. It's actually the very opposite of magnificent, even more so when you've been out drinking heavily the night before and you already feel like your head might be trying to emancipate itself from your body due to the trauma and abuse you've caused it.

But there Chanyeol is with his face smushed against the floor, feeling like an entire horde of buffaloes has rolled right over him and left him trampled. Vaguely, he can hear Kyungsoo laughing at his misery. “Are you okay?” he asks, even though it doesn't sound very sincere when his voice is shaking with the sort of twisted glee he can only get from seeing other people in pain.

“Ow,” is all Chanyeol manages to say. He should probably get up and go find an Actual Bed to sleep in, but moving feels like too much of a struggle at the moment so he just stays where he is, sprawled out on the floor like a starfish with too-long limbs.

“Jeez. How did you even end up sleeping on the couch, anyway? You have a perfectly good room, like, five feet away from here.”

“I don't remember.” The last thing Chanyeol does remember is... He sits upright so fast the room starts spinning, and once the nausea fades away he reaches up to gingerly touch his cheek. It's still there, the star. So is the phantom feeling of The Star Fairy's fingers ghosting over his face. It makes him feel weirdly warm inside, even though The Star Fairy's hand had been cold.

“Rough night, huh?” Kyungsoo ruffles Chanyeol's hair and a pour of glitter falls to the floor like pixie dust. Oh. It's real. He didn't just imagine it in his drunken stupor. It's real.

“What happened to you after you left last night?” Jongdae asks. They're squeezed into a booth at a coffee place because with Great Hangovers comes Great Caffeine-cravings, and Chanyeol is just about ready to drink his own weight in espresso right now.

“I don't remember,” Chanyeol mutters again, which is kind of a lie. He does remember meeting The Star Fairy, but he also vividly remembers him asking Chanyeol not to tell anyone, so...

The unfortunate thing about Chanyeol, however, is that he's a terrible liar, and the unfortunate thing about Jongdae is that he's perfectly aware of that. “Kyungsoo told me he found you on your living room floor this morning, covered in glitter and stars. Either you somehow hooked up with a stripper, which I, knowing you, seriously doubt, or...” Jongdae pauses, narrows his eyes until he's squinting. “Park Chanyeol,” he says, leaning even closer. “Did you meet The Star Fairy?” The cold sweat of anxiety starts beading along Chanyeol's hairline and at the back of his neck, and his eyes flicker in panic as he opens his mouth to throw out another half-assed excuse of a lie.

“What can I get for you, gentlemen?” Chanyeol must have done a lot of good things in a previous life for karma to reward him with both dazzlingly good looks and amazing luck. Just when he needed it the most, their conversation is interrupted by a waiter, who is now looking back and forth between Chanyeol and Jongdae with a polite, dimpled smile.

“How about a new head?” Jongdae mumbles as he clutches his own.

The waiter looks confused. “I... don't believe that's on the menu,” he says slowly. “But I guess I can ask the barista if he can make it for you?” He raises his pen, ready to write it down on his notepad, but stops when Jongdae waves him off.

“Just... nevermind. Can I get a coffee? Black like Kyungsoo's soul, strong enough to remove paint.” From how long the waiter is scribbling on the notepad, Chanyeol deduces that he's diligently writing down Jongdae's order, word for word. The slight confusion on his face is kind of adorable.

Between his hangover and the distraction, Jongdae, thankfully, forgets all about their previous conversation in favor of sharing the details of last night's hookup. Chanyeol never asked for said details, and frankly he thinks he'd be better off not knowing what kind of freaky Jongdae is into. However, if it deters Jongdae from questioning Chanyeol, then so be it. Chanyeol is willing to do pretty much everything in his power to keep the meeting under wraps like he promised. The secret of The Star Fairy is safe with him.

Chanyeol swears his life isn't a kids movie. Really.

(If Chanyeol's life was really a kids movie, his thoughts would probably be a lot more G-rated and a lot less about The Star Fairy and his pretty hands and prettier mouth. But that's besides the point.)

Here's the thing: No matter what lengths Chanyeol goes to in order to distract his overactive mind, he still can't stop thinking about The Star Fairy. Joonmyun, who's a hopeless romantic, might say it's love at first sight. Jongdae might say the same thing, but that has less to do with him actually thinking that and more to do with the fact that he's a douchebag.

Either way, the notion is absurd. Chanyeol doesn't believe in the idea of love at first sight, and even if he did believe in it, he had barely even seen enough of The Star Fairy through his alcohol-impaired vision that one time for it to be considered a sight at all.

If anything, Chanyeol is just... fascinated by the idea of some guy walking around campus sticking stars to everything and anything for no apparent personal gain? Curious about this guy's identity and the motive behind his very unusual actions? Thankful for this guy's efforts and how it helped Chanyeol get through more than one tight spot during studying?

(Addicted to the warmth that spreads in his entire body when he thinks of The Star Fairy's lovely smile or when he reaches into his bedside drawer to pull out the star sticker that had been stuck to his cheek to look at it for what is probably the hundredth time since he woke up the morning after?)

No. Chanyeol isn't in love. Not at all. That would be ridiculous. You can't be in love with someone you've technically never properly met. Right?

On more than one occasion, Chanyeol has found himself wondering why he's even friends with Jongdae. It's not that he's a bad friend per se. Sure, he always laughs at Chanyeol's misery, and he never hesitates to share the story of that one time Chanyeol did that one super embarrassing thing with pretty much any new person that comes into their lives, but he's always there for emotional support when he can tell Chanyeol really needs it, and he doesn't mind paying for Chanyeol's meals when they go out to eat together sometimes.

However, it is in times like these, when Chanyeol has been coaxed(-slash-blackmailed) into helping Jongdae with a performance at the school's bi-annual talent show, that he really finds himself questioning their already rocky friendship.

For the record, Chanyeol loves performing. He loves playing music, and he loves being the center of attention. What he doesn't love is that the main reason why Jongdae is doing this is so that he can get the attention of the guy he's been making hearteye emojis at for approximately fifty years. Joonmyun arranged the talent show, what with him being the future diplomat that he is, and Jongdae figured that the best way to get on his good side was to actively participate in any and all events set up by him.

And it's not a bad idea, honestly. Chanyeol has definitely seen worse examples of courting, and he would have been one hundred percent supportive of the whole setup and would have happily helped Jongdae serenade his husbando (or some equally disgusting weaboo slang term to express one's desire to hook up with a dude) if it hadn't been for the fact that Jongdae's Great Plan to get Joonmyun's attention also involves crossdressing.

“I hate you,” Chanyeol says with great emotion. The white miniskirt Jongdae has given him had looked short when Chanyeol was eyeballing it skeptically in the bathroom stall as he was about to change his clothes, but now that he is actually wearing the skirt, it becomes very obvious just how tiny it really is. One wrong move, and he could end up flashing the entire student body.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you too,” Jongdae says flippantly. Equipped with a pink elastic, he manages to wrestle Chanyeol's hair into a short, haphazard ponytail, sticking out from the top of his head at an angle. It's the most ridiculous thing Chanyeol has ever seen, and the hideous glitter hair clip Jongdae added to, in his words, 'complete the look' is doing more harm than good. Chanyeol doesn't know if he should laugh or cry (his sister, Yura, had laughed so hard she almost puked when Chanyeol called to ask for makeup advice earlier that week).

“I hate you so much.”

They're the last group going on stage before the halftime break. Chanyeol is playing the guitar while Jongdae sings. Chanyeol is playing the guitar, so he doesn't understand why on earth he has to wear this stupid outfit while doing so. His only solace is the fact that having the instrument resting in his lap means that it keeps the audience from being able to look straight up his skirt (it sure doesn't stop a particularly rowdy group of girls from making lewd comments about his legs the entire time). At least he makes a prettier girl than Jongdae... though, on second thought, he doesn't know if that's something to be proud of.

After the performance, Chanyeol is eager to scramble away so he get out of these clothes, but as soon as they're backstage, Jongdae grabs him by the back of his ugly, pastel yellow tanktop and starts dragging him towards someone. That someone, unsurprisingly, turns out to be Joonmyun, who smiles at Jongdae in that diplomatic way he always does. “Good show, Jongdae-yah,” he says. He reaches up as if motioning to ruffle Jongdae's hair, but pauses when he remembers that Jongdae is wearing a wig and ends up with his hand hovering uncertainly in the air for a few awkward seconds before he settles for patting Jongdae's shoulder instead.

“Thank you,” Jongdae says and adds while shamelessly batting his lashes: “Oppa~.” Joonmyun looks flustered, and Chanyeol takes that as his cue to leave so he can finally get out of this outfit and at the same time avoid having to listen in on Jongdae's disgusting excuse for .

As he's about to turn and walk away, however, he notices the person Joonmyun had been talking to before Jongdae decided to interrupt them. He's sitting on an amp with a guitar, and Chanyeol remembers him as one of the people who performed before him and Jongdae, but that's not what has him doing a double take. It's the guy's smile, dimpled and lovely, that makes something stir in the back of his mind, and...

“Hi?”

Chanyeol recoils when he realizes he has been staring, and that the guy has obviously noticed it. He doesn't seem angry, though, just curious and maybe a little amused. “Uhm, hi,” Chanyeol mutters. He's not sure what to say after that, racking his brain to find a casual way to word what is, in his mind, an embarrassing question. Preferably a way that doesn't sound like a lame pickup line.

He doesn't manage to come up with anything, however, before the guy speaks again. “Nice outfit,” he says, inclining his head in the general direction of Chanyeol's body.

Chanyeol looks down as well and grimaces when he remembers the predicament he's in. “It-it was my friend's idea,” he says quickly. “He's trying to get with Joonmyun-hyung, and apparently he is under the conviction that crossdressing is the way to every man's heart.”

“Perhaps it is,” the guy muses, and Chanyeol doesn't know what to make of that statement, he just knows it makes his face heat up slightly.

In any case, he decides not to linger on it for too long. Instead he returns to the thoughts he had prior to the guy's comment about his clothes, and he says: “I'm sorry for staring at you before, you just... seem really familiar? Like, I think we might have met somewhere before?”

The guy shrugs. “I don't know,” he says. “Maybe. I meet a lot of people.” It's a pretty vague reply that doesn't really answer Chanyeol's question. “I'm Yixing, if that helps.”

It doesn't, but Chanyeol shakes his hand anyway when it's offered to him. “I'm Chanyeol.”

“Cha Nyeol.” It's mispronounced, but Chanyeol can't bring himself to be upset about it when Yixing's smile is so, so lovely.

A sense of déjà vu washes over Chanyeol like the crashing waters of a tsunami. His two braincells bump together, and suddenly he realizes exactly why Yixing seems so familiar to him. Chanyeol's mouth falls open in apprehension. “You're–”

“That waiter from that coffee place,” Yixing cuts him off. His eyes have widened as if he just now realized what he revealed about himself. “Y-yeah. I get that a lot.” Even though he's still smiling, there's a tension to it now. If Chanyeol hadn't noticed that as well as the way Yixing's gaze flickers briefly over to Jongdae and Joonmyun, he might have been dense enough to blurt out what's on his mind. Now he just keeps quiet. Even though their friends are clearly very much distracted by each other, Yixing doesn't want to draw their attention. He doesn't want them to Know.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol says as well, slowly, hesitantly. “That must be where I know you from.” They both know that's not the case, but Chanyeol doesn't say anything. He promised he wouldn't, after all. “Uhm, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll just go change into something less... humiliating.”

Chanyeol walks away from Yixing feeling disoriented, disheartened and full of questions. He makes a beeline straight for the men's room to slip out of the skirt and tanktop combo and into the extra set of clothes that he brought – some pants as well as a shirt that actually covers something. While he's in here, away from the crowd and the music, he attempts to make sense of the jumbled mess that is his thoughts. He's not very successful so in the end he gives up trying.

When he leaves the bathroom stall, he jumps slightly at the sight of Yixing standing there, leaning back against one of the sinks with his arms crossed over his chest. Yixing just smiles, a little wryly, and says: “I think we should talk.”

Yixing's room is... interesting, to say the least. It's fairly sizable for a single (at least Chanyeol thinks it's a single, he only sees one bed), and about half the room is filled with Manchester United paraphernalia, posters and books and figurines. “You like football?” Chanyeol asks, partially for the sake of conversation, partially because he's surprised by this discovery. Yixing doesn't seem like the type. He motions to sit down, but Yixing stops him before he can do so.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you. My roommate doesn't like people on his bed.”

“Roommate?” Chanyeol repeats, surprised. “But...?” Chanyeol is about to point out his previous observation about the number of beds, but Yixing has turned his back on him.

What Chanyeol originally thought was a desk covered with a tablecloth or maybe a hidden dresser turns out to be what is probably the raddest bed setup he has ever seen. Once Yixing pulls aside the purple fabric, it becomes apparent that his sleeping spot is really underneath the second bed. The mattress is on the floor with about a dozen pillows scattered all over, there are curtains surrounding it like a canopy, and a string of star-shaped fairy lights run all the way along the frame of what is actually the bottom of the bed. It all serves to create a cozy, little lair. Chanyeol can't seem to close his mouth as he takes it all in.

Yixing plops down like he lives here (because he does), reclines against the mountain of pillows and spreads his arms out. “Welcome to my crib.”

“This is awesome,” Chanyeol says. Really, it is.

“Thanks,” Yixing grins. His tone is the opposite of humble, but somehow he still manages to not come across arrogant like most people would. He bends his legs and gestures to the now empty spot by his feet. “Have a seat, let's talk. I'm sure you have some questions.”

Chanyeol does have questions. He has a lot of them, in fact. Ducking under the awning of the bed, he folds his long limbs to sit cross-legged on the mattress. It's too low for him – or maybe he's just too tall – so he has to slouch over and bend his head in order to fit, but he feels like a crick in the neck would be worth it to have a spot to sleep as awesome as this. Besides, he's pretty sure you're not actually supposed to sit up like this for prolonged periods of time. It is a bed, after all.

(Chanyeol tries very hard not to think of Yixing in any kind of horizontal position.)

There are polaroids taped to the wall, and Chanyeol studies them one by one. It's snapshots of Yixing's life, picture of his friends, of his room, of himself. One particular image catches Chanyeol's eye the most, though. It shows the campus covered in stars, just like he had witnessed just a few weeks ago, and judging by the lighting and the way the stickers seem to glow with a golden orange light, it's taken around sunrise, most likely immediately after they were set up.

It reminds Chanyeol why he's here in the first place. He looks at Yixing and asks slowly: “You're... The Star Fairy?” Honestly, he's pretty sure he already knows the answer to that question, but he wants it confirmed. He wants to be sure.

Yixing chuckles. “I still can't believe that's what people call me,” he says with a sigh. He seems more amused than put out by it, though. There are still so many questions on Chanyeol's mind. Why did Yixing do it? How did Yixing do it? Why has Yixing been trying so hard to keep his identity a secret when he could be praised by so many people if they knew his identity? Chanyeol asks all these questions in one breath and in rapid succession, and Yixing just smiles. “The first time I did it, it was because my friend was unhappy and stressed out about tests, and I wanted to give him something else to think about, if only just for a moment. It worked, so after that time, I kept doing the same thing every year.”

“It helped me, too,” Chanyeol says, recalling how much calmer he felt after that one morning.

Yixing's smile widens. “Mission accomplished, then,” he says. He sounds pleased. “I bought a bunch of star stickers and put them up during the night. Took me a few hours but it was worth it.”

“Why stars?”

This makes Yixing chuckle again. “There was only one stationary store that was open that late, and the only type of stickers they had were stars. It worked out pretty well, though. Don't you think?” He looks at the same picture Chanyeol had been looking at earlier, the one taken around sunrise. Chanyeol definitely agrees.

“Why the secrecy?” he asks this time. “Do you know how many free drinks you could get from other people if everyone knew you were The Star Fairy?” Saying the name out loud now that he knows the person behind it feels inexplicably weird.

Yixing thinks about it for a while, then shrugs. “I don't want that. I'm not doing this for... for fame, or whatever. I'm just a guy, who likes to see people smiling. That's all.” He shrugs again. It seems to be a habit of his. “Besides, I don't think the maintenance department likes me very much. I could probably get punished for vandalism or damaging school property if they found out who I am.” He sounds very calm for someone who's talking about potentially getting in trouble with the law, and Chanyeol kind of admires him for being so laid-back. He isn't sure which is more magical: the romanticized idea of some mythical creature roaming school grounds or Yixing, the human being, doing this just to make other people happy.

(What he is sure of now, however, is the fact that it wasn't just the beer goggles talking when he thought to himself that Yixing was hot that one drunken night he bumped into him. Yixing is actually even more attractive when he's not just a blurred figure, and his smile is even more lovely when it's in full focus and directed at Chanyeol with just a few feet of distance separating them. Chanyeol also thinks it's probably better not to entertain those thoughts, though.)

“If you want to keep it a secret, why did you decide to reveal yourself to me tonight?”

“It kind of just slipped out by accident, to be honest,” Yixing admits, but after a moment of silence (in which Chanyeol totally does not feel disappointment creeping up on him), he adds, almost as if he's talking to himself: “Maybe it's because you looked so cute in that skirt.”

And that is when Chanyeol knows that he is Officially Screwed.

Chanyeol does not believe in love at first sight. He really, really doesn't. He still finds the idea ridiculous, even as his heart does confusing flips and somersaults and double back handsprings every time he as much as thinks about Yixing.

This is all very hard to understand, and Chanyeol feels like he's having a mental breakdown. “I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown,” he tells Kyungsoo, who crosses the floor to sit down on the edge of the bed Chanyeol is currently sprawled out on. It's kind of amazing that he could even understand what Chanyeol was saying in the first place, what with Chanyeol currently attempting to suffocate himself with a pillow and all. Then again, they have known each other since Kyungsoo was old enough to throw sand in Chanyeol's face on purpose. He can probably read Chanyeol's mind at this point.

Kyungsoo pats Chanyeol's shoulder awkwardly. “Do you... want to talk about it?”

Chanyeol turns his head to the side (who knew death by asphyxiation took so long, Christ) and sighs heavily. “Kyungsoo,” he says. “I think... I might be in like with someone.”

Kyungsoo hisses and recoils as if he's been burned. “You know what, I changed my mind, we're not talking about this.” Chanyeol does an injured, pleading whine, and Kyungsoo hisses again, this time in disgust. “Oh God. I thought this was about your abysmal grades or something, not about your... Feelings. I don't do Feelings. Go vent to someone else.”

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol wails, but he's already up and out of there before Chanyeol can continue his sentence. He flops weakly back down on the bed, frowning face pressed into the pillow again.

He could talk to someone else. The problem is that there is no one to talk to. Jongdae would just cackle and encourage Chanyeol to 'go get the D', whatever that's supposed to mean, and his last Great Plan involved cross-dressing so his expertise is very much unwanted. Joonmyun would probably coo at Chanyeol and embark on a dramatic monologue about the beauty of young love and how much he misses the days of his youth (despite being only one year older than Chanyeol), and Chanyeol is Not About That Life.

Once trying to choke to death becomes too much of a hassle again, he turns his head to the side to breathe. His eyes catch on the star sticker, which he superglued to his bedside table once the sticker's own glue wore off from how much he was fiddling with it all the time. He frowns even harder at the reminder of why he's in this position in the first place.

A rogue thought enters Chanyeol's head unbidden. Technically, he thinks to himself, it wouldn't be considered love at first sight. He didn't catch Actual Feelings until he met and talked to Yixing after their performance, and if he counts the ambiguous first encounter where he was so drunk he probably wouldn't have remembered it if he didn't have visible signs to remind him of it the next day, the concert would be their second meeting. Technically.

Despair is replaced by determination, and Chanyeol swings his legs over the side of the bed, leaves the room and makes his way to the front door with a clear goal in mind. He doesn't know if love at second sight is even a real thing, but it sounds a lot less pathetic and a lot more plausible than the alternative. Yeah. He can work with this.

The moment Chanyeol sees Yixing, he almost wants to turn right back around and leave. He gathers his courage, though, and soldiers on, approaching Yixing where he's sitting at the top of the stairs with a guy who's probably one of his friends.

Yixing smiles his pretty, dimpled smile when he sees Chanyeol coming towards them. “Cha Nyeol,” he says. The bubble gun in his hand (because of course he has a freaking bubble gun, why wouldn't he?) spews a myriad of clear, iridescent orbs in Chanyeol's direction. They fall to the ground slowly. Chanyeol feels himself falling with them. “What's up?”

“Can we talk?” Chanyeol blurts out before he has the chance to regret it.

“Sure,” Yixing says brightly, getting on his feet right away. He pats his friend on the shoulder as a form of farewell and gestures for Chanyeol to follow him inside.

They go to Yixing's room and sit on his bed again, and it's a lot like last time, except this time it's in the middle of the day, and there's no way Chanyeol can hide the way his hands are shaking. Also, Yixing's roommate is there. He's stretched out on his own bed with his laptop on his chest and headphones in his ears, and he appears to be watching a football game. He barely acknowledges them when they enter the room, but his presence sure doesn't help calm Chanyeol's nerves.

Yixing just sits there, smiling, and it occurs to Chanyeol that he's most likely waiting for Chanyeol to talk first since he's the one who wanted to talk. “Can we... talk in private?”

“Oh!” Yixing exclaims. “Of course.” With a bit of fidgeting, the makeshift curtain canopy closes around the bed, and even though there is another person in the room, it kind of feels like it's just the two of them, all alone in their own little sphere with their fairy lights and their polaroids.

They're both sitting cross-legged, now, facing each other. Even Yixing has to duck to be able to fit here, Chanyeol realizes. He also realizes that Yixing's smile is almost overwhelming when he looks at it from such a small distance. He swallows around the sudden lump in his throat. “You said I looked cute in that skirt,” he mumbles. “Did you... did you really mean it?” Anyone who has seen Chanyeol in an outfit like that and still has it in them to call him 'cute' without wanting to either retch or laugh immediately afterwards is Special. Chanyeol likes Special.

A small furrow forms between Yixing's brow as he considers it. “You look cute now, too,” he finally says, and Chanyeol exhales in a burst of air. He feels flustered, which is strange since he's not usually the type to get all clumsy and bothered just from receiving a compliment. Yixing seems to interpret his silence the wrong way. His smile isn't fading, but he does add: “It doesn't have to mean anything, okay? Don't overthink it. I just think you're cute and that's th–” He cuts himself off at the abrupt touch of Chanyeol's hand against his face, and his eyes go a little wide.

Not nearly as wide as Chanyeol's, though. He's staring pointedly at where his fingers are pressed against Yixing's cheek, and after a moment he pulls away. The sticker he has tried to attach there stays in place for approximately half a second before falling off and fluttering sadly into Yixing's lap, glue dried up from being in Chanyeol's pocket all day as he worked up the nerve to actually go talk to Yixing. They both stare at the sticker for a while. Then Chanyeol quickly reaches out to grab it. “N-no, wait, that's... that's not...” This is not the reality he wanted.

Yixing's gaze is still fastened on Chanyeol's closed fist. Then he raises his eyes to look at Chanyeol's face instead, taking in his flushed cheeks and jittery smile. Slowly, Yixing lifts his own hand. He pokes out his tongue and wets the tip of his index finger, then brushes that wetness against his cheek and turns his head to the side. It takes a moment for Chanyeol to understand what Yixing wants him to do and act accordingly. He unearths the now slightly crumpled sticker and presses it to Yixing's left cheek while cradling the right one with a careful, trembling hand. This time the sticker doesn't fall off, not even when Yixing smiles and asks: “Good?”

“Good,” Chanyeol repeats, nodding. The red color is pretty against Yixing's skin and sits neatly right where his dimple would be if it wasn't covered by a big heart sticker. “You look cute.” The soft glow of the fairy lights is reflected in Yixing's irises. His eyes are dancing playfully, glittering. Chanyeol thinks he might start believing in ridiculous concepts such as love at first sight.

Yixing's hands are cold, but his mouth is warm, and his smile feels, if possible, even more lovely when it is pressed against Chanyeol's own.

It ends with stars and hearts. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them scattered all over school grounds, stuck to walls and trees and lamp posts and benches and pretty much every single possible surface. It's quite the familiar sight by now, since it has happened a couple of times in the span of a few months, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.

“Woah.” Chanyeol turns to Kyungsoo, who has exited the dorm building with Jongdae by his side. “What the hell happened here?”

They both look at Jongdae, who shrugs with a wide-eyed look. “I don't know anything about this,” he says. “I've only ever heard about The Star Fairy. The hearts are new.”

“Useless,” Kyungsoo mutters, shaking his head, and Jongdae squawks in outrage.

As he has become so accustomed to, Chanyeol tunes them out in favor of letting his eyes sweep over the area. The kid with the leopard-printed phone is there again, chatting with his friend as he takes multiple artsy hipster pictures of a cluster of stars and glitter gathered in a puddle of water.

(Chanyeol barely represses a grin as he remembers how they got there: Yixing had looked particularly beautiful, excited smile on his face and cheeks flushed from the chilly night air as they walked around, together, decorating the courtyard with stickers of stars and hearts. Chanyeol couldn't resist kissing him until he accidentally dropped his supplies. Oops.)

The kid's friend is looking on with an indulgent, dimpled smile, one that Chanyeol has become very acquainted with by now. And when Yixing turns his head and directs said smile at Chanyeol instead, all Chanyeol can do is smile back as his heart begins to perform crazy circus acts in his chest all over again.

~*~

A/N: this story is disgusting, lmao. I kind of love it anyway. I have no excuses.

I also don't have a lot to say about it, so instead I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures, all of which were a source of inspiration for something that was included in this story. the first two were what put this idea in my head in the first place because my brain hates me like that and likes to build massive ideas up from what is essentially nothing. :))))))))))

ps. happy birthday, park chanyeol. ♥

pps. the bed setup was inspired by this.