♞

“Hey,”

Chanyeol regretted saying it. Even after three shots of vodka, the stupid bet still sounded like a stupid bet to him.

Come on, Yeol. Flirt with him for a while and then Suho’s Ferrari will be yours for a month!

Yeah, it’s not as if you’re into that stuff, are you?!

Don’t be a !

He could still hear their hoots and cheers from the other side of the club even in the deafening bass and dubstep blaring from the speakers. He wanted to chuck the bottles at his frat brothers’ faces, seriously. But there he was, standing right behind the unfortunate guy, drink in one hand and a fistful of uneasy fingers on the other.

Maybe they both were the unfortunate ones, though.  Because right at that exact moment when the boy’s head was about to turn, Chanyeol felt like throwing up. (Talk about bad luck.) However, in one of the many haphazard decisions he made that night, he decided to swallow the bitter taste in his throat; shoved back into his deepest crevices to deal with later – just like his pride.

For the fraternity. And for the ing Ferrari, he told himself.

“Hey?” Unfortunate guy answered, creased forehead and questioning, adorable eyes. Chanyeol cringed at the capital a-dorable flashing neon yellow in his mind, because JESUS FRICKING CHRIST, he might just actually have the most gorgeous eyes he’s ever seen.  Just like a puppy’s.  And it’s not right because he’s a guy. They’re both guys. And his mission was supposed to be a prank. He hasn’t done anything yet, but he thinks it might just have started backfiring at him.

“You have adorable eyes.” Chanyeol froze. (Backfiring, see?)

“What?” the guy smirked. Oh god. Adorable smile, too. Chanyeol’s stomach knotted. Two, three seconds later and the bitter taste rushed back up to his throat.

“A-are you okay?”

“Hold on, I got to go.”

“Oh my god. Don’t- Oh .”

And Chanyeol ran fast like he never had before

– to the toilet.  

 ♞

“I’m so sorry for what happened.” It was Chanyeol, leaning at some unfortunate wall right outside the club, hands clawing his cheeks in embarrassment.   

“Nah. It was nothing,” said the boy beside him. The boy who – let’s just point out – was supposed to be the target of Chanyeol’s projectile vomit. Chanyeol cringed once more at the thought of tarnishing the boy’s pretty face. Pretty face. Here we go again with the weird adjectives. 

“Besides you’re the host of this party.” He said, pointing at Chanyeol’s shirt that screamed EPSILON CHI OMICRON. “I was hoping you could at least give me a bucket of beer for free. One, for not freaking out after calling me adorable, and, two, for rushing with you into the bathroom.”

This time, Chanyeol finally eased up after flushing out the alcohol off his system. “Smooth, huh?” He teased.

“So are you okay now?” The other boy asked. And Chanyeol found his way back to his mission again. “Yup. Turns out I just needed some fresh air and some nice-looking company.” He said, half forced, and half meant.

“Oh so after calling me adorable, now you’re flirting with me?”

“Does that bother you though? A guy flirting with another guy?”

The other boy just shrugged. “Mommy told me never to talk to strangers,” he said, kicking dust on the pavement, a knowing smile on his lips. “That goes for flirting too, I guess.”

“Mommy must be fun at parties. No offense.”

They both laughed.

“Park Chanyeol. I’m a junior in the nearby university. I’m guessing you’re a student too, yes?” Chanyeol extended his hand. The other boy looked at it with a nervous smile.

“No offense but-”

“OH COME ON! I washed my hands.”

“It pays to be careful.”

Chanyeol groaned.

“Byun Baekhyun,” the other boy mused. “I’m a freshman in the university too but it’s my second degree so I’m older than you.”

“Oh. Nerd alert. Taking up?”

“Philosophy. You?”

“Engineering, Civil. Nice meeting you Byun Baekhyun.”

“Call me Baek.” Call me babe.

“Baek it is then. Nice meeting you, Baek.” Chanyeol offered his hand once again but Baekhyun just backed away.

“Err… Nice meeting you too, Chanyeol.”

He rolled his eyes. “Gimme a break,” was the last thing he said before placing his hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“HOLY ING OH MY GOD TAKE YOUR HAND OFF ME.”

Chanyeol roared in laughter. “Shake my hand or you won’t get your free bucket of beer!”

“I’LL BUY MY OWN ING BREWERY THEN.”         

Baekhyun left Chanyeol later that night after baring their lives in two rounds of beer.  Chanyeol was going to offer to walk him to his dorm but decided to shut up, thinking it was probably too much. Besides, he managed to finish his end of the bargain. Walking him home wasn’t much of an option now. And he even got Baekhyun’s number. A big bonus if you ask him. He told himself it was just in case his frat bros needed proof, nothing more and nothing less. (Denial at its finest.)

They didn’t say their goodbyes after Baekhyun said it felt kind of sad how the word ‘goodbye’ bore the weight of finality and everything that came before it (Chanyeol wasn’t really sure if he understood it well) – one of the many quirks he found amusing of Baekhyun. “Don’t you just feel sad for that little guy taking all the blame?” he said, playing with the ice cubes in his glass. “It’s like goodbyes become our scapegoat for a time we let slip off of our hands, and, whether we intend to or not, they become testaments that remind us later on of our what-could-have-beens and if-onlys.”

Chanyeol watched him for a moment, amused and dumbfounded at the same time. (Or maybe he’s just contemplating on how stupid he is.)

“So that’s why you took Philosophy. Deep.”

“Shut up.”

Hearty chuckles.

Silence.

“So… No goodbyes then?”

“No goodbyes.”

When Chanyeol got back to his pack of EXO brothers, he was welcomed like a war hero.

How did his mouth feel like?

Was he eager to get into your pants?

Don’t tell me you already are into that stuff!

Nothing changed. He pretty much still wanted to chuck bottles at their faces. The pledged Ferrari was to be parked outside his apartment first thing the next morning, but he doubted Suho’s drunk promise. And somehow, it didn’t matter that much anymore.

Later that night as he lay on his bed, fingers nervously tapping on his phone, he once again found himself taking a haphazard decision. Three taps and soon he was burying his face in his pillows.

On the screen, six words screamed mockingly at a flailing Chanyeol.

hey wanna hang out sometime? – Channie

Hey –   

The ordinary conversation starter Chanyeol so reluctantly muttered turned out to have sparked maybe one of the most memorable nights of his life. The word hung at the tip of his tongue, tensing, pleading for release. This time he felt no hesitation.

This time he was too eager to say it again. 

A/N: There! 1/3  of my work is now up. Enjoy the fluff while it's still hot coz you know what happens later on. keke

I was quite overwhelmed tbfh because of the subscriptions in the past hours. I just posted the foreword and bam! almost 50 subs. Thank you so so much! I hope you don't get disappointed. Please comment and upvote if you like what you're seeing (and oh I hope you don't mind the bg image coz the white's killing my eyes lmao)! I'll hear you out in the comments section ;AAAAAA;