(( Morning all ^^ I remember when I sent this chapter to Bae I was so excited. And the couple of you who read both this and Three Halves will probably notice a parallel with one of the relations. I make jokes with Bae a lot saying I need a personal fic bingo card of things that I really like and want to have wherever it would fit uwu ))

 

Chapter Sixteen:

 

He kept his eyes closed, feeling the sun and wind on his face, frowning a little when he realized something. He wasn’t falling. His eyes opened and he looked down, tensing when he saw he was standing on the ledge, half of his feet protruding out over the edge and he jerked back, falling onto the ground when and wincing a little at the gravel that was digging into his hands.

Don’t do that! A voice snapped and he looked back at the faceless figure he knew all too well, who crossed their arms over their chest.

“What?”

Don’t you know how terrifying that is? Chanyeol looked back to the ledge, wincing at the throb that pulsed through his head.

“Why… Why is this different?” He asked, shutting his eyes tightly. A burning sensation traveled up his throat a throb coursing through his head again, making it hard to breathe. He was getting dizzy, and something hard slammed against the back of his head

Chanyeol bolted up, panting heavily as he pressed his cold hands against his face, trying to calm his breathing without much luck. He noticed the soft, silky feel of the sheets when he dropped his hands back to them and opened his eyes. These… These weren’t his sheets. He looked around, eyebrows knitting together; nothing in this room looked familiar – other than the blond sitting in a worn looking office chair, staring at him with wide eyes.

“What… what happened?” Chanyeol asked.

“You started screaming,” ZiTao replied slowly, and Chanyeol shook his head, running a hand over his face then through his hair

“I-I do that. I meant last night. I went to the bar to get some water…” He looked around the room again. “Where am I?”

“My place,” ZiTao stated, turning the chair a little to look around his room as Chanyeol did. “You passed out at the bar, and Junmyeon didn’t have your address so he helped me bring you here.”
 

“I really need to stop drinking so much on the rare occasion I do,” Chanyeol mumbled, wincing as his head gave an unpleasant throb. There was no way it was just the alcohol that had made his night terror so different, right? He had drank before without any change. “What time is it?” he asked, the blond looking back to him.

“A little bit after ten in the morning. You’ve been sleeping for about eight hours.” Chanyeol nodded, and then frowned a little at the other’s appearance.

“You… don’t look like you’ve slept. Is it because I’m in your bed?” He asked, sliding his legs over the edge to get out of the bed.

“Hmm? Oh, no. I don’t really… do the whole sleep thing,” He admitted, and the confused look on Chanyeol’s face made him smile a bit. “I’ve had insomnia since I was about twelve,” He explained and Chanyeol gave a nod. “What about you? What makes you scream when you sleep?” He asked and Chanyeol flopped back onto the bed, draping his arm over his face.

“That’s the million dollar question,” He groaned, and it was ZiTao’s turn for a confused look as he got up from his chair to sit on his bed next to Chanyeol. The black haired male peeked up at the other from behind his arm, sighing and closing his eyes. “I was hoping moving would take me away from all of this,” he mumbled.

“All of… what?” ZiTao asked, crisscrossing his legs as he faced Chanyeol, who moved his arm back up to cover his eyes.

“It’s a really long story.”

“Well, I don’t have work for twelve more hours, so I’ve got time.” Chanyeol cracked a smile before sitting up. They both jumped when his ring tone went off and he fished his mobile out of his pocket. Why was Jongdae-

“,” Chanyeol groaned, selecting answer and holding his mobile to his ear. “H-”

“Where the are you!?” He cringed, pulling the device from his ear for a moment, before he tried to answer when the other cut him off again. “Yifan said you were going to call him when you got him. Did you sleep at the damn bar or is there another reason you have yet to let us know you’re not dead?” Chanyeol paused, waiting to see if the brunet was going to keep going off. “Well?” He heard Jongdae huff and he shook his head.

“I haven’t gone home. I passed out and… One of the bartenders took me to his place because he didn’t want to dump me out on the street,” Chanyeol explained. “You of all people know when I’m out, I’m out,” He added. “What’s the big deal? I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself for the most part these days,” He said, the line going silent for long enough for him to wonder if the brunet had hung up.

“Your pills,” Jongdae said finally.

“What about them?”

“They say not to mix them with alcohol. I knew they helped with your anxiety from the stress lately… I thought you might have taken them last night because of your performance. You don’t usually drink at them…” Jongdae mumbled and Chanyeol was sure he could hear Yifan in the background saying ‘just admit you were worried’ before there was a loud clang from the speaker that caused Chanyeol to jump. After a moment he could hear Jongdae yelling in the background ‘wait-dammit! Give that back!’ before he heard Yifan’s voice through the speaker.

“He was just worried about you, he hasn’t been adjusting very easily to you moving away,” He said, followed by Jongdae’s ‘Yifan, I swear to god, give me back my mobile or else!’
 

“If you wanted it, why did you throw it at me?”

“Shut up,” Jongdae barked, his voice louder and Chanyeol could picture the brunet climbing onto the taller male’s back trying to retrieve the device. He heard a huff before Jongdae spoke again, back at the receiver. “Don’t do that to me again,” He ordered before there was a click and the line went dead. Chanyeol sighed, lowering his mobile.

“What was that all about?” ZiTao asked and Chanyeol looked up at him. “Or is it another long story?” The blond smiled and Chanyeol felt the corner of his own mouth perk up.

“That was Jongdae. He’s the reason I got the gig at that bar, and my best friend. He’s been on edge- well, more than he usually is, since I moved here. He means well, he just… has a hard time expressing how he feels a lot of the time.”

Chanyeol and ZiTao spent the nights they worked together talking before and after Chanyeol’s performances and in between the rushes of customers, and Chanyeol was surprised at how quickly he learned things about the other. He was from China, and had moved to Korea because he loved the way the language sounded. He had spent a lot of his late hours away learning the language, which was when he learned a lot of things. Like the martial arts he had studied, though that one was because he had been told it would help his insomnia. He had rolled his eyes when saying that he had yet to see the results of that rumor.

Then there were the things he learned that ZiTao didn’t say- the way he would mess with his earrings (Chanyeol had finally counted all eight of them) when he was embarrassed, or the occasion he was scolded by Junmyeon. Or the way he could boredly worry his lip with his teeth to the point that Chanyeol expected it to start bleeding when the bar was slow or when they were waiting for it to be closing time. Chanyeol chuckled at the blond messed with his phone, teeth leaving his lips as he looked over.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Chanyeol replied, pretty sure that a week was too short of a time for it to be acceptable to tell someone that you watched them try to chew through their lip. ZiTao pouted and Chanyeol did his best to keep his eyes on ZiTao’s instead of his abused lip.

“We can close up now.” Both of their heads snapped to look at Junmyeon, who was pulling out a key ring as he stopped at the bar. He looked from Chanyeol to ZiTao and back before shaking his head and walking past them, obviously ignoring the fact that ZiTao climbed up onto the bar despite the number of times he had told the younger to not. ZiTao dangled his legs over the side next to Chanyeol, looking down at him with a big grin.
 

“Hey, you wanna get out of here?” He asked, Chanyeol arching an eyebrow up at him.

“ZiTao, it’s three in the morning,” He pointed out, the blond slipping off the bar.

“So you shouldn’t have anything else to do,” He chimed. “C’mon, I know this great diner that’s open,” ZiTao said and Chanyeol grabbed his guitar case, trailing after him.

“ZiTao! I haven’t seen you for a while, I was starting to think that you had developed a normal sleep schedule,” The brown haired woman behind the counter of the diner said as they stepped in and ZiTao gave her a big smile.

“Still no luck with that, but I got a night job,” He added, Chanyeol following him to one of the booths and sitting across from the blond as the waitress walked over to them with a menu.

“I assume you want your usual?” She asked and he nodded before she looked to Chanyeol. “How about for your friend?” She asked. ZiTao and Chanyeol looked to each other before ZiTao looked back to the waitress.

“Give him my usual too.” The waitress nodded, turning and disappearing into the kitchen.

“How often do you have to eat somewhere before the staff knows what you want to eat?” Chanyeol teased and ZiTao gave a small shrug.

“I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve come here. Victoria’s been here almost every time I have, and she likes to sit and talk with me since most people don’t want food at this hour, so it’s pretty slow.” ZiTao explained.

It wasn’t long before Victoria returned, setting a plate of pancakes, a bowl of various fruit chunks and a cup of coffee before each of them. She returned with a bottle of syrup and packets of coffee creamer before nudging ZiTao further into the booth, sitting beside him. She looked to Chanyeol, and then leaned close to ZiTao, pretending to whisper to him though she was loud enough for Chanyeol to hear her.

“Who’s your friend?” She asked and Chanyeol smiled as ZiTao laughed.

“His name is Chanyeol,” ZiTao fake whispered back and Victoria nodded, pausing.

“How’d you meet?” She asked when Chanyeol reached for his fork and his smile grew. He didn’t know what he expected from her, but this certainly wasn’t it.

“We work together. He’s a guitarist at the bar I work at,” ZiTao replied, managing to get a bite of his pancakes into his mouth before she looped an arm around his neck, pulling the blond against her chest suddenly.

“Taozi, musicians are dangerous!” She exclaimed in mock shock and Chanyeol almost snorted as ZiTao rolled his eyes, vainly trying to pull away.

“Mom, I know Kung-Fu. If he tries anything, I can take care of myself,” He protested as she began to pet his hair.

“Why are musicians dangerous?” Chanyeol asked, reaching for his cup of coffee.

“Isn’t that what most musicians are all about these days? How do they phrase it… , drugs and money?” She asked, Chanyeol choking on his coffee. She let go of ZiTao who bolted up right when Chanyeol coughed, watching the black haired male set his coffee cup down. When his coughing stopped long enough to take a drink of his water Victoria noticed the blond relax.

“I don’t know what musicians you’ve been around,” Chanyeol started. “But I’m not about any of that. I just want to play music and make people happy with it,” Chanyeol stated. Victoria stared at him for a long few moments before she smiled, getting up from the table.

“You Pass.” She said, and Chanyeol backpedaled a bit.

“What?

“You pass.”

“I pass what?”

“What, indeed,” She mused, walking from the table. Chanyeol watched after her until she disappeared back into the kitchen and he turned his blank expression to ZiTao.

“What just happened?” he asked and ZiTao gave a small shrug, turning to his pancakes. Chanyeol looked to the kitchen door for a moment longer before shaking his head and turning back to his own food.

 

(( I'm pretty sure that my favorite like from this chapter is either Yifan's 'If you wanted it then why did you throw it at me?' or Chanyeol's 'ZiTao, it's three am'

And Victoria makes me so happy, I just love this chapter a lot and don't really get the chance to talk about the stuff in this fic in depth with anyone, which I think might be part of why I've had such writer's block with it. I think partially from the lack of response to Fragmenting too, which I totes understand, people aren't here for Jongdae they're here for the ChanTao and a lot of stuff won't make sense till the end. Oh well I guess. I hope you all have a nice week ^^ ))