At some point in the night she starts making drinks by the bar, just a few of the stuff the pub’s bartender had taught her how to make when they would hang out. She makes Chanyeol try them, and truthfully he has no idea if they taste good or not – he hasn’t partied long enough to be able to tell the difference between a delicious cocktail and one that .

But it’s liquid courage, and she’s the one making them, so Chanyeol has no complaints, and they share giggles and secret glances in between alternate sips of the same drink.

From cocktails they somehow move on to shots. It’s probably the alcohol (and also Chanyeol’s dirty, dirty subconscious), but his heart almost stops when she tells him “I’ll make you a ”, not quite understanding what she meant, or if she actually meant...that. After an awkward pause, with Chanyeol just staring at her dumbfounded, mouth open like a fish out of water, she smirks and clarifies it’s a drink, silly. Chanyeol flushes pink, unable to believe he actually fell for that one.       

It’s nearly midnight and both of them are sufficiently inebriated. They’re back on the couch, Chanyeol randomly strumming notes on his guitar while she’s looking through the music on her iPod. They both know it’s been a great date so far. Chanyeol is convinced she’s the love of his young adult life, and is ready to ask for a second date. There’s just a tiny bit of detail he needs to sort out.

At some point tonight, he’s going to have to tell her he’s the main rapper, resident happy virus, and 1/12 of super boy group EXO. 

He’s played out a few scenarios in his head on what would happen next. She’ll probably laugh, not believing him at first. She might find him incredibly creepy for making up such a huge lie just so he could get her to bed (although Chanyeol swore he had no plans of doing that, not yet anyway). If she doesn’t doubt his confession and actually believes him, it presents even more complications. She might slap him in the face for withholding such important information prior to their first date. Worst of all, she might find him too mainstream for her taste. She does, after all, work in a super secret, snooty bar hidden from the public, and listens to music 90% of the Korean population probably hasn’t heard of, and has friends who are all artsy fartsy and hipster.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, came to this world from another planet with eleven other boys bearing not only his powerful rap skills, but also super powers.

Sure, he has his face on CFs and magazines and TV screens all over Seoul, and has fans from all over the world screaming his name wherever he goes.

But he has super powers.

He’s 22 years old and he comes out on Korean national television on a regular basis saying he has super powers.

“I need to tell you something.”

Chanyeol blurts it out after much internal turmoil, done with overthinking all of this. Okay, so he’s not exactly “indie rock” or whatever, but he’s got talent. He’s worked hard to get where he is. Fangirls love him. Fanboys too. He’s Park ing Chanyeol, take it or leave it.

(He hopes she takes it though. He really does.)

 “I…I’m an artist. A musician. Well not an artist the way Jason Mraz is an artist, I guess I’m more like…Justin Bieber. But there’s twelve of us in the group. So maybe we’re more like One Direction. Except there’s four of them, but there’s twelve of us. So I guess that’s Three Directions. Haha.”

Amidst his inane ramblings Chanyeol doesn’t notice the smile that plays on her lips as he continues with his confession.

“…I mean, I don’t know if I’m making the right comparisons so it’ll be easy for you to understand. So just scrap all of what I just said. All you need to know is that I’m in a Kpop boyband. We’re called EXO. Have you heard of us? We did that wolf song.” He does the wolf ear dance in earnest and looks at her with wide, innocent eyes, hoping for recognition but knowing it’s highly unlikely. Because girls like her don’t listen to Kpop.

Right?

“Since we’re being honest, I have a confession too.”

Chanyeol doesn’t expect that one at all. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “I know who you are. Knew it from the first time you tumbled in here that night.”

Chanyeol is dumbfounded. Out of all the scenarios that played out in his mind, he did not expect this one at all. “How do you –“

“I saw you guys in a concert once. I went to see SHINee and you guys were there too.”

At this point she can barely look at him in embarrassment. So much for Miss Music Snob. Chanyeol, for his part, is tickled pink at the thought. “So you listen to Kpop?”

“Yes.”

“Which ones?”

“I don’t know, a lot. SHINee. Big Bang. 2NE1. You guys.”

“Nice”. Chanyeol has an infuriatingly knowing smile on his face, as if he has her all figured out now.

She looks at him defiantly, crossing her arms in front of her. “But so what if I’m not as indie as you probably thought I was.”

Funny how Chanyeol was thinking the exact same thing earlier about himself.

“I can listen to everything I want. I like indie bands and hip bands and I like Kpop. Big deal. I can like them both.”

“Of course you can. But would you ever play a Kpop song at one of your DJ gigs?”

“Probably not.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s a time and place for Kpop and my gigs aren’t one of them.”

She blushes, because she knows she’s been figured out, and Chanyeol knows her deepest, darkest secret now. Yes, she has obscure taste in music, but she is also very much a Kpop fan.

At this Chanyeol leans in closer, slyly puts an arm around her shoulders and looks her in the eye, smirking. “So how would your ‘cool hipster’ friends react when they find out you’re dating a Kpop superstar?”

She pretends to be unaffected by their sudden close proximity and manages a scoff. “First of all, you’re not yet a superstar. D.O. probably is though. Or Baekhyun. But you’ve got a long way to go, man. Also, as an idol, I think it will be in your best interest to not be telling people that you’re dating.”

Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh at that, but not before he dives in for a quick kiss that catches her off guard, eyes wide in surprise.

Finally!

He leans back on the couch and goes back to his guitar, pretending to be unaffected by the kiss. “So D.O. and Baekhyun, huh? Are they your biases then? I would’ve pegged you as a Kris fangirl to be honest, or you know, mine. But you like the shorties of the group, I can respect that.”

That earns him a playful slap on the shoulder, before she’s heading towards the DJ booth. With a few clicks on her laptop, she has Seungri’s “Strong Baby” blasting through the speakers, and Chanyeol can’t help but laugh. At once she’s out of the DJ booth and pulling him up from the couch, inviting him to dance.

“If you’re really a Kpop idol, then show me what you got, superstar.”

They dance to every Kpop song she plays, all flailing arms and awkward limbs fueled by liquid courage and first date feels, and Chanyeol thinks that Kpop sounds way better with some alcohol in his system. He finds he dances better, too.  He could take on Lay and Kai combined with his alcohol-induced dance moves. He really, really could. Who’s the Yeolsing Machine now, es.

By the time they reach the end of “I Am The Best” by 2NE1, they fall into a heap on the couch, laughing their asses off. But Chanyeol thinks they’ve already been playful enough.   

“I think it’s time to change things up,” Chanyeol says in his low, deep voice as he reaches over for his iPod, which he connects to the speakers. The intro to “What is Love” starts playing as he leans back beside her, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

“I had a really great time tonight,” he all but drawls into her ear, the way Kris taught him the previous night, when they had a bro talk and he had asked his hyung for some advice.  

“If you think you’re going to convince me to make out with you to one of your band’s songs, you’re completely mistaken,” she deadpans, side-eyeing him.

Chanyeol is offended, not just for himself, but mostly for Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, who in his opinion sang that song pretty damn well. Well enough to make it a song worthy of a nice make out session. “Why can’t we make out to one of our songs?” he asks with a pout. A little aegyo never hurt anyone.

“Just, no. If I’m gonna have to make out to a Kpop song, I’ll make out to a SHINee song.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and sighs. “Fine. Which one then?”

She pauses to think for a second, eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. “Umm, I think I like –“

“No, no, scratch that. I don’t want to be making out with you while you think of Jinki Hyung. Or Jonghyun Hyung. Or Minho Hyung. Or do you like Key hyung? You don’t like Taemin do you? He’s like, ridiculously too young for you. Who’s your SHINee bias anyway?”

“I’ve learned to accept the fact that all of SHINee are bias list ruiners. One simply does not make a Shawol choose her favorite SHINee member. It’d be like Sophie’s Choice. It’s just cruel. There is no correct answer.”

“…you’re starting to sound like a crazy fan, and it’s creeping me out a little,” Chanyeol teases. He’s beginning to grow fond of this side of her, Miss Music Snob slash Closet Kpop Fangirl.

That earns him another playful slap on the shoulder. “Shut up. Let’s just go home then! It’s almost morning.” She makes a show off attempting to get up from the couch to leave, but Chanyeol pulls her right back into his arms.

“Fine, fine. How about I play you this one instead?”

By all accounts Chanyeol may seem like a cuddly, dorky giant, with weirdly adorable pointy ears and with too much teeth showing when he smiles. But what most people don’t know, is that the boy has got some moves, too.

He grabs a hold of his iPod, scrolls around a bit, and hits play.

Good times for a change. / See the luck I’ve had, can make a good man, turn bad. / So please, please, please, let me, let me, let me, let me, get what I want this time. /

At the sound of Morrissey’s haunting voice she gets that look on her face again, that “Oh my gosh I love this song, how did you know, you like it too? We are so meant to be” look, and at once Chanyeol knows she feels for him the exact same way he does for her.

Funny how a song can speak for two people when they can’t express in words how they feel about each other.  

---

By the time morning comes, noise from the bubble tea shop outside wakes the two of them up, and they stay where they are for a while, making jokes and giggling like silly teenagers, until they both unwillingly decide it’s time to go.

“So is there anything else uncool about you I need to know about?” She asks teasingly as they walk out of the pub, hand in hand.

Chanyeol thinks for a second while he adjusts his glasses. “I had a ferret for a pet once, when I was a kid. I put him on a leash and everything, and took him to school trips. I hadn’t had my growth spurt yet, was chubby and wore glasses. To this day I wonder why I was never bullied at school, really.”

She laughs at that, amused. It’s probably the cutest thing she’s ever heard, and she makes a mental note to Google Chanyeol’s pre-debut photos once she gets home.

“What about you?” Chanyeol asks her.

“I was in the chess team at school.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“…it was wizard’s chess.”

“???”

She rolls her eyes, impatient. “You know, from Harry Potter? We dressed up and .”

She’s losing coolness points by the minute, but she finds she doesn’t mind. Ferret-loving Park Chanyeol seems to fancy her just the way she is. And she doesn’t mind that, at all.

As they walk out to the bubble tea shop, Chanyeol has to keep from squeaking in horror like a little girl would at the sight of four of his bandmates sitting at one of the tables, seemingly out on a double date.

It doesn’t take a while for Luhan, Sehun, Kyungsoo and Jongin to recognize their group’s main rapper, looking like a deer caught between headlights (a look they’re used to seeing on Luhan, but not on Chanyeol).

“Hyung!” Sehun screams, a -eating grin on his face. The maknae will have to pay for that later, Chanyeol thinks.

“Too much fun working out that you had to spend the night, huh hyung?” Jongin chimes in.

Chanyeol is beyond mortified.

On the other hand, beside him, she’s practically squealing in delight at the sight of more EXO members.

At that point, Chanyeol has absolutely no doubt in his mind that she’s a Kpop fangirl.

---

A/N: Thanks to everyone who had the patience to read this! Here's ferret-loving Park Chanyeol, for all your trouble: