jongin escapes to the library after class, manhwa clutched in one hand, backpack in the other as he sneaks off to the spot in the back, full of dust and slanted sun rays spilling in from over the shelves. it's the fantasy section--a place most studying college kids don't wind up in very often, and perfect for reading his book without getting picked on. again.

he doesn't realize he's fallen asleep until there's lips on his, jerking him awake. he sits back against the shelves, huffing out an offended noise as his eyes rove over the person before him. jongin's never met him before, yet he's intimately familiar with every detail of the boy's face, from his pretty eyes to his big ears, his perfect teeth when he smiles.

"what?" jongin splutters, face going so red it hurts, hands scrambling to look at the book in his hands. parts of it are blank, pages missing entire panels, as if someone has erased one of the characters completely. ...the one that just so happens to be kneeling in front of jongin with the most painfully adorable confused expression he's ever seen.

"what what?" chanyeol echoes back, laughing softly and leaning in way too close.

"what are you doing here?" jongin blurts, jerking back and knocking his head against the spines of the books behind him. "you're not--you're not real."

chanyeol laughs again, his eye squinting up in a way that the manhwa never did quite capture, and jongin feels his hearts squeezing in his chest because it's all so much better. "i distinctly remember you wishing i was? and so now i am," he says, as if that makes perfect sense, and maybe if magic were real, it would.

"but--"

chanyeol's finger meets his lips, eyebrows wiggling playfully as a grin spreads over his face. "i also remember you wishing you could kiss me, so shh," he breathes through another laugh, leaning in and pressing his lips to jongin's again.

he melts a little under the taller's hands, his mouth, and even though there's a lot of things wrong with this situation, jongin can't seem to find the tongue into his mouth one of them.