Carelessly, you leant your back on his shoulder. Chanyeol was often occupied with his gadget these days, especially laptop, or phone, or iPod, basically anything that could play music. And you knew very well what he was listening to.

“Oh my God, their album is really great!” he claimed with a headset on one of his ears.

“You know what, Chanyeol? You’ve already said that like a hundred times since you have the album, and you probably have said that ten times since you were here,” you mumbled thoughtlessly as you sat straight. But of course, fan girls and fan boys—at his matter—would ignore those who didn’t admit the greatness of their idols.

You didn’t have anything to do and you didn’t want to do anything either. Yes, you were such a lazy potato but this evening was not the case. Some minutes ago you just tossed two trays of cupcakes to the oven and basically, now you were waiting for it to be done. You didn’t want to get too occupied on anything else, you were afraid you would lose your interest on taking care of the cupcakes. So you ran your hands up to his shoulders, giving him light massages. You were just that bored.

Out of expectation, he chuckled lightly. Well, as far as you were with Chanyeol until today, it was true that you have never given him any massage before, you couldn’t have been wrong recalling it. It’s actually because he wasn’t the type of person who would need massage if he was feeling tired or unwell, he would rather lighten his mood so he usually did something fun to relieve anything that bothered him.

Stopping your gesture, you stole a glance at his laptop, checking if he was laughing at whatever it was he saw on his laptop. But his laptop showed articles about music industry and you were sure nothing was funny there even though you didn’t fully understand his world. You checked his other tabs, one of the three was Coldplay discography while the other two was Coldplay’s lyric. Park Chanyeol should marry Coldplay’s member at this rate.

“Why are you laughing?” you asked as you shifted your head so you could see his face better. The sound of his laugh was gone, but he was still soundlessly laughing, nonetheless.

It usually took some time until he calmed down from his laugh, yeah, Park Chanyeol and his laughing issue, so you gave him the time while you still lightly gave him massage. Unexpectedly again, his hand moved to pull your hands away from his shoulders and held them still. He held them like that until his laugh subsided.

sYou were clueless but you still patiently waited. He was catching his breath when you asked him again. “What is it?”

Maybe because your question reminded him, he let out some good laugh again before staring at you and let go of your hands. “You were trying to give me massages, right?” He laughed again and scrunched his eyes closed. You yet understood what he was trying to say but seeing him in so much fun made a funny yet confused smile spread across you face while you nodded shortly. “But your fingers were so small, it tickles.” Now that he explained the reasons, he found it funny all over again that he started laughing for the second round, recalling the tingling feeling he felt earlier.

The smile on your face vanished by his explanation. Your outer self was taunted by his reason but you couldn’t hold back another smile because your inner self also found it funny. However, you gave him a good punch on his arm. “It tickles now?” you asked in annoyed tone but normal people wouldn’t miss the joking glint of your voice.

He laughed again. Sometimes you wondered what things that would stop Chanyeol from laughing at anything around him. “It didn’t tickles.” You could sense that he wasn’t done with his words so you waited. “But your fist is so small that it didn’t even hurt.” By then, Park Chanyeol exploded. By exploded, it meant he burst out loud and he was clapping his hands like a broken seal. He even needed to slightly lift his legs so his knees were higher than his hips, preventing his laptop to slide off of his lap.

And you didn’t understand you yourself. You were supposed to get insulted by his words, but in fact you were laughing along with him, while giving him continuous punch on his arm. Maybe because deep down you knew his words were true, or maybe because it was his ridiculous laugh, or maybe everything just seem to be easier when you were together. You didn’t really mind though, as long as you had a good time together with him, then it didn’t really matter.

“But really, you need to give it a try,” he said as the both of you calmed down. At first you didn’t understand what he was talking about, but you quickly got it when he was holding his other headset to you.

“No, Chanyeol, you know I’m not into foreign songs,” you whined as you dragged your body lower on the sofa. Come to count about it, it was probably his fourth time trying to get you listen to that album of Coldplay he recently had. “Give me any kind of songs, as long as it’s still Korean then I’ll listen to it,” you offered another option as you wiggled your eyebrows and gave him an innocent smile, trying your luck at bargaining.

He turned his body to face you and shook his head in such a convinced manner. “No, I want you to give a try to my favorite song. I promise I’ll just play you two of my favorites, not even the whole song, just some parts of it. Yes, please?” He beamed and showed you his toothy grin. His expression stayed like that for some seconds passing because you didn’t answer.

You were never actually interested in any foreign music. You were fine with foreign films, foreign fashions, but not with their music. Just no. Not your style. But Chanyeol was so persevered at getting you to listen to it. “Fine,” you gave in and open your palm to take his headset.

Innocently, he smiled so wide that you afraid it would hurt his cheeks, he handed you his unoccupied headset. “It’s playing one of the songs I mentioned earlier,” he ushered you to quickly listen to the song played.

You plugged it on and listened to it as carefully as you could. It was kind of hard since it was not something you would normally like, but you gave it a try for this carping boy in front of you. It was even harder with his face there, just some inches in front of your own, gleaming with hope and expectation.

Gave up, you threw your eyes downwards so you didn’t have to face him. You didn’t even know the correlation, but you thought you would listen better without looking at him. And you did. Guess you could assume Park Chanyeol was some kind of distraction of yours.

 

Wanna fall, I fall so far

Wanna fall, I fall so hard

And I call it magic, and I call it true

Call it magic

 

There were instruments played and you decided you heard enough of that song, so you looked up at him and gave a light nod. “It was fine,” you commented nonchalantly. Just fine, not so good that you would add it to your playlist, but not that bad that you didn’t mind listened to it. Then again, you would grow sick of it before you even get the chance to like it if your boyfriend played it 24/7.

“Just fine?” he asked with his lips slightly curled, probably unconsciously, due to his confusion as to why you thought that song just fine, while it was like a masterpiece for him. “Listen to this, this is the other one,” he beamed again in no time and clicked his laptop a couple times.

You were aware to the change of the song you listened to. The music started with some kind of huge opening and then the piano could be heard for quite some times. The vocalist started singing but you couldn’t focus. You blinked and soon, you realized that you were looking at Chanyeol and that was probably why. Again, you averted you gaze down casually, didn’t want him to notice your little gesture that was basically avoiding him in order to focus.

It was always like that. No matter that it had been years since you knew him, no matter it had been months since you were together, no matter how you always succeed at playing it off casually; deep down, Chanyeol always made you flutter just by doing nothing. Just by being there, sat silently in front of you, he always made that funny feeling on your stomach that would make you lose your focus. Just by looking at you with those beaming eyes of his, he always stirred the urge to make a smile crept up your face.

 

'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars

'Cause you light up the path

I don't care, go on and tear me apart

I don't care if you do

'Cause in a sky, 'cause in a sky full of stars

I think I saw you

 

The music was getting more intense before it kind of broke into some more upbeat music. You liked the color of the song so you couldn’t help but looked up at him, with your head slightly moved with the beat. With your eyebrows were raised a little, you nodded at him. Wordlessly told him that you kind of like this one.

“You like this one better?” he asked while the song was still playing on the headset both of you used.

You nodded again, this time more obvious. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll have it on my phone,” you quickly added before his expectation went high.

“I know, I know,” he responded half mumbling, with a little chuckle. God, that voice of him chuckling. “And I know I promised you two, but I promise this is the last. Hear this one, and let’s see which one you like the most,” he said and without waiting the song to come to the end, he double click his laptop again and the song changed for the second time.

Was it the bass? You were not sure since you were not an expert in that world. But whatever it was that played at the beginning of the song, it was good. It was not too bright, yet not too sad. Curse Chanyeol and his good taste at music. The vocalist started singing again when you realized for the umpteenth time you couldn’t focus. But this time you quickly grasped the cause and turned your gaze down to his fingers that was on his laptop.

 

Call it magic, when I'm with you

And I just got broken, broken into two

Still I call it magic, when I'm next to you

And I don't, and I don't and I don't, and I don't

No, I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't

No, I don't, it's true

I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't want anybody else but you

 

The beat of the song was just so lovely that you immediately brought your gaze up as soon as there was some interlude. “I think I like this one the most,” you commented.

As the response, he pressed some keys of the laptop and the music stopped. You could see the mischievous smile spread across his face, which immediately made you narrowed your eyes at him. “What? I just like it, okay? It’s not that I’m going to become their fans or add their songs to my playlist,” you defended yourself, but then again, to your surprise, Chanyeol just nodded.

“So, of all the three songs I played just now, which one you like the most?” he asked with a suspicious smile which you couldn’t understand what for.

“The last one. What is it with your smile? It’s creepy.” You didn’t even realize it, but you were currently looking at him with narrowed eyes and furrowed eyebrows. His smile was really and truly suspicious it made you worried.

“Nothing. And then after that, you liked the second one better? So the sequence of your favorite is basically backwards from the sequence I played it?” Chanyeol repeated once again after glancing a second at his laptop screen.

You just thoughtlessly nodded your head at him. Still couldn’t understand of why he was smiling like that all along. Just because you liked it didn’t mean you would throw yourself at that favorite band of his, would you?

“Why you don’t like the first one?” he curiously asked as he leaned a little bit further from you to look at you better.

“First thing first, Chanyeol, you can’t ask such a question, after all, it’s about taste. Second, the first one was weird, his falset voice is weird, I don’t really like it,” you explained and shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly. His face fell, and you knew that face very well; he was holding back laughter. But why did he want to laugh at the first place?

Chanyeol pressed some keys again so the song once paused was playing again. As usual, the band repeated the intro once again. But after that intro you liked, surprisingly, came that part you didn’t like. That part Chanyeol played at the first place. That part where the singer’s voice was on falset.

You abruptly turned your head at him. Just like you pictured, he started to lose a hold on his laughter. “No way,” you mumbled.

The guy beside you set his laptop down at the sofa between you two before he laughed out loud and clapped his hand, he even stomped his feet to the ground. “It’s the same song. Your favorite and your least favorite song are the same song, oh goodness, your skill at recognizing tones is horrible!” he managed to chirp between his laughter.

Your pride fell to the deepest layer of the earth. “Well they were different! His voice was different, the feel too, the music too!” But you couldn’t just stay still watching you pride went lower and lower by the melodious laugh of Chanyeol.

“Just admit it that you are not good at distinguishing music,” he persisted in between his laugh.

Your lips curled at his accusation but that was most probably true and you didn’t have any evidence to prove him wrong. Just as you were going to give your pride in, you could hear your oven on the kitchen ringed. “That’s it, I have to go, my babies are calling,” you said before sticking your tongue out at him and pulled the headset from your ear. With one little jump, you rose from the sofa and quickly made your way to the kitchen. Your face still scrunched up a little but getting better as you were immersed with your cupcakes.

First, you took out the trays of cupcakes from the oven because leaving them there would make it burnt because the oven was still hot, even when it was already off, actually. Sort of disorganized, you roamed around your own kitchen to collect the ingredients and equipments needed to finish the cupcakes. Not that much of work though, since you already made the icing earlier.

“Whoa, it smells nice.” You heard Chanyeol at the doorway, behind you. Carefully, you took out one by one the icing on the refrigerator.

“Go away, you ridiculed my skill at listening music, I hate you,” you said to him. Of course, jokingly.

“Nah, you know I was just kidding.” This time his voice sounded closer, he probably went nearer to the cupcakes.

“They came from slightly different recipes, I reduced the amount of the sugar from the other one. Try it and say your words,” you said without looking. You made a lot of icing and now you were having quite a hard time on taking it out.

Chanyeol didn’t say anything but from the mere shifting sounds, you could picture that he was taking bites on the cupcakes. There were two trays of them, each has a dozen of cupcakes. Which is more than enough for just the two of you and obviously more than enough just for trying new recipe.

“The one on yellow paper smells better.” You didn’t turn your head but you remember the cupcakes on one of the trays came in yellow cups. Those were the one with the original recipe. “But the blue one taste better, everything is just at the right amount,” he said. You unconsciously nodded, still without looking, since you were still taking out some plastic and other equipments for the—“I don’t like the pink one, it tastes weird. Some kind of salty.”

Your movement came into halt. Pink? Salty?

Gathering yourself together, you still managed to bring the equipments and put them down on the kitchen island. After you put them down, you walked two steps closer to Chanyeol, with the freshly baked cupcakes between you two. You looked down at those fresh-from-the-oven cupcakes. A dozen of them came with yellow paper cups, in one full tray, while the other tray contained six dozen with blue paper cups and the other six were in pink paper cups. “The pink one is salty,” you started carefully.

Chanyeol nodded in a calm manner. It’s been long since both of you make a deal that bitter truths are better than sweet lies. So it’s not a big deal to be so honest about this kind of things.

“The yellow one smells better but the blue one tastes better,” you tried to summaries his words. Slowly, your eyes shifted up to look at him and he was still being so calm and honest about all of this cupcake taste.

“Yup. The yellow one is slightly sweeter, that’s the original recipe, am I right?” he asked and he earned your nods. “But the winner is still the blue. The pink one, you should burn the recipe of the pink one,” he said while he nodded some more, absolutely sure about his decision.

“Is it that bad?” You scrunched up your nose while you took another step closer to him.

“I told you it tastes weird, it’s salty.”

“But, the things is, Chanyeol,” you started before you bit both your lips to stop yourself from starting to laugh. Before saying the next words, you coughed away the laugh that was going to burst. “I only made two recipes, this one, is the original.” Your fingers pushed a little the edge of the tray with yellow cupcakes and quickly let go before your hand got burn. “And this is the one with reduced sugar.” You did the same to the other tray. To make it even obvious, you lifted one fingers and pointed the whole tray, saying without words that you were referring to all twelve of them.

Chanyeol blinked a couple time, grasping the situation. He was never been the type of person who would get embarrassed. Even if he was, he would just laugh it off. Knowing him so well, you started to count backwards inside your head.

Three. He opened his mouth but nothing came out, so he closed it back. His right eye just twitched right then. Two. His cheeks started to rise and his mouth opened once again, this time in a wide grin. One. He burst out in a loud laugh. He bent over to the kitchen island at first, but it seemed like his legs gave up so he eventually squatted next to it. His hands were still on the surface of the kitchen island and you could see the top of his head since he leaned his forehead to the edge, but other than that, Chanyeol disappeared from your range of view.

After a good minute, his laugh calmed down. Of course, of course Chanyeol still panting and even your cheeks got hurt just by seeing how wide his grin was, but at least he managed to get up on both his feet again.

“Oh goodness, your skill at recognizing taste is horrible,” you repeated his earlier words in a calm manner. It broke him again.

This time Chanyeol laughed in a silent. He laid half of his upper body on the kitchen island with his face down. But you didn’t need to hear his laugh nor see his face to point it out. The horrendous shake of his shoulders said it all.

“Just admit it that you are not good at distinguishing tastes.” Again, you repeated his earlier words to himself. Didn’t want to waste time, you wore your apron and started your way of icing the cupcakes. You shook your head at your boyfriend who was still in his earlier position, one of his palms was balled up and weakly punching the surface he was in.

You were already done with your first cupcake when he finally got up, breathing heavily. A tear hung in his right eye and he carelessly wiped it off. “Okay, okay fine, whatever,” he said, giving in. “Give me another apron I want to do the icing too,” he asked with one hand shoved at you.

“No. Go away. I don’t welcome people with no tasting skill like you in the kitchen.” You keep your eyes and focus on your cupcakes. Speaking and behaving like a majestic guru.

“But you know what?” Since you refused to give him the apron, he walked closer to your position to take the apron by himself. “I guess it means we are meant to be together. Like, I can be your ears and you can be my tongue, something like that.” It’s ridiculous how he said those pick up lines like it was nothing. He obviously tried to be serious like the thing he said was just some trifle.

It is, actually.

You looked up and stared him dead in the eye. By then, Chanyeol was already on the edge of his laugh, again. “Go away. I don’t welcome cheesy people like you in the kitchen.”

Immediately, Chanyeol dropped the apron he just took, because he was laughing and slamming one of his palms to his stomach.

When would Chanyeol stop laughing, really?

 

 

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Aaand, random as usual. Just in case you are wondering, those two songs by Coldplay are Magic and A Sky Full Of Stars. Let me tell you one unimportant information, I actually started this story in November 2014, but just managed to get it done now. What an unimportant information.

Anyway, just as cheesy and random as it is, I hope you had a good time reading it! ♥